Change Happens
I mentioned on the 90 MilliMeter Facebook page that a few changes were coming to the 90 MilliMeter Observatory and now, a few of those changes are beginning to take place. The first thing you’ll notice is the new look for the website. We thought we would clean it up a bit and make it easier to read. Tell us what you think.
Next, a few equipment upgrades were in order. We’re keeping the Celestron 60mm refractor and the 90 mm – the observatory staple, is undergoing a little refurbishing and should be back online by the end of September. We’ve added a 120mm refractor to the line up and replaced the Celestron Omni XLT 150R with an Explore Scientific AR152.
Additional plans currently on the board include astronomy outreach projects where we’ll setup solar telescopes during community events as well as supporting local astronomy clubs with their public star parties. We want to reach out to the area schools and provide them with a “Family Astronomy Night” which would include a indoor presentation followed by observing through telescopes for a hour or two. as I said, these plans are currently on the board and have not been finalized. With a little hard work everything should be in place by the end of the year.
Finally, I had the opportunity to go to a couple of dark sky sites and get in some observing with the new ES AR152 refractor so, shortly I’ll post an observing report and let you know what we think of the new telescope.
Clear Skies,
Dan
Tweet this!Cloudy Nights
There hasn’t been too much of clear skies around here as of late. The last time I was out to do any observing was back in early July. The hobby of astronomy can be a little frustrating with respect to the weather at times. Hot, humid, hazy skies, sometimes the sky is clear all day and you start to think, it’s going to be a great night to get out with my telescope, only to have the sky cloud over around dusk. What’s an amateur astronomer to do with all those cloudy nights?
A few things come to mind. Take the time to plan your next observing session. It’s always a good idea to know what you want to observe once you do get out there. I like to plan most of my session around one or two constellations. I like to really dig into an area of the sky and seek out all the objects the constellation has to offer. Start with the bright stars and double stars then move on to clusters, nebulas and galaxies. It’s a good idea to have an alternate plan as well. Just in case the objects you initially planned on observing are lost behind trees or some other obstruction.
Give your equipment a good going over. Inspect your telescope lens for dust or smudges. Be careful cleaning them however. If your not sure how to go about cleaning your optics, don’t. You could damage the special coatings on the lens and render your telescope useless. Those special coatings on your telescopes lens are there to enhance the performance of the lens. Damage them and the deep sky objects may not seem as bright as they used to.
Read. Nothing gets the astro-juices flowing like a good article from one of the astronomy magazines or a good astronomy book. Find a topic and research it until you’re an expert on the subject. The science of astronomy has a wide range of topics and you’re sure to find a field in astronomy that interests you. I am particularly interested in variable stars. To be more specific, eclipsing binaries stars fascinate me, and I can spend hours researching them.
So, don’t let the cloudy skies get in the way. There’s still plenty of fun to be had.
Tweet this!At The Eyepiece
I joined a little online astronomy club about a year ago called StarParty and now it has grown to over 300 members. Most not active but, oh well. There are a few of us that converse with each other fairly often and share our observing experiences and our weather gripes and other things astronomy related. More recently however one member has taken it to another level and started a radio show on BlogTalkRadio about observing. It’s not like other astronomy sites or internet radio shows where they talk about the science of astronomy but, what matters most to all of us backyard astronomers. That of course is what’s at the eyepiece. Hence the shows name, “At The Eyepiece“. I’ve listened to a few of the shows and tuned in last week for the live broadcast and I have to tell you it is worth your time to check it out. The shows host, John Kramer, does an excellent job of keeping the show moving by talking about telescopes and mounts, keeping logs, using eyepieces and observing deep sky objects, the planets and that bright object in the night sky, The Moon, and just about everything the backyard astronomer wants to talk about. John invites his listeners to call in and share their thoughts and experiences on air and via chat room. The show airs every Thursday night at 11:00 PM Central time which is midnight here on the east coast, EDT.
Why not tune in and be a part of the show? After all, your used to being up late observing anyway. Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/at-the-eyepiece/
Clear Skies,
Dan
Tweet this!Upgrades
Finally, after a few nights of testing and learning how to use new equipment, after photographing from several locations, I can say I’ve upgraded the mount from a Celestron CG-4 to an Orion Atlas EQ-G mount. That’s quite an improvement over the manual operation that was standard over the years here at the 90 MilliMeter Observatory. Don’t get me wrong here, I strongly believe that the tried and true method of star-hopping to locate deep sky objects is an essential and required skill of the backyard astronomer. After all, it was the thrill of the hunt that kept me involved in amateur astronomy for so long. There’s nothing like seeking out a faint deep sky object, letting the 7th and 9th magnitude star patterns that pass through your finder scope lead the way to a rewarding prize. Many personalized asterisms are defined as you learn your way to your intended target. After a few years of doing this you even start to mention those asterisms to other amatuers as you talk to them about your exploits. That will usually draw a few funny looks from them as they have never heard of the “Dotted Triad” or the “eastern pointer”. Both personal asterism of mine.
While I may miss star-hopping, I must say there is somthing about the go-to mounts that I really appreciate. That I can easily locate almost any deep sky object within grasp of the telescope attached to it. I will admit there have been times while star-hopping I became frustrated because I couldn’t find the object I was look for. But that is part of the art of star-hopping. My guess is that I will continue to use the go-to mount on a regular basis and only go back to star-hopping when I’m feeling a little nostalgic.
Tweet this!Star Party For 5th & 6th Graders
On April 5th Chesmont Astronomical Society hosted a a star party for one of our local grade schools. The program included an indoor presentation by our club president which covered a brief history of astronomy, how the sky looked tonight, the types of telescopes the students would be looking through and what deep sky objects they may see in with those telescopes. The program also talked about light pollution and the effect it has on society and the night sky.
Once the students came outdoors to look through the telescopes, the things they learned about during the presentation began to come to life. Many of the students never looked through a telescope of any kind and this experience was one they are going to remember. We had 7 telescopes setup from a 60mm refractor to 22 inch Dobsonian.
The students and their parents enjoyed looking at everything from double stars (iota Cancer) to the the Orion Nebula and M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. Clearly the favorite object was the Orion Nebula. Open and Globular clusters were also viewed.
Astronomy outreach is so very important to children throughout the world. Many children never get the opportunity to see first hand the wonders of the universe, and only see it through media such as photos and TV. You never really know how much of an impression you make on someone when you share your knowledge and your telescope. Who knows, maybe one of those students will be come a better student because they now realize there’s another world out there to explore, maybe, one of them becomes the next great Einstein.
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