Canonicals matter...

You may have noticed that Google and Bing are indexing the Daily Notebook considerably better than they used to.

The reason is that I wrote a Python script that went back and added canonical links to every page on the site. I had already been putting these into new material since I changed to HTTPS in 2022 (details here), but I was seeing poor indexing of older material too.

A canonical link tells the search engine the true or preferred URL of the page. My pages need them because they are accessible more than one way (HTTP and HTTPS, covingtoninnovations.com, covington-innovations.com, and covinnov.com, and in many cases, various redirections within my site). Google doesn't like to find the same page at more than one address.

I wish Google and Bing were smart enough to figure this out for themselves. It shouldn't be hard. Their job is to tell us what is on the Web.

In fact, I wish "search engine optimization" were not a thing, except insofar as it means simply putting, on your page, the words and phrases that people will search for (and not misleadingly). The search engine is supposed to index what it sees.

Permanent link to this entry

The coming shortage of telescopes?

At this moment, the United States and China have suddenly placed such high tariffs on each other's products as to stop trade almost entirely. I hope this will be reversed shortly, but if it isn't — or even if it is, but leaves lasting damage — amateur astronomy is about to change radically: The days of good, affordable telescopes may be ending, at least in the United States.

Right now, all shipments from Celestron are suspended. Meade and Orion, as you know, went out of business for unrelated reasons a few months ago. Brands that we order directly from China, such as Askar, ZWO, and ToupTek, will of course be much higher priced than before. I suspect Celestron, Sky-Watcher, and other companies that use Chinese manufacturing will survive and sell primarily to other countries; their products will remain available here, at more than twice the price, while we envy our British and Japanese colleagues. Maybe smugglers will carry corrector plates and eyepieces sewn into their overcoats.

If you have a telescope and are not actively using it, take note that your telescope is going to be in demand. Don't let good telescopes be discarded or given away mindlessly. Get them into the hands of people who will use them to learn and appreciate the sky.

We will need a new emphasis on repairing, refurbishing, and modifying existing telescopes, as amateur astronomers did with WWII surplus optics in the 1950s. Lenses don't wear out. Electronic drive mechanisms do, and plenty of telescopes need to see new life on newer mounts, or even with their parts built into new optical systems. Telescope-fixing will become a more important part of the hobby, as it was decades ago.

We also need to think about setting up instrument-loan programs at astronomy clubs, museums, libraries, and the like. This is particularly pertinent because a beginner often needs one kind of instrument for the first year or so, and then moves to something more advanced. Maybe that first year should be spent with a borrowed or rented telescope.

You may have thought the Daily Notebook had ceased, but no, I've just been busy. I'm back!

Permanent link to this entry