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OBSERVING PLANNING AIDS - Night Sky, Sun, Moon information.
Weather Sky Clock for Washington, D.C. area (updated automatically)
The Sky Above Company Seven. The default shows the sky over our showroom in Laurel, Maryland. When page opens then you may scroll to the bottom of the page to enter your observing location, time, date, etc. Note that Universal Time is 4 hours ahead of Washington, D.C. EST, or 5 hours EDT. Click on any area of the map to see an enlarged detailed view.
Observing Tips for The Month a text discussion of the Moon, planets, and other interesting celestial objects in the night sky from night to night. Updated monthly. This is a public service provided by Company Seven and the University of Texas McDonald Observatory.
Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day. You can obtain the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, transits of the Sun and Moon, and the beginning and end of civil twilight, along with information on the Moon's phase by specifying the date and location. This is a public service provided by the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department through Company Seven, used by permission.
20 March 2009 Event: Company Seven Supporting NASA Sun-Earth Day educational activity. This year's theme will be a celebration of the International Year of Astronomy.
4-5 December 2008 Event: Martin Cohen of Company Seven is guest of the Worchester Polytechnic Institute "Integrative Materials Design Center" speaking on the subject of "Long Distance Microscopy for Materials Evaluation".
The WPI Integrative Materials Design Center (iMdc) is formed through an industry/government-university alliance, and its program is built in direct collaboration and with active participation and insight from its industrial/government partners. The center is conducting fundamental research which addresses well-identified industrial applications of general interest and relevance to the manufacturing sector - an "Application-Driven-Design" approach. Consortium members include: Alcoa, Army Research Laboratories, Benet Laboratories, Boeing, Caterpillar, General Dynamics Land Systems, General Motors, Hamilton Sundstrand, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Mercury marine, NASA Langley, Pratt & Whitney, P&W Rocketdyne, Rio Tinto Alcan, Sikorsky.
Read more about the work of the WPI iMdc and an overview of the presentation by Mr. Cohen.
20 March 2008 Event: Company Seven Supporting NASA Sun-Earth Day educational activity. This year's theme will be "Space Weather Around The World".
9 August 2007 Company Seven Acquires Biosphere 2 Astronomical Observatory. This is designated our 'MCCM' Observatory Project. The system will be relocated to Maryland and established as part of our own science education facility.
20 March 2007 Company Seven supporting NASA annual 'Sun-Earth Day 2007' educational activities. This year's theme will be "Living In The Atmosphere of The Sun".
20 March 2006 Company Seven supporting NASA annual 'Sun-Earth Day 2006' educational activities. This year's theme features natural and artificial eclipses!
The system furnished by Company Seven was our Astro-Physics 206mm f/8 EDF telescope with a Astro-Physics 90mm f/5 Stowaway "finder" telescope on an Astro-Physics 1200GTO German Equatorial Mount. The system was equipped with our Baader Mark V Großfeld Binocular Head, a top of the line system providing high resolution binocular views through the telescope. We employed a selection of TeleVue Panoptic, TeleVue Nagler, TeleVue Radian, and a matched pair of Carl Zeiss Abbe Orthoscopic series eyepiece sets and filters. While this was a good "practice run" for us, the seeing conditions were marginal with notable humidity and sky glow. Therefore, the telescopes were limited by seeing conditions to moderate magnifications on the order of 300X or less. Regardless of the seeing limitiations, the large number of visitors were nonetheless enthralled by Mars. Later in the session we did study a number of the brighter popular deep sky objects, and later Saturn!
As described by the AMU staff "technology is driving a revolution in amateur astronomy. Improvements in telescopes, computerized data, cameras, and more means backyard stargazers now have access to information that only a few years ago would have been limited to the hands of experts. A look at the technology of amateur astronomy -- and what you might discover by just looking up."
To read an more in depth review of the program with links to the program Web Site and a link to download the program in Real Audio file format please click here.
JUL 10, How to Catch a Comet, David Levy
To read an overview of the presentation by Mr. Cohen, click here.
5 November 2005 Company Seven supporting Howard Astronomical League "Mars Watch" event from 5:00 pm to 3:00 am. Company Seven provided a telescope and staff to see the Opposition of Mars at the Belmont Mansion, off Elibank Drive in Elkridge, Maryland. H.A.L. and Howard County Community College jointly sponsored this event which was open to the public at large. Company Seven assists at such events as a public service insisting on no promotional efforts on our behalf.
21 June 2005 Martin Cohen of Company Seven is among a panel of three in a discussion with the program host about amateur astronomy technology on the WAMU American University Public Radio "Kojo Nnamdi Show" weekly "Tech Tuesday" program.
