Backyard Astronomy - Gazing Into The Past

Astronomy continues to be one of the more popular hobbies. One of the major reasons is because you can stargaze just about anywhere. Although country settings away from city lights are best, everyone can see the moon. And even though the closest star (after our sun), Alpha Centauri is over 4 light years away, can be seen easily with the naked eye.

While simple stargazing with the naked eye is great fun, using a telescope can be awe inspiring. The view of the heavens through even a small telescope is something that has to be experienced to be appreciated. Even though modern technology allows us to view the celestial realm with images on tv and through the internet, there is nothing quite like seeing it though a telescope.

Different Telescopes

There are basically three kinds of telescope. The refractor and reflector and catadioptric. The refractor telescope collects and bends light with a convex lense and eyepiece. This bending or refracting concentrates the light rays to a small focal point making things appear larger or brighter. The reflector telescope on the other hand, as its name suggests, reflects light from a convex mirror in the back of the telescope to another mirror in the front and finally to the eyepiece. The convex shape of the mirrors "scoop up" and concentrate the light to a focal point thereby magnifying an object. Caution: Objects in a telescope appear closer than they really are!

The third type, called Catadioptric, combines features from both reflecting and refracting telescopes.

Which one is best? For image quality and portability, my choice is the catadioptric. It's easily transported and has the best features of both the reflector and refractor telescopes. Because of the design, catadioptric telescopes are almost completely free of the coma found in reflectors and the chromatic aberration in refractors. Chromatic aberration is the distortion of color due to a lenses inability to bring various colors in the light into focus. Coma is the distortion of an object at the edge of your field of view.

Convenience is another factor to consider. If you have to transport your telescope as I do you'll appreciate the catadioptric's compact size, light weight and how easy it is to set up and take down.

Travel Through Time

We all know light travels at an unimaginable speed of 186,000 miles per second. Even our sun's light takes about 8 minutes to reach us once it's left the surface. Now think about our closest neighbor, Alpha Centauri. It's over 4 light years away so the light from its' surface began its' journey over 4 years ago. We are actually seeing it as it was more than 4 years in the past. In a very real sense we are looking back in time. Think back to what you were doing 4 years ago. Whatever it was, while you were doing it, light eminated from the surface of Alpha Centauri and came screaming along at 186,000 miles per second on the long journey toward earth, arriving here just a few minutes ago. Alpha Centauri is actually part of a star system. 3 separate stars, Alpha Centauri A and B form a binary while Alpha Centauri C is 13,000 Astronomical Units (AU) away. This is part of the reason it's easily seen with the naked eye, you are actually looking at 3 stars instead of 1.

Closer To Home

One need not look outside our own solar system to find amazing sites in the night sky. The moon may look smooth when seen with the naked eye but train a telescope on it and prepared to be wowed. The level of detail will depend on your telescope but the craters and jagged mountains are clearly visible. The best viewing, in my opinion is when the moon is in a crescent stage as the shadow created by the earth allows for much more detail to be seen. I saw the moon for the first time through a telescope years ago. I watched as it slowly drifted past my field of view and could almost feel its' movement. Of course I knew it moved along its' orbit around the earth but to actually see it moving was an incredible experience.

Saturn, probably the most fun to observe because of the rings, makes for spectacular stargazing. Depending on the time of year, the rings of Saturn are visible and to this observer, quite breathtaking. While I couldn't discern any colors or variations in the rings, they appear quite distinctly from the planet itself, something I'd seen only in books prior to that.

Stand on the shores of any ocean on earth and get a sense of the sheer enormity of it. Then realize that it's not even a drop in a bucket by comparison to the size of the sky it sits beneath. Looking up at the stars at night makes you realize just how massive everything really is. There is no number that can truly measure or even estimate its' size or dimensions. The only thing that can even remotely compare to the wonder of space is the imagination of those who view it.

Ron Berry is a freelance journalist who writes for Essay Street Article Directory and operates ScopeDoggie.com - The universal choice for telescopes online.

Astronomy Village - The Astronomers' Mecca

Sharon, the State of Georgia

The most important rule at this remote vacation spot is simple: no white light. Even a sliver of the pupil-contracting rays coming from the window of a cabin at Deerlick Astronomy Village could ruin a neighbor's view of the Milky Way. The 39 hectares village situated in the outskirts of Taliaferro County in Georgia s designed for amateur stargazers looking for total darkness and wide-open spaces to build weekend homes.

