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Serious Home Observatories
peatbakke writes: "Here's an interesting article about the affordability of backyard observatories. Rich kids get all the fun at the moment, but it's getting better." Getting away from city lights may be the hardest part, though.
top ten signs you spend too much time on the computer:
10-you look at the stars on your monitor
seriously though, where is the fun in looking at the stars on a computer than actually getting outside and looking up at the sky, possibly with the help of a backyard observatory
Yeah... and for that matter, why ever go visit the Grand Canyon or Yosemite National Park when you can find photographs of them on the web? And why go to a concert when you can buy a CD or download a MP3 of the same music? Gee, with computer software and Google, we never need to leave our desks at all and view nature first hand!
(Sarcasm off.) Don't get me wrong. I'm very fond of programs like XEphem and KStars, not to mention sites like the Astronomy Picutre of the Day. But most amateur astronomers aren't in it for seeing the absolute best possible HST picture, or for viewing the constellations as abstract patterns however those patterns are presented. They... er, we are like birdwatchers in many ways. You can find all the pictures of birds you want in various bird books, but there's something different about seeing it first hand.
So while programs like Xephem and projects like the national virtual observatory are great, only those with a fundamental misunderstanding of amateur astronomers (such as the one described in the article here) would think it reasonable to suggest that they are a substitute for a good dark sky and seeing faint, fuzzy galaxies first hand.
-Rob
Getting away from city lights may be the hardest part, though.
Light pollutions is a huge problem. I realized this myself when I started using a telescope, many nights was I standing just outside our house. Streetlights and light from our neighbours were very disturbing. So one time, I went to a nearby airfield (a very small one) and it was so dark i couldn't see my own hand. Then we looked up and saw the milky way. Not just like a faint barely visible ribbon, but it was really really bright. It was like a wide bright flood of stars across the sky, and it was basically impossible to see any constellations. Haven't seen anything quite like it before or after. Ofcourse, the lack of any artificial light source was only one good thing; the sky was probably more clear than ever. Too bad I left my telescope when I went to college...
Will work for bandwidth
really true anymore. Used to be, but now you can pick
up a 10 inch dob with good optics for 450 bucks.
True, but a 10" dob isn't quite the epitome of amateur telescope making anymore.
A 10" mirror is still a good piece of equipment, but hardly deserving of the type of observatory we're talking about here.
While it's true that many of the discoveries that we consider important (Galileo, Cassini, etc.) were made with telescopes with smaller mirrors smaller than what's available today, they didn't have to contend with sodium street lamps and huge cities that throw stray photons about like they were free.
Add to that the fact that what manufacturers call "good" optics are merely marginal by most standards, and it becomes worthwhile for someone interested in the process to make their own.
AND I'll bet you that I could build a 10" dob for less than half that cost.
Clear skies,
Joe Mirando
http://scope.joemirando.net
Ah but they do. The problem is that people now feel the need to illuminate every house, garage, barn, bilboard and tree regardless of how far away from "the city" you are. A brilliant display of northern lights appeared over a lake in the northern Wisconsin woods 1987. Recent auroras are no longer visible here because neighbors across the lake illuminate the underside of trees with spot lights. While searching for a dark sky to view Comet Hale Bopp from, I drove through miles of farm land with no village larger than 5000 people and did not find a dark sky. The milky way was not even easily visible from the middle of Lake Michigan because the lights of Chicago 100 miles to the southwest illuminated the sky. The international dark sky association estimates show that up to 2 Billion dollars is spent every year illuminate the night sky.
Really folks, is this necessary?