20 March 2005 Company Seven supporting NASA annual 'Sun-Earth Day' educational activities. This year's theme is "Ancient Observatories Timeless Knowledge".
20 March 2004 Company Seven supporting NASA annual 'Sun-Earth Day' educational activities. This year's theme features the Transit of Venus coming 8 June 2004, this will be the first such transit visible since 1882!
17 July 2003 Martin Cohen of Company Seven is among the guest speakers for Smithsonian Institution Resident Associates Summer Program "Amateur Astronomy: It's All in the Stars … and Comets, Planets, and Moons". Topics and speakers include:
JUL 17, Your Telescope, Martin Cohen - the location of this session changed to S. DILLON RIPLEY CENTER
JUL 24, Heavenly Bodies' Shape and Motion, David Dunham
JUL 31, Using Cheap Webcams and Freeware, Geoff Chester
AUG 7, Upstairs/Downstairs, David DeVorkin
AUG 14, Following Stars, Janet Mattei
27 November 2001 Company Seven activates new DayStar Calcium K Line Filter for Solar Observing!
Recent Changes at C7's Web Site
*The original announcement included the Geovid HD models however, Leica later issued a correction notice stating these would not be in the rebate. As a tangible expression of their regret Leica agreed to honor rebates for Geovid HD but only of sold by Company Seven through 25 May.
To claim your rebate simply fill out the Mail in rebate redemption form, include a copy of the Company Seven sales receipt along with a completed copy of your product warranty registration card (included in every new Leica product box), then mail it in.
Changes in April 2009:
Using light waves the LightSpeed technology transmits voices in the field of view of the binoculars up to a distance of 1-½ miles (2-½ km) crystal-clear, without any interference, day and night. Even data such as text or images can be fed in via the USB port and transmitted at a rate of up to 1 Mbps. This development has evolved from a cooperation arrangement with the well-known secure electronics development company in the USA. This form of bug-proof communication offers special police and military units a wealth of tactical advantages. The extremely compact yet powerful LEICA GEOVID LUX 8x 56 also has further application potential in stalking, industry and rescue services. US and allied governments agencies should contact Company Seven to obtain our DLA or ORCA information.
What will they think of next?
Changes in March 2009:
To claim your rebate simply fill out the redemption form, include a copy of the Company Seven sales receipt along with a completed copy of your product warranty registration card (included in every new Leica product box), then mail it in.
To learn more about how impressive this handy chart is, browse the DeepMap's more than 600 contents: Deep-Sky Objects Catalog, Double and Multiple Stars, Steve Gottlieb's Top Variable Stars. These can be found in our Library Orion Notes & Interesting Articles page. For the inexperienced beginner we also recommend acquiring the large David H. Levy Guide to the Stars Planisphere.
Also added on our site an improved Leica Accessories for Binoculars and Spotting Telescopes index page. This links to several new articles: Leica Binocular Tripod Adapter, Polarizing Filters for the TELEVID, UV Protective Filters for the TELEVID, a well illustrated discussion of the brilliantly engineered and simple to use Leica Digital Camera Adapter used for 'digiscopy' (or 'digiscoping') with compact digital cameras or cell phones ('phonescopy'?). Of course, those demanding the best results with digital or film SLR camera can use the Leica SLR Photographic Camera Adapter.
While we were adding information about the new Leica APO-TELEVID 82 we dramatically revised and expanded our reviews of the Leica Leica Binoculars. And unfortunately, we also revised Leica Pricing section to reflect 1 January 2009 changes and new products.
Changes in February 2009:
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Changes in November 2008:
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Also published our review of the Astronomy 2009 color illustrated wall calendar edited by Terrence Dickinson.
Changes in August 2008:
Pricing and availability information for this product are now on line, and we are accepting orders for deliveries starting in late September and continuing into the Fall 2008. It is planned that Company Seven will order one for display in our showroom and so you will be able to see it here. However, we are not certain how many more of these mounts will be made in the near future, so we encourage those who seek a premium mount at an unrivaled price order from this current production run.
Changes in July 2008:
For readers interest, and to aid clubs who plan to build an observatory we added another Image Gallery illustrating the Disassembly of the Biosphere 2 Astronomical Observatory Telescope and Dome from 22 to 25 June 2008. We then loaded the facility and transported it to Maryland, arriving on 27 June. The shipment was unloaded into a storage facility on 30 June.
So now we own and posses the Observatory telescopes, Dome, facilities, blueprints, and images that document this process. This documentation should make the disassembly and reassembly go much more quickly and uneventfully.
