AMATEUR ASTRONOMY ON A BUDGET by Michael W. Lewis

You can read this blog post AMATEUR ASTRONOMY ON A BUDGET by Michael W. Lewis here (http://thechocolatebox-gbm4thecure.blogspot.com/2012/05/thursdays-truffle-ishobbies.html). Welcome to The Chocolate Box....Where every morsel is a surprise! **This mini-mag is an outreach project of www.GBM4cure.com..."Fighting the deadliest cancer you never heard of." Thursday, May 24, 2012 Thursday's Truffle is...Hobbies! AMATEUR ASTRONOMY ON A BUDGET by Michael W. Lewis Several years ago I met Ms. Jennifer Barlow at an astronomy event. She started what became National Dark Sky Week. I realized two things as I listened to her talk about the night sky. First, that she made a contribution to the study of astronomy, and at a young age, and second, I grew up in a place with a wonderful view of the night sky without excess light. Ms. Barlow reminded people that the night sky was a resource that needed preservation for future generations--the same night sky that many people studied as astronomy grew from an amateur pursuit to one of our many sciences today. Under a night sky without excess light, many people witnessed the wonder of the universe for thousands of years. Ms. Barlow reminded people that future generations needed this connection with our wonderful universe. Although it sounds like a subject for a PhD dissertation, astronomy is just as accessible to the average person now as it was during ancient times. I became involved with my local astronomy group several years ago. Nothing has thrilled me more than the first time I saw sun spots safely through a telescope! Sunspot To start with, consider what you are looking for in the sky. This seems like a simple a question at first, until you look at the choices of equipment and the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum available to you on the surface of Earth. Then there is the question of how much money and time you intend to spend on astronomy. Look up into the sky during the day and during the night. What do you see with your naked eye? Is there anything that interests you? Is there anything you would like to see more clearly? This is how astronomy often starts as a hobby. Planets, moons, stars, galaxies, comets, asteroids, meteors, nebulae and other objects are visible in the sky from Earth. Let’s say, for example, you view objects with the naked eye at night in a dark area. With a star chart of the night sky, you can start with strong field binoculars to observe many objects, except the sun. Once you can find many objects in the night sky, you can move up to your first telescope. There are refracting, reflecting, Dobsonian, and Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. The refracting telescopes use lenses to form an image in an eyepiece. The Galilean telescope is a version of refracting telescope. The refracting telescope is old-school observation with lenses. One caveat here: As lenses get heaver for larger telescopes, they actually bend under their own weight. This can create errors in the images you see when using a refracting telescope. The Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes use mirrors and lenses to form an image in an eyepiece, with error correction for the images you observe. Let’s say that you have an interest in sun spots. A Schmidt-Cassegrain with a solar filter is a good and safe choice for this type of observation during the day. A good tripod for your telescope adds to the price; however it adds to the ease and accuracy of observation as well. Reflecting telescopes, invented by Sir Isaac Newton, use mirrors to form an image in an eyepiece. The Dobsonian, as in John Lowry Dobson, telescopes are a version of reflecting telescope. The Dobsonian is a good choice for observation in dark areas; it collects a lot of light at low magnifications. With a Dobsonian, you can view Jupiter and the four largest Jovian Moons, or other faint objects like nebulae. (I decided to switch the order of these two paragraphs so the discussion of errors in the images wouldn't be separated by the reflecting telescope paragraph.) Jupiter Astrophotography adds camera technology to the hobby of astronomy. You can go one of two ways with this. You can use the telescope as a telephoto lens for your camera; you need an equatorial telescope mount and a clock drive for this. (A clock drive moves the telescope and camera as the object moves.) Or you can use the telescope and tripod to find the object you want to photograph, with a camera and telephoto lens on top of the telescope, and then track the object as it moves through the sky with a clock drive. You need a camera that gives you control over the exposure time, and a telephoto lens. The camera and the telescope point to the same object during the exposure time. This gives you two different hobbies for the price of one! But it tends to be two expensive hobbies for the price of one. Good cameras, good telescopes, good clock drives, and good tripods are necessary for astrophotography. If you climb mountains, you may also enjoy infrared astronomy. With infrared equipment, you may detect objects that are too cold to emit light in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. If you get access to a professional infrared telescope, you may witness evidence of methane gas on Mars. NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, Hawaii It helps if you find a local astronomy group in your area. The Astronomical League (Astronomical League National Headquarters, 9201 Ward Parkway; Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64114, 1.816.333.7759, www.astroleague.org) can help you find a local group. They may have sky watches or star parties that you can attend, where you can observe objects with equipment that you do not have or cannot afford. There may be members of the club who make their own equipment, who can show you how to do this for yourself. The idea is to get the best optics and mirrors you can afford for your telescope. There may be second hand equipment available from club members at an affordable price. You can find a local amateur radio astronomy club in your area through the Society of Amateur Astronomers (http://www.radio-astronomy.org/). They also have information about radio astronomical hardware and software on their website, so you can get a telescope setup for radio astronomy if that is something that interests you. What is radio astronomy? Stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae and other objects produce radio waves as well as light waves. Radio