night sky coolness
went to my first public star party last night — first time in over 20 years that i looked through a telescope not in a store. what i discovered by talking with many people and checking out, among others, an 11" schmidt-cassegrain and 18" and 20" dobsonians:- huge, expensive telescopes are wonderful, but... not always so much an obvious improvement as i figured they'd be. seems they're somewhat like bicycles in their cost/performance curve; plenty of fun to be had with a moderate joint.
- most of the hosts were friendly, and eager to show cool stuff — very helpful and attentive to the little kids that were there. the knowledge wasn't as deep as i expected (had i the same rigs and time spent, i'd know much more than most of the geeks i met), but the "i don't knows" were quick and honest when applicable.
- if you have kids, or are shopping for your own scope, you should consider visiting an open star party. (many astronomy clubs offer them regularly — some even on city sidewalks, though most tend to be out in the country for better visibility. here's a good search start.) the kids have fun whether looking through scopes or running around the grass, and you'll get a chance to quickly test a wide variety of gear. the guy with the 20" dobsonian had disconnected it from the servos, and encouraged visitors to move it around by hand. that was a kick. (i'm talking about a telescope that's about 8' tall, and requires a ladder for most viewing.)
- all three of the most expensive rigs i was fortunate to look through for more than a single glimpse had at least minor problems with their object location systems. that surprised me. had read so much neato material about how simple and reliable such systems are. if you're not familiar, the general deal is that with a computerized rig you rough-align your mount to polaris, aim the telescope at three suitably angularly varied objects for alignment (you don't even need to know what they are), then merely punch a "go to" button for any other visible object in the database. sounds wonderful, and i can understand theoretically how it works, but even these guys with their mega-$ setups had problems. a thrill nonetheless.
- if attending a star party, be sure to check that org's recommended practices (including clothing, which most people tend to underestimate on warm days). for example, waving a standard white flashlight around, or enabling your car headlights... not popularity-inducing; some of the stuff you'll be looking at requires extremely dark-adapted vision.
- of everything i saw, i think saturn was the freakiest for me. almost looked cartoonish in its supreme clarity and realism. beauty beyond words.
- moon wasn't bad either though. a good telescope gets you right up the moon's ass, with shocking clarity. BTW, though it's not immediately obvious, the full moon isn't necessarily the ideal time to view the moon, since there's no oblique light to add shadows; easy to forget that the sun is nearly directly behind you (opposition) as you view the full moon. moon looks tasty when the sun's more from the side. obviously, any bright moon tends to lessen the visibility of other sky stuff.
- also saw mercury, M51, M13 (which reminded me of the album cover for the mahavishnu orchestra's Between Nothingness and Eternity), mizar and alcor, M104, and M3.
posted by saltypig @ 19:09
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