Changes in June 2008:
For readers interest, and to aid clubs who plan to build an observatory we added Image Galleries sections illustrating the 1999 Construction Of The Biosphere 2 Astronomical Observatory Facilities, and Biosphere 2 Astronomical Observatory RC-24 Telescope Installation.
So now we own the Observatory telescopes, facilities, blueprints, and images that document this process. This documentation should make the disassembly and reassembly go much more quickly and uneventfully.
Changes in May 2008:
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Changes in February 2008:
In keeping with our goals of conservation and documentation we have prepared an article Criterion RV-6 Dynascope: these introduced many of us to visual astronomy. The article describes the RV-6 acquired by Company Seven, the RV-6 as it changed over the decades, and some history of the Criterion Manufacturing Co. who made this telescope, and provides insight into the evolution and marketing of these types of instruments from the 1950's through the peak of the Apollo space program, and into the 1980's. The telescope is likely to be conserved and not restored to like new, but over time as we learn more about it then we will edit the articles to share the information.
Furthermore, in a rare collaboration we have arranged permission to use images taken by Tom McDonough of the restoration of a Criterion RV-6 at Criterion RV-6 Dynascope Restoration Gallery. This was a lot of hard work but for a subject close to the heart, it is worthwhile.
Incidentally, the Fujinon 10x 70mm MT-SX binocular illustrated by us in our review actually FAILED Company Seven's in house inspection process, and it was returned to the manufacturer. Look at the image, can you find the anomaly? We are amused that most E-tailers never even see the box, while a few other shops claim they check what they sell yet few return anything to the distributor. Now, where will you buy your own binocular or telescope?
Over 2007 our opinion of the 'is' accessory products changed as we observed the system become more refined and expand into a more comprehensive and better performing solution. And frankly, several of these telescope are just too good not to feature for our clientele. And so in the interest of supporting C7's customers who are buying 'is' telescopes, we made the effort to demystify the system. Writing these illustrated articles was a bit of a Herculean task since the system is at first glance confusing, and even the initial materials provided to us by TeleVue were simply overwhelming. Regardless, our result will be helpful to our customers.
And another article that is more relevant to today describes the Deluxe Leather Case which may be ordered as an upgrade in place of the standard Vinyl-Clad Case when ordering a new Questar Questar Standard or Duplex astronomical telescope. The leather case is provided as part of the standard equipment with the limited production Questar 50th Anniversary Model telescope.
Changes in September 2007:
Changes in July 2007:
Changes in June 2007:
Changes in May 2007:
 Check or Money Order |
Mastercard |
 Traveler Check |
 PayPal |
 VISA |
 Western Union |
 Wire Transfer |
For additional information refer to our Ordering Information page. But our clients should not be too concerned about this trend at Company Seven to operate something like a business; we will retain our unique character.
Changes in April 2007:
Also added a new publication "Remote Control Astronomy Handbook" to our Technical Innovations Notes and Interesting Articles index page. Until now, there has been little printed information available on creating and operating robotic observatories with contemporary observing equipment and computers. This illustrated 57 page booklet as a service to the astronomy community by drawing on the experiences of the authors and that of our customers. This booklet will help you learn the practical side of operating a telescope and observatory by remote control. The Remote Control Astronomy Handbook describes how to automate an observatory including sections about the observatory, the telescope, cameras and computers. It is intended primarily for astronomers at the advanced amateur level and for professionals who need some orientation to the subject. Published March 2002 by John and Meg Menke, of Menke Scientific, Ltd. Copyright John & Meg Menke, from Company Seven's Library. Download size is 505,058 bytes (in Acrobat Reader ".pdf" format).
As a side note, Company Seven's primary area of work is for Government and industry; the profits from this work have historically permitted our staff to operate the astronomical side of our business in a rather idealistic manner. However, recent demands upon our most capable staff, including extensive travel to overseas, have left us lacking the people to maintain and update this Web Site as we would routinely have preferred to do. Furthermore, we can not simply trust hiring a "Beltway Bandit" with no knowledge of our industry to maintain the site and provide the valuable and insightful content. So we ask for your patience as we adapt to the changing demands made of us. Note, our routine practices and our showroom operations continue unabated.
Changes in September 2006:
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Changes in May 2006:
We also describe the Questar 3-½ Declination Motor and Questar 7 Declination Motor to round out the discussion about the modern Powerguide. And to show our readers how it was done in the "good old days" we present the original Declination Vernier Manual Drive for the Questar Seven Fork Mount from Company Seven's Museum Collection.