telescopes are used for the detection of these radio waves. Like other astronomers on Earth, radio astronomers are fond of places with low levels of interference in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that they observe. In this case the interference is produced by humans in the form of radio waves from transmitters. Do you remember the movie Contact? Jodie Foster plays Carl Sagan's fictional character Eleanor Arroway. In at least one scene she listens to signals from space through headphones, with a series of radio telescope dishes outside behind her. You do need that much equipment to have a radio telescope. Radiotelescopes Start with observation with your naked eye, during the day or night, of objects except the sun as often as you like. This is the cheapest way. Next you can purchase a star chart for a few US dollars. After you can find many objects in the night sky, you can purchase a pair of binoculars. Remember to purchase good lenses for observation. Cheap instruments may mean cheap lenses and/or mirrors. You may get a good pair for $100 US or more. From there you may move up to your first telescope. A Dobsonian telescope allows a good view of the planets and some larger moons in our solar system, to faint objects in the night sky. At least one brand comes with a base in which the telescope sits. You can move the telescope around in a circle, aim it higher, or aim it lower easily. You may build your own or purchase one for under $1000 US. A two-inch wide eyepiece is a nice addition to the telescope. Expect a price of at least $200 US for this item. You may want another telescope like a Schmidt-Cassegrain. A tripod or other type of mount is necessary for this type of telescope. Purchase with the goal of getting good quality lenses, good quality mirrors, and a good quality tripod. Also, a good quality solar filter for sun spot observation, if you like, is a safe way to go at this point. When you consider a motorized clock drive or a computer goto system, again, your goal is to get good quality equipment. (A goto system is used to move your telescope to view an object automatically. This is handy for a quick view of a faint object.) Consider a 12-volt car battery for your clock drive as well. Costs here vary depending on brands of equipment and types of equipment. Expect a price over $1000 to $2000 US at least for only the telescope. Prices for a tripod, clock drive, and other accessories vary by brand and quality. Before you move up from a Dobsonian telescope, visit a sky watch, star party, or International Astronomy Day event. Look at some telescopes and talk to some people about what to buy and what a fair price is. Shop for a while first before you buy. If you want to purchase a camera for astrophotography, then you should visit a few camera shops. Talk to some photographers before you buy a camera and telephoto lens. Consider use of a film or digital camera with your telescope as the telephoto lens vs. a camera and telephoto lens attached to a sighting telescope. You goal here is to get good quality lenses. Amateur radio operators know a good deal about radios; they need a good deal of knowledge to pass the exams for their radio license(s). Ask a local ham radio operator about equipment and antennas for radio astronomy. The American Radio Relay League (http://www.arrl.org/) has information on local ham radio clubs in your area. Safe and legal setup and operation of antennas and radios is a good thing here, and can be tricky. You can get away from interference to radio astronomy better when you know what the sources of possible interference are, and you can operate your radio equipment in harmony with other radio equipment in your area, when you learn the proper way to operate radio equipment. A ham radio operator can help you with this. Combine this with contact with other amateur radio astronomy enthusiasts for a good background in radio astronomy as a hobby. The Radio JOVE Project(http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/) has some information on the RJ 1.1 Radio Telescope Kit (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/telescope/) that you can purchase. Also the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers has information on monitors and kits you can put together or purchase (http://www.radio-astronomy.org/node/142). Some radio astronomers work on projects that you can get information on through SARA. Radio Astronomy Supplies (Radio Astronomy Supplies, P.O. Box 116, Sanger, Texas 76266 USA, 940.458.7447 http://www.radioastronomysupplies.com/) has some books, CDs, software and equipment for sale. Expect equipment prices from $100 US to over $1000 US for some items. Understand that a radio astronomy telescope may include at least: an antenna or dish, some equipment to hold and move the antenna or dish, a radio receiver, a low noise amplifier, a filter, and computer software that may require Linux or Windows/VISTA operating system running on a computer. You can start with casual observation of objects when you feel like it. You can make a commitment to spend more time with observation of objects in general, or specific objects. You can amuse yourself, or make contributions to science through astronomy. It's all up to you. **************************************** We here at GBM4cure want to thank Mike Lewis for a lot of hard work on a very cool post. Michael W. Lewis works part time and attends college part time, when he can. He is finishing an Associate's Degree in Information Systems Technology. Astronomy is his favorite hobby. He also enjoys computer programming, repairing computers, electronic music, and playing chess. ************************************************ May is Brain Cancer Awareness month! Please visit our link, Warning Signs of Brain Cancer that Survivors Want You to Know At our sponsor site: GBM4cure Thank you for visiting! We'd love to start this mini-mag up again someday, and comments and submissions are always welcome. Our contributors write for us at no charge. If you like them, please pay them a visit! If you have questions or a submission, email gbm4cure@gmail.com. Posted by Linda Lyons-Bailey (for GBM4cure) at 12:00 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Labels: Astronomy, Hobbies No comments: Post a Comment Links to this post Create a Link Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ▼ 2012 (18) ▼ May (10) Thursday's Truffle is...Short Fiction! Tuesday's Truffle is...Something Completely Differ... 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