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Podcaster: Allen Versfeld

Title: Urban Astronomer #7:Neil Viljoen Interview

Link: http://www.urban-astronomer.com

Description: Welcome to the 7th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast! This episode was dropped in the middle of the Easter weekend, so in deference to the season we’ve got a brief segment based on one of Urban Astronomer’s religiously themed articles: How is astronomy used to calculate the dates of religious festivals? And our feature item is another interview! This time around, I managed to get a hold of Neil Viljoen, who owns Telescope Shop, one of the few dedicated telescope and astronomy suppliers in Southern Africa. We met under the pretext of having him troubleshoot my primary telescope, and he very kindly agreed to let me record an interview with him in his workshop.

In this part, he talks about the pros and cons of different telescope designs, how to make them, how to select an eyepiece, and also offers solid advice for those who’d rather just buy a telescope.

Each week we will have a random drawing for a prize package from our sponsor. Enter the code for this week into this site: https://cosmoquest.org/achievements/code for a chance to win.

This week’s code is wHhe46. Enter it into the website to unlock the achievement and enter the contest.

Bio: Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five beautiful kids and a barely competent chess player. He is also the director of the Astrophotography Section of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, where he coordinates and promotes the activities of people who are far better photographers than him.

Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2017, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.

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365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.  This year we will celebrate more discoveries and stories from the universe. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!