And to show a token effort to support our Birding clients (we would not wish to compromise our credentials among the astronomers) we revised our discussion of the Questar Field Model telescope. And we describe the new Questar 45 Degree Image Erecting Prism.
"Gemini Control Center System Users Manual" The complete 83 page illustrated instruction manual as written by Daniel Goerlich, Michael Rudolph. Published April 2006.
"Gemini Astronomical Positioning System Users Manual Level 4" The complete 137 page illustrated instruction manual as written by Rene Goerlich, Michael Rudolph, David Sandage. Published April 2006.
Changes in April 2006:
The Planisphere makes it very easy for one to find out what constellations and major deep sky objects are up overhead at any given time of the day or night. These are made in two sizes 11 or 16 inch diameter, available in either English or Spanish, and for use in either Northern or Southern Hemispheres. These are a two piece plastic disc assembly with a map of the entire night sky one the rear chart disc, and another overlay disc attached over the chart disc. The overlay has a transparent window with a surrounding mask to simulate the North, South, East and West horizons. The overlay is dialed to line up its local time indicator marks with the Month and Day printed around the edge of the chart disc, and so when properly set this will reveal what parts of the sky may be seen at any time of the year. We prefer the larger 16 inch model because the writing is larger and easer to read under red flashlight. The print is black lettering against a white background sky and is easy to read under red light.
Changes in March 2006:
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Changes in January 2006:
We expect to start accepting orders for the Mach1GTO later in 2006 anticipating delivery of the first mounts in the Fall of 2006 or early in 2007. Company Seven will refer first to our waiting lists of people who previously expressed their interest in the now discontinued Models 400 GTO and 600E GTO mounts, while you newcomers who want the Mach1GTO are to be generally added to that list in chronological order.
Changes in December 2005:
Changes in November 2005:
Updated our Astro-Physics Library section to include instruction manuals for the new German Equatorial Mounts and accessories, Electronics Support Files, Technical Drawings, and other articles of interest to Company Seven's Astro-Physics customers.
Changes in October 2005:
Amended our Astro-Physics Feather Touch® Upgrade and Astro-Physics Product Pricing pages to reflect availability and prices of the new 4 inch diameter greaseless drawtube focuser, also describe the available Feather Touch® two speed geared mechanism. One of these new focusers (rotating model) is on display already on our static display model 160mm Starfire EDF telescope, while a new standard 4 inch Focuser with the Feather Touch® Upgrade can be seen on our Astro-Physics 206mm EDF telescope.
Changes in August 2005:
Changes in July 2005:
DIOPTRX Technical Notes An illustrated two page overview of the DIOPTRX provided as an Adobe .pdf file, April 2005 by TeleVue Optics (328,734 bytes).
Understanding Your Eyeglass Prescription for Astigmatism An one page informative article describing visual astigmatism, particularly helpful in understanding the DIOPTRX Lenses. Provided as an Adobe .pdf file, April 2005 by Barry Santini of TeleVue Optics (27,634 bytes).
Changes in June 2005:
As described by the AMU staff "technology is driving a revolution in amateur astronomy. Improvements in telescopes, computerized data, cameras, and more means backyard stargazers now have access to information that only a few years ago would have been limited to the hands of experts. A look at the technology of amateur astronomy -- and what you might discover by just looking up."
To read an more in depth review of the program with links to the program Web Site and a link to download the program in Real Audio file format please click here.
The Clear Sky Clock we feature shows a prediction of when the area around the University Of Maryland Observatory in Adelphi, Maryland will have good weather for astronomical observing. The Observatory is quite near to Company Seven in Laurel and so we employ this clock as a public service for our readers. We did not realize that the author's links had changed some time ago, and so we apologize to our readers for our oversight.
Changes in May 2005:
And since the first several of the new RB-16 Reverse Binocular Telescopes sold are coming through Company Seven, this new 16 inch system is previewed on line with specifications and images from the prototype RB-16; this will be expanded soon after these first production models arrive.
Changes in January 2005:
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Changes through August 2004:
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Changes through June 2004:
Also added a preview of the coming ST-2000XMC Color CCD camera. Added a number of articles and documents to our SBIG Library section. Revised and updated Santa Barbara Instruments Group Product Pricing page. Also posted updated Products listing page to reflect product changes, new products. This will be followed soon by the updating and addition of several new pages to our SBIG section.
