[Update Mar. 3: It looks like B&H has sold out and the tripod now shows as discontinued.]

B&H Photo is having a sale on the Vanguard Auctus Plus 323AT tripod.

This sturdy, ~8lb tripod will make a good platform for the AWB OneSky and can even be used with a 4″ refractor, provided it isn’t too heavy or long.

After receiving mine and being impressed with the stoutness and quality I thought I’d pass this along. If you’re looking for a stable, mid-weight tripod for photography* or spotting / telescope use this is an amazing deal at the sale price of $159.99.

*Though it’s a bit on the heavy side unless you use a larger format and lenses.

-Dave

Original content copyright 2016 by David Philips. All Rights Reserved. This post may contain links to affiliate sites; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Through Sunday, June 7th, you can use code FFSUMMER40 to get an unheard of 40% off at the Sky & Telescope Store.

Need a good star atlas? The Pocket Sky Atlas is $11.97 after the discount.

The PSA is my most used atlas due to its easy to use format but sometimes identifying an object would be easier if stars dimmer than 7th magnitude were charted. This is why I took advantage of the sale to add a copy of the Star Atlas 2000.0 to my library, which is $23.97 after the discount. I waffled a bit between the different versions offered but ultimately chose the unbound “desk” version as it will allow me to take just the pages I need with me to supplement the PSA. There is a good discussion about the various versions of Star Atlas 2000.0 over at the Cloudy Nights forum.

Another book that has been on my wish list for sometime is Sissy Haas’s Double Stars For Small Telescopes and I couldn’t pass it up for $13.79.

While 20-30% discounts come around a few times throughout the year, this the first time I’ve seen a 40% off promotion and is a fantastic opportunity to pick up any items that you may have had your eye on.

-Dave

Original content copyright 2015 by David Philips. All Rights Reserved. This post may contain links to affiliate sites; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Explore Scientific AR152 6″ Refractor

Explore Scientific’s “Countdown to Astronomy Day” sale is on and almost everything* they offer is 20% off including telescopes and mounts.

Some of the more noteworthy deals:
Essential Series 80mm f/6 Triplet Refractor – $583.99
AR152 152mm Achromatic Refractor – $599.99
2x and 3x Focal Extenders – $79.99 each
2″ Dielectric Star Diagonal – $95.99
Twilight I Alt-Az mount – $159.99
Twilight II Alt-Az mount – $399.99

Sale prices are good until April 25th. I’ve come to own quite a few Explore Scientific products, including a couple of refractors and many eyepieces, and generally find them to be an outstanding value.

*Unfortunately their excellent eyepeices are excluded from the sale pricing.

-Dave

Original content copyright 2015 by David Philips. All Rights Reserved. This post may contain links to affiliate sites; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.