"It's like a lake house for geeks," said Chris Hetlage, co-founder of the village, as he tromped through the darkness toward his observatory. He believes that such type of rest has a bright future. There are only two other similar communities nationwide - one in Florida and one in Arizona - and he said the demand for dark skies is soaring as suburban sprawl produces more light pollution.

Star lovers have snatched up all of the 17 plots less than two years ago. The business plan aimed for those plots to sell in seven years.

The grassy field lined with trees holds six homes and nine observatories, which look like tiny cabins with retractable roofs.

Next to the houses is a 4-hectare hilltop observation field where stargazers who don't want to buy property can pitch a tent and scan the sky for free. The field is the new home of the Atlanta Astronomy Club's telescope and the 300-member group's annual stargazing festival.

All those who live here are very careful with the white light; houses emit only soft red light. Windows must be lined with light-blocking materials to prevent rays from escaping.

Drivers can only use their parking lights at night. Star gazers who wander about the property after dark use flashlights with red bulbs.

Five years ago, Hetlage and friend Donovan Conrad began hunting for small plots of land where they could build their personal observatories. The two are amateur astrophotographers who take hundreds of frames with high-powered cameras attached to telescopes and layer them on a computer to create images of galaxies 10,000 light years away.

On finding an appropriate place, they bought the surrounding lands and decided to build an astronomy village here. They named the village Deerlick after a cluster of galaxies called the Deer Lick Group.

The first few years these two men accompanied by a small group of initiators spend all their spare time here, clearing the land for the development, installing electrical equipment and water-supply. Conrad resorted to the help of three his sons whom he also moved here.

"The place is visited by remarkable people, the sky is wonderful here", says Dave Lasco who visits his observatory three to four times a year. "It's just a unique community".

Iuri Tarabanov writes about interesting travel experiences. His Travel Services site is http://www.travelime.com

An Introduction to Astronomy and Stargazing

Mankind has always been fascinated with the heavens since time immemorial. Stargazing was not just a pastime on lovely nights. People navigated the seas and crossed continents with stars as their guide. They even thought the constellations charted their fates. But that was before the giant leap from astrology to astronomy.

Astronomy literally means 'law of the stars,' from the Greek words 'astron' (star) and 'nomos' (law), but astronomers would rather accurately define it as the 'scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation), and is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.'

However long-winded Wikipedia's definition seems, don't let it tick you off. There's more to astronomy than theories, calculations, and tedious observations. One thing's certain though: astronomy is not for jocks.

Astronomy, one of the oldest sciences, was controversial in that it challenged long-held religious perceptions. Copernicus and Galileo Galilei paid dearly for holding on to their correct observations of the solar system - that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around, as the Catholic Church used to insist. Ancient civilizations recorded heavenly phenomena, albeit propped by superstitious underpinnings.

The invention of the telescope, however, provided the significant impetus for the transformation of celestial observations into a veritable science. 'Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, the making of calendars, and even astrology,' Wiki says, 'but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.'

Today, professional astronomy is focused on either observation or theory. Observational astronomy acquires and analyzes data using basic principles of physics, while theoretical astronomy is mainly concerned with analytical models to describe objects and phenomena in space. These two branches, of course, complement each other.

However, don't get the impression that you need a Ph.D. in astrophysics to get suitably curious with the fascinating display of stars on a clear moonless night. Amateur astronomers have made many important astronomical discoveries. In fact, astronomical societies encourage the involvement of amateur observers, the sky being too wide for just professional astronomers to cover.

So start stargazing and don't just memorize the constellations. You can buy or make your own amateur telescope and watch the sky. To paraphrase the late Carl Saga: in the vastness of the universe and the immensity of time, it is an honor to share a planet, an epoch and a 'hobby' with Galileo Galilei.

Be reacquainted with the stars and the galaxy. It's a great way to find a connection with the world. For more information you can check this site: http://www.euso-mission.org/

If you want to look at them closely and be inspired with its majesty, learn more about the night sky with telescopes on this site: http://www.euso-mission.org/What_is_a_telescope.html

Astronomy, Star Gazing, and Green Laser Pointers

There is nothing more frustrating in astronomy that than unsuccessfully trying to identifying an object in the night sky to a companion by waving your arms, pointing fingers, describing and gestulating. An elegant, simple and very effective solution to this problem is to use green lasers pointers to point out objects in the sky.