Changes through February 2004:
Changes through January 2004:
Changes through December 2003:
1. Often the volume of incoming E-Mail that requires our writing a detailed technical reply precludes a more prompt reply to other E-Mails by Company Seven. We are happy to offer sound advice to those in need, and E-Mail can be good for this use especially for more distant customers. However, E-Mail is in some measure abused by some who have forgot how and when to use a telephone. Aside from the volume of inquiries, E-Mail is also subject to problems with some who accidentally provide an incorrect return E-Mail return address; there have been times when we send an E-Mail reply and it is returned or blocked by the customer's automated spam filter.
Over recent years we have assigned additional resources to meet the high and increasing demands brought about by the Internet, and by increased word of mouth exposure. However, it is often impossible to reply to all inquiries, or to inquiries that we judge to be answered better with a simple phone call. So, when you do require a prompt reply to an urgent matter then please either telephone our showroom on 301-953-2000, or E-Mail and be patient. If no reply to your E-Mail arrives within a few days then you may send it again.
2. On 16 December we completed hardware and software changes to our E-Mail system. So those E-Mail's that arrived between 7 December and 16 December were received, and stored, and we are gradually working through the backlog as well as new E-Mail inquiries. We apologize for the inconvenience or undue concern.
3. The recent Mars Opposition and conservative planning by manufacturers has resulted in shortages of supply of several popular telescopes, especially those which are most popular among those entering the hobby. While the demand for new telescopes by customers contacting our Laurel, Maryland showroom has increased particularly dramatically over the past weeks. And so for new orders received after 1 December 2003 we are reserving inventories of several of the very popular instruments for pickup at our showroom only. We will continue to accept mail and phone orders for both delivery and local pickup, but those new orders placed on 1 December or later are not likely to be shipped out until after the Christmas rush, probably in January 2004 or possibly even later for some instruments. This will reduce the chances of our having to deal with shipping related losses in transit, and will make virtually every telescope we accept available for pickup in our showroom.
Company Seven has been aware of this new product series since it was announced in August 2003, but we decided to wait until we could actually evaluate production models before we published our review. You may now read about the ULTRAVID 42 BR, ULTRAVID 42 BL, and ULTRAVID 50 BR models on line, and see these instruments in our showroom.
Changes through November 2003:
Changes through October 2003:
Changes through September 2003:
JUL 10, How to Catch a Comet, David Levy
JUL 17, Your Telescope, Martin Cohen - the location of this talk is changed to the S. DILLON RIPLEY CENTER
JUL 24, Heavenly Bodies' Shape and Motion, David Dunham
JUL 31, Using Cheap Webcams and Freeware, Geoff Chester
AUG 7, Upstairs/Downstairs, David DeVorkin
AUG 14, Following Stars, Janet Mattei
To read an overview of the presentation by Mr. Cohen, click here.
Changes through June 2003:
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Changes through August 2002:
It may just be the the defendant in this case happens to be the first to be confronted with a lawsuit for alleged practices on their part that in our experience have been for too long, wide spread in the amateur-oriented telescope market. Read more about this story.
Changes through July 2002:
Uranomaniac 2001.1 reprint of our popular but fictitious star atlas by Company Seven in response to the announcement of "Uranometria 2000".
Changes through June 2002:
Changes through May 2002:
Also added to our Celestron News section is the unedited text of the announcement dated 29 May 2002 by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission FTC Authorizes Injunction to Pre-empt Meade Instruments' Purchase of All, or Certain Assets, of Tasco Holdings, Inc.'s Celestron International.
On Monday 3 June 2002, FTC informed Company Seven that Meade Instruments, Corp. had sent letter advising FTC they would not pursue acquisition of any Celestron International
Changes through April 2002:
Changes in January 2002:
Changes in November 2001:
Changes in August 2001:
Changes in May 2001:
20 March 2009 Event: Company Seven Supporting NASA Sun-Earth Day Activities
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In collaboration with partners that include science centers and museums around the world, the Exploratorium, NASA Connect, Sun-Earth Connection missions, Company Seven and others, NASA produces webcasts, other multi-media, and print resources for use by school and informal educators nation-wide and internationally. The NASA Sun Earth Forum provides training and professional development to K-12 educators, museum personnel, amateur astronomers, Girl Scout leaders, etc., so they can implement their own outreach programs taking advantage of our resources. A coordinated approach promotes multiple programs occurring each year under a common theme. The Sun-Earth Day website contains information for students, educators, scientists, museums and amateur astronomers! All web resources for prior events such as "Sun-Earth Day 2005: Ancient Observatories, Timeless Knowledge" are archived and will remain on-line for your enjoyment!
Left: Spectroheliogram of the Sun as shown through the DayStar Calcium K-Line Filter. (60,382 bytes. Image courtesy of NASA).
Click here to download