Quick Post: Telescope #8

A little solar observing at Mariner's Museum Park

I drove across the water to Norfolk the other day to help a fellow with his telescope. He was trying to use WAY too much magnification and was very disappointed in what his 'scope showed him. I tried to talk him down from that ledge but it turned out that he'd already made up his mind to give up on observing for now. At the end of the evening he pretty much THREW his ETX-90RA at me! So now I have yet another Mak-Cas telescope--and an impressive set of eyepieces and other accessories--for the price of two hours' driving and a stop on the way home at Subway!

By a strange co-incidence I've been thinking lately about a travel-scope...an inexpensive unit to carry overseas when the Navy sends me to one tanker or another! It is truly amazing how steady the air can get in Bahrain...

I've been out for a couple of sessions of solar observing and I'm happy with the scope's tracking capabilities, but it's a bit off optically. Well, on my next deployment I'll have plenty of time available to check and correct (if necessary) its collimation.

Astronomy Day 2016

Yesterday (Saturday) was a lot of fun; in the early afternoon I set up my newest 'scope acquisition--a twenty-year-old ETX-90RA--on a picnic table in Mariners Museum Park and spent a couple of hours enticing passersby to pause for a look at the Sun and a massive sunspot just making it's way 'round our star's limb into view, and come evening I drove over to the Virginia Living Museum (VLM) to participate in their monthly star party.  I joined Derek Hanak of the Museum on the courtyard lawn to man the telescopes as the evening thunderstorm cleared and stars came into view. 

Derek actually managed two instruments--a massive SCT reflector and more compact 80mm refractor, while I set up my Mak-Cas reflector a few yards away.  I concentrated on the 9-day-old Moon whilst he focused on Jupiter (later, after Saturn had risen, he used the 80mm to show the Lord of the Rings off to good effect).  While there was a fair breeze the viewing didn't suffer significantly, and all comers expressed appreciation for the views of planets and our natural satellite.

I know that several folks were manning scopes at the observatory, but I never ran up there to see what was going on; actually, I was having so much fun I never even thought to!

We ran the scopes, with brief pauses for bathroom breaks and an explodey battery pack (still haven't figured that one out!), from just after 1900 until nearly midnight, when a fairly thick layer of low cloud was moving in.  I don't know how many folks took advantage of the opportunity to star-gaze  last night, but I'd guess that at least thirty people viewed the waxing gibbous Moon thru my little 'scope--which makes for a pretty satisfying Outreach event, by my lights!

"Astronomy is good for people's souls"--Deborah Byrd

A Few Photos: The Transit of Mercury

A fellow observer enjoys a morning snack

The Lions Bridge Observatory

A typical view of the day's event!  Mercury at lower center.

Sun-gazing at the VLM: Dr. Kelly Herbst keeps things on-track

Quick Post: Knock on Wood

I was washing dishes a little while ago and heard a sound I'd not heard in quite a few years...grabbed my DSLR, sneaked out the side gate and around the house and there he was--a Pileated Woodpecker looking for a snack in one of our neighbor Matt's oaks! It's been a long time; I hope he plans on staying around.

Update: 22 May 2016  I've seen our woodpecker friend twice since first posting this.  He appears to live in the trees across and down the road a few hundred yards, and ranges the entire neighborhood.  No sign yet of a mate, though I remain optimistic!

 

Legacy

All eyes on Venus, 2010

"The true value of a telescope is how many people can view the heavens through it"  (John Dobson)

I've been privileged over many years to have the opportunity not only to  explore and contemplate the wonders of the skies but to be able to share them with many others who might not even have thought to look up and notice the gibbous Moon as it rises above the rooftops; who would not have known that a particularly beautiful conjunction of Jupiter and Venus was reaching it's crescendo; who might have missed news reports about a partial solar eclipse occurring that day.





Through participation in public Star Parties, volunteer work in Virginia Living Museum's Abbitt  Observatory, and my own individual "sidewalk astronomy" efforts, I've learned that an interest in the Universe around us runs deep in nearly everyone.  Even people who might not have given a thought to the greater Cosmos, when confronted with a view of Saturn through the eyepiece of a telescope, seem to suddenly come alive with questions about the planets and stars, black holes and galaxies!