Green laser pointers are high technology gadgets that are becoming more and more popular in astronomy. Not only are green laser pointers ideal for pointing out celestial objects, they are also very useful for aligning telescopes and for atrophotography.

Why green laser pointers

Green laser pointers are the preferred laser pointer color for astronomy because green is the most visible laser pointer color. The reason why green is more visible is the human eye is most sensitive to green light. The other reason is the effect of light in the earth's atmosphere. Light is visible in the sky when the atmosphere scatters it and higher wavelengths are scattered more than higher wavelengths. Green is a medium wavelength so it scatters more and is more visible than longer wavelengths such as red.

Other applications

Using green laser pointers to point out celestial object to people next to you is not the only application for laser pointers in astronomy. A green laser pointer can also be mounted on a telescope using a bracket or by holding the laser by hand in the groove parallel to the telescopes optical axis. The green laser pointer beam clearly shows where the telescope is pointing and the object being viewed through the telescope.

A green laser pointer mounted on a telescope can also makes aligning the telescope to a celestial object much faster and easier.

How powerful should the laser pointer be?

Green laser pointers can range in power levels from 1mW all the way to 200mW so deciding which power level to use can be tricky. The points to consider when choosing the power level for an astronomy laser are

-The number of people star gazing with you. If it is just one person, a low power such as 5mW will be suitable. If you are stargazing with a large group of people who will not be standing next to you, the laser needs to be more visible so a high power level such as 100mW would be suitable.

-The level of ambient light. If you are stargazing at dawn/dusk, during a full moon or in built up areas where there is a lot of light pollution, a low powered beam such as 5mW would be harder to see. You would generally need at least 50mW or more in this kind of situation.

Higher powered laser pointers are not always better because any glare from them can easily ruin your night vision and can provide a distraction. Many stargazing nights have been ruined when people have been paying more attention to the new and exotic high power laser used to point out objects than the actual objects themselves.

Caution

Deliberately pointing a laser at aircraft is a very serious offence in every country so avoid star gazing near airports and do not use a laser when there is an aircraft in the section of the sky being viewed.

Article is courtesy of Dragonlasers - No 1 lasers, laser pointer and green laser online store.

Frank is from Dragonlasers at http://www.dragonlasers.com

How to Get Started in Astronomy

What does it take to become an astronomer? Well, curiosity is a requisite. It's what fuels you to look at the night sky, wondering about outer space, its objects and energies, how the universe began and the sheer magnificence of its lights and vastness.

If you want to make a career out of 'stargazing,' it may not be enough to just look skyward at night or name the constellations. Being an astronomer entails a lot of work, observations and academic studies, and one has to network with other astronomers and secure funds for equipment purchase and upkeep and other expenses.

But astronomy, which has gained steadily increasing popularity among 'stargazers' the world over, is not just for people with PhD's in planetary science or astrophysics. There are a watchful army of observers armed with simple telescopes, keeping their eyes on certain sections of the night sky.

Amateur astronomers have in fact made some contributions to astronomical studies. Gazers in Cebu, Philippines, for instance, have discovered the two more red spots on planet Jupiter.

To help you get started in astronomy, here are some things you need to have:

Telescope(s). You may try good reflectors, which are far cheaper to start with and provide better viewing. If you want, you can try out the popular telescopes from Meade, Orion, Bushnell and Celestron. These are the leading manufacturers of quality telescopes for astronomy amateurs. If you want to make your own telescope, simply find some do-it-yourself instructions on the web and purchase the parts.

Map. You can download stargazing maps from some websites. You can't just point your telescope at any direction without any clue of what you're looking at. The sky is too wide and you need a good telescope to locate certain heavenly objects accurately.

Astronomy book. Studying astronomy is a lot of headwork. Your observations must be guided by theories and information on astronomy. Although there is a multitude of astronomy books out there in the library, you may also surf the internet, or try "Turn Left at Orion," which also teaches you how to use your telescope.

Notebook. Jot down your observations, impressions and discoveries, be it on a paper notebook, a handheld gizmo or a computer.

The stars look good from way up there at night. They beckon. And astronomy needs more eyes checking the wide sky for - take your pick - stars, planets, systems, galaxies, comets, meteors, asteroids, near-earth objects, and a lot more. But first, you have to be curious enough.

For those who would like to learn more about astronomy and telescopes: types of telescope

When you need more information about commercially available telescopes, try searching for it here: celestron telescopes