Practical Observation

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Don Quixote
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Practical Observation

#1

Post by Don Quixote »


This piece is written for those who have been at the wicket gate and overcome by a certain intimidation in the obscurity of a city sky or the effulgent sky of the dark countryside.

In the former we are lost in the dearth and wonder HOW to begin. In the latter we are lost in the myriad shining diamonds of light and know not WHERE to begin. But in both cases we WANT to begin !

I am reminded of the time when I was 13 on the farm. I wanted to drive in the worst way. (In fact that is exactly how I did drive, but that is another story.)
We had a 1964 F 100 pickup truck. It had the 3 speed shifter on the column, plus reverse. One morning I was there by myself and I decided I was gonna drive that pickup truck. The day before one of us boys had heaved a 7 foot 2X4 out the upper story of an old house we were "deconstructing" and it had sailed right throught that little rear window over the bed of the truck. Now it was well ventilated. I got in. I started the engine. Stepped on the clutch and ran the shifter up and down and back and forth. I just wanted to get a feel for it. Pretty soon I was ready and I let go of the clutch. Cur-chunk ! I learned right then what "popping" the clutch did. Eventually I was driving around in an open pasture that lay south of the house. Now this was river bottom land, and guess what. There were hidden sloughs of very wet ground beneath the tall grass. Yup. I burried the rear end of that pickup to the axle. The more I tried to get free the deeper I went.

That was sort of what it was like the first time I drove my 80mm telescope. I did not get stuck in the mud but I got stuck in the bewildering array of stars. That first night I did nothing but cruise around in wonder.

But I concluded that this was not the best plan. I WANTED to see. I had seen stuff on that cruise. I did not know what I was seeing, but I somehow knew that it was more than just stars. There were fuzzy blobs and little groups of stars all packed tightly together, and there were colors !

I found an article on the internet about astronomy. In this article they spoke of something called a planisphere. From what I read I thought I should give this thing a try. I found one at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

Next time I will share with you how that went.

And by the way... My brother Malcolm laughed at me many times as he recounted my story to all our friends in high school. He had gotten home before anyone else and pulled me out of the muck with our old Farmall M. Dad never heard the story, but he always wondered where all the mud came from that was packed in the wheels.
Markmjm United States of America
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Re: Practical Observation

#2

Post by Markmjm »


Thanks for sharing your interesting and humorous story. 😊

Unfortunately, I have to deal with the bright lights of the city, which is frustrating for those of us who are interested in stargazing. 😕

Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, If I want a darker sky, I only have to drive about an hour to be in the desert, where the skys are more accommodating. :observer:
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Practical Observation

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Post by Bigzmey »


Great story Mark! City sky or country sky, I always find targets to observe. I don't even mind the Moon. Clouds - that's completely different issue. :lol:
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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