I have been enjoying reading my old Sky and Telescope magazines from the mid-late 1980's, a time when Australia did not have it's own amateur astronomy magazine. From memory, Sky and Space commenced around 1988 and AS&T shortly after.
I have made some interesting observations from the articles and advertisments so I thought I'd share some of them in a series of posts here at Ice In Space.
- No references to websites or "imaging" LOL
- Lots of articles and adverts about hypersensitising film for optimum performance.
- Some companies advertised their scopes with long-legged models beside them!
- A lot less color advertisements, many in black and white.
- Regular columns for BASIC computer programs relating to astronomy, such as calculating cometary and planetary orbits.
- Many new scopes on the market with "computer" drives and pre-GOTO electronics.
Of course many articles 20 years ago are still relevant and have links to today's pursuits by amateur astronomers. I hope to scan many of my interesting finds and I'll post them in the near future.
To start off with this one, an article from S&T 1987. I know today that imaging the International Space Station is a challenge to some, but can be achieved when the time and conditions are right. I know of some results posted on IIS and elsewhere.