Articles & Guides

At Agena Astro, we're committed to helping our customers understand the many options available for telescopes and accessories for astronomy. That's why we take the time to produce detailed and useful guides to choosing astronomy equipment for visual astronomy, astrophotography, and solar observing. Some of these guides are short and are intended to solve particular issues such as product installation or maintenance. Others are more detailed to help you make the best choice for accessories and upgrades such as focusers, astronomy cameras, and filters. You can find a list of our current guides at the links below. We'll continue to add new guides in the coming months.

If you still have questions, or if you have an idea for an astronomy product guide, please get in touch with us.

  1. How to Make A Solar Filter for Viewing A Solar Eclipse

    How to Make A Solar Filter for Viewing A Solar Eclipse

    Author: Chris Cook, Agena AstroProducts Published: September 18th, 2023 Add a Comment

    Observing and photographing the Sun is one of the most rewarding parts of amateur astronomy! In this article, we’ll cover how to make a solar filter for your telescope, camera lens or binoculars. With your own solar filter, you can safely observe and photograph a solar eclipse like the 2023 annular solar eclipse, 2024 total solar eclipse, partial eclipses, or the Sun on any day.

    Warning: Never look at the Sun without proper filtration. Serious eye damage or blindness will

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  2. How to View the Annular Eclipse 2023

    How to View the Annular Eclipse 2023

    Author: Brian Fulda Published: June 3, 2023 Add a Comment

    On October 14th, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will be visible across parts of North and South America. This eclipse will be popular as it will be visible for over 1 billion people on planet Earth! This annular eclipse is also being named as the warmup to the main event, which is the total solar eclipse occurring on April 8th, 2024

    Annular solar eclipse on June 21st, 2020 Taiwan by
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  3. Choosing the Best Telescope for Beginners 2024

    Choosing the Best Telescope for Beginners 2024

    Author: Spencer Collins & Brian Fulda Published: September 30, 2022 Add a Comment
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  4. The Agena Astro Guide to ZWO Astronomy Cameras

    This updated buyer's guide from Agena AstroProducts helps you select the best ZWO astronomy camera for your interests and budget. This guide walks you through the key specifications of the full line of ZWO cameras including sensor size, pixel size, read noise, download rate, cooling, and color vs. monochrome. It helps you understand these specifications and why they are important in astrophotography. This guide also gives some basic tips for matching a camera to specific applications such as lunar/solar, planetary, and deep-sky imaging.
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  5. Top Night Sky & Astronomy Events in August 2022

    Top Night Sky & Astronomy Events in August 2022

    Author: Spencer Collins Published: July 29, 2022 Add a Comment

    1. Introduction

    Welcome to August, another exciting month for the astronomy community thanks to a third consecutive

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  6. Top Night Sky & Astronomy Events in July 2022

    To help prioritize your astronomical observing and imaging sessions, we’ve put together an overview of this month’s highlights to get you out under clear skies and looking up at the cosmos. Gear recommendations and highlights from the astronomy community are included to give you a good idea of the tools needed (or not needed) to enjoy the night sky!

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  7. Solar Astronomy 101

    Solar Astronomy 101

    Author: Spencer Collins Published: June 23, 2022 Add a Comment

    Figure 1 - Sun in White Light and Calcium-K, Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau

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  8. The Agena Astro Buyer’s Guide to iOptron Mounts

    This buyer’s guide sorts through the various package options for iOptron mounts including their compact equatorial mounts, CEM mounts, GEM mounts, and altazimuth mounts.

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  9. Top Night Sky & Astronomy Events in June 2022

    We’ve made it nearly halfway through 2022! The first half of the year brought some much-needed excitement to the astronomy community thanks to increasing solar activity, lunar eclipses, meteor showers, newly identified supernova, and much more. With June ringing in the Summer Solstice and the official beginning of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, the next few months will bring even more excitement to our skies. To help prioritize your astronomical observing and imaging sessions for June, we have put together an overview of this month’s highlights to get you out under clear skies and looking up at the cosmos. Gear recommendations and highlights from the astronomy community are included to give you a good idea of the tools needed (or not needed) to enjoy the night sky.

    Read more »
  10. Top Night Sky & Astronomy Events in May 2022

    Much like April, the May skies are filled with an endless list of galaxies and summer targets for amateur astronomers and stargazers to appreciate.

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