NEAF is sponsored by the Rockland Astronomy Club and Sky & Telescope Magazine
at Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY

Tom Bisque of Software Bisque with his
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount —
there is more to Software Bisque than
software! In both machining and fit-and-finish
the Paramount ME is constructed like a Rolex.

Whoa! Is that a Mac Dual G5 at the Software Bisque booth? Yes, indeed!
It’s running Software Bisque’s new project, “The Grand Tour.” The Grand Tour is a multi-platform (OS X and Windows) application that offers an interactive and immersive three dimensional solar system simulation. I received an Alpha copy, which I will install and test, reporting results to Software Bisque. There is more good news for Mac users from Software Bisque—The Sky 6, T-Point, and CCDSoft will be released for Mac OS X. Currently only The Sky 5 runs on the Mac, and only in Classic mode. There were a surprising number of Macs at NEAF, and several developers of Windows-only software told me that they do their development on Macs, and some are working on Mac versions of their products for amateur astronomers.

The weather was perfect for the popular NEAF Solar Star Party on both Saturday and Sunday. The views of prominences and other activity on the Sun through these ’scopes was spectacular. The Denkmeier Binoviewer, in particular, provided stunning views.

First NEAF Page

Third NEAF Page: Autographs and Notes

Astronomy@davidillig.com