Old Dogs and New Tricks

As Mike Petrasko shared in "A Pilgrim's Progress" right here on Insight Observatory, we recently had the pleasure of delivering a talk at a local library, outlining our experiences with amateur astronomy over the last 30-plus years. While composing the astrophotography content of the talk, one thing was glaringly apparent: things have changed!

Celestron 8" Telescope Prime Focus Astrophotography 

Setup Circa 1995 - Photograph by Jefferey R. Charles

So, at the risk of sounding like the old-timer who laments "well, back in MY day....", it might be worth noting the differences between taking an amateur astrophoto before robotic telescopes, and after, now that the process can be entirely automated. Back in the day, unless you were operating a sophisticated observatory telescope, there was no scrolling menu to pick desired objects to observe, no automatic telescope alignment, no automatic correction to telescope tracking errors, etc. Spending an hour or more with your eyeball glued to a guide star while the exposure was underway (to correct for tracking errors) was par for the course. (And of course, this assumes one actually had the object framed in the camera.) Handling film pieces, strips or rolls carelessly could destroy a whole night's efforts.

Modern equipment available to the amateur has streamlined these tasks immensely. With accurate alignment provided by the newer amateur scopes and mounts, one need not even SEE the object. If you have selected an object from the telescope's large library (THOUSANDS of choices), you can be sure the mount has slewed to the correct location. Cameras for astrophotography have kept pace too. No more struggling with accurate focus, loading film, changing filters, monitoring shutter time, etc.

Let's take a look at how an image was acquired in the "old" days, perhaps circa 1995. Start with careful set-up and accurate polar alignment of the telescope. Focus on an available star (sometimes a marathon of frustration in itself!). Acquire the object to be photographed in the field of view, assuming it can be seen (otherwise, just how good are your setting circles?). Find a guide star nearby, bright enough to do the job and center the guiding optics on it. Take a deep breath to let all vibration settle down, then open the shutter with the cable release. Now just, er, relax! Only an hour or so of awkward close monitoring of the guide star with tiring eyes, cross-hairs, correcting motors, and joystick...

Modern Remote Robotic Telescope
For Astrophotography

Well, as satisfying as results could be from those techniques, modern, robotic, and remotely managed telescopes are the rage. How about sitting at a nice warm desk, picking an object from a computer program, kicking off an automated process, hitting the sack, and waking in the morning to find a knockout astrophoto, (or two or more, even of different objects) sitting in your inbox? You can learn how to accomplish dramatic results through Insight Observatory's partnering with iTelescope, using robotic telescopes located in dark skies in the U.S., Spain, and Australia.

Yep, there is a bit of nostalgic romance when doing things the old way. But this Old Dog likes the best of both worlds. I still like to get out under the night sky, but I now leave the cold temps and no-sleep marathon sessions to iTelescope's New Tricks, using world-class gear.

Remote control and remote imaging are here to stay, and the results stand for themselves.

Harry Hammond
Mashpee, MA

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Keeping an Observing Log

Sky and Telescope magazine writer, Bob King, recently posted a great article on the Sky and Telescope website entitled "Pleasures of Keeping an Astro Journal". I could relate my experiences with keeping an Astro journal myself in so many ways to his article. I started keeping an observing log back when I was in my early teens at the same time I purchased my Astroscan 4.25" telescope from Edmund Scientific. The company had a special "bundle" deal with the telescope that included an observer's notebook.

Jupiter Observation from 1991.

After reading Mr. King's article, I pulled out the old orange, three-ring binder I that I now store all of my observing session entries I logged back in those days. The earliest entry was in July 1981, with the last one being logged in November 1992. As I flipped through the pages, it was interesting to see how my observing skills and recordings improved over the years. Around 1985, I ran out of Edmund's observing notebook blank pages. therefore, I created my own with a typewriter and a pencil compass. I included an example of my own observation form in this post with an entry of a Jupiter observation I made back in 1991.

There were times that I used a simple number two pencil as well as colored pencils for sketches, but for most of the observing sessions, I stuck to a pencil. For example, there was a week back in April 1982, my Insight Observatory Associate, Muir Evenden, and I were on spring vacation from high school. The nights that week were so exceptionally clear, we set up my Astroscan 4.25" telescope in my front yard just about every night that week. We used a star atlas called "Seasonal Star Charts" I purchased from Orion Telescopes and Binoculars. Muir and I found at least 15 new deep-sky objects that week that we have never seen before. We sketched those objects with a simple pencil and made drawings of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn one evening that week using colored pencils.

Jupiter and Mars as observed through

Astroscan 4.25" telescope 04/19/1982

I highly recommend keeping an observer's notebook. Not is it only fun, but you can detect detail in astronomical objects that cannot be detected with conventional imaging equipment. To quote Mr. King in his article, "There are many reasons to keep a journal. It's a low-pressure, low-tech creative outlet. Over the years, it's fun to look back at your Astro adventures to relive a moment. Writing and sketching prepare the mind and eye to see better and more deeply the next time we step up to the telescope."

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A Pilgrim's Progress

On Saturday, February 7, 2015, a talk was given to the public at the Cotuit Library in Cotuit, Massachusetts.  Fellow Insight Observatory staff member, Harry Hammond and I gave a presentation entitled "A Pilgrims Progress" of amateur astronomy.  The event covered adventures that spanned over a 35-year period, as experienced by a couple of friends, showing their progress and pitfalls along their journey. The program was well-received by local residents of the town on an afternoon that was anticipating more snowfall in the Greater New England Area.

A "Pilgrims Progress" Talk was Given at the Cotuit Library.

Harry and I started the presentation with stories of how we both independently became interested in astronomy. From those stories, the talk evolved into sharing our passions, such as mine for visual observing and Harry's for astrophotography. We both shared a few anecdotes of our individual experiences in amateur astronomy as well as our experiences together. A few examples are being Charter members of the Cape Cod Astronomical Society back in 1985 to collaborating together on the Sacred Heart School's Observatory project via Insight Observatory in the summer of 2014.

As Harry covered his experiences with astrophotography, he explained the basics of how back in the day, simple exposures of the night sky could capture brilliant colors from deep-sky objects such as diffused nebula. Harry also touched on such methods of the (now antiquated) technique of "hyper-sensitizing" print or slide film to the new conventional methods for astrophotography utilizing digital and CCD cameras.

M20 - Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius

Imaged by Harry Hammond.

I concentrated mostly on sharing my visual observing techniques with the telescopes I owned and used over the past three decades. The highlight of the talk for me was telling the story of the "Personal High" of my experiences with amateur astronomy. The experience occurred on the morning of February 11, 1989, around 1:00 am when I independently discovered extragalactic supernova 1989B in the galaxy designated M66 in the constellation, Leo.

The purpose of the talk was to share, introduce and hopefully inspire some of the attendees to the fun and rewards that can come from such an exciting hobby.

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