Observing the Transit of Mercury, 2006



And the kids!  Curious youngsters explode with excitement at the sight of Jupiter's four visible satellites, and even reticent teens open up somewhat when faced with solar prominences and sunspots, with the Moon's walled plains and crater chains.  Stargazing opens other, fresher eyes; terrestrial concerns and complications are left behind for a few moments while minds young, old and in-between reach for the stars.


In the Abbitt Observatory, 2004



Call me an astronomical evangelist, a proselytizer or perhaps just a pusher.  All I know is this; in my four-and-a-half decades of amateur astronomy I have discovered that the only thing that approaches the pleasure I take from observing the skies is the act of sharing them with others.  Maybe a lunar eclipse viewed through a dust-storm in Bahrain or a conjunction shared with newly-minted Cadets on the bridge of a tanker; bringing the dusty glow of a comet down to the residents of a "station" in Western Australia or a fine crescent Moon to twilight park visitors here in Newport News...this is what I love to do. 

If, as Dr. Dobson says, the value of a telescope can be measured in the number of souls who've gazed through it, then my several telescopes are far more valuable than even I care to estimate; my journals stand as ledgers measuring the riches of time and effort expended in bringing stars, planets, lunar and solar events, and meteor showers to members of the public.  If this be my contribution to the world, my legacy in stars shared and children fascinated, then I consider this energy and time to have been well-spent.

And, hopefully, only just begun.

Sharing Jupiter, 2015









Quick Post: Chasing Mercury

I hope all of you are going to make an effort to take a look at the Transit of Mercury, coming up on May 9th. The innermost planet will pass between the Sun and Earth, appearing to slowly cruise across the solar disk over the course of about seven hours. The dot that is Mercury will be quite small so a telescope will be required.
WARNING! Do NOT look at the Sun under any circumstances without a professionally-made solar filter properly attached to the telescope. Permanent eye damage will result! Smoked glass and welding lenses are NOT enough. WARNING!
If you don't have a telescope (and proper filter) I strongly recommend you look up your local astronomy society, planetarium or observatory on the Internet. Make contact and see what events are scheduled for this exciting and impressive opportunity to see Mercury in broad daylight!
For those in the Hampton Roads area, we will be observing the transit from the grounds of the Virginia Living Museum (VLM) in Newport News. Come and join us!

Tom Epps' Fun With Flags!

That's me in the orange shirt!  Photo by Mike Springer.

On my last voyage aboard USNS Leroy Grumman I had an unusual assignment; I had to become an expert in "visual signaling".  In other words, unlike previous ships where I would communicate with other ships and shore stations via radio circuits and secure Chat, my orders were to take a page from the history books and talk to other units the same way Admiral Nelson did--using signal flags!

 

NOT having been a Signalman in my previous (active duty Navy) career, I had a lot to learn about my new duties.  Thankfully, I was given plenty of time to learn them; I had nearly an entire WEEK to hit the "pubs" and pick up the ins-and-outs of naval flags and their uses!  Good thing I work well under pressure...

 

The concept is pretty simple, actually.  Each distinctive flag and pennant in the Signals "alphabet" represents a letter, number, or specific message type to be conveyed to the ships within visual range

of Grumman.  The message is encoded using special "signal books" like the one shown below...

 

 

Sorry!  Most of this stuff is classified and since I don't feel like going to prison this week you'll just have to imagine the kind of book I'm referring to.  Lots of pages, plenty of fine print and unintelligible instructional text, and page after page after page of "encode" and "decode" guff.  Yep, you've got it!

Once the message to be sent is "prepped" the team on Grumman's signal bridge--perched atop the wheelhouse--swing into action.  The proper flags and pennants are selected from the "Flag Bags" and bent-on to the halyards to spell-out the signal.  You begin with an outboard halyard on whichever side and work your way inboard, always careful to keep the "hoist" in proper order so the receiving
unit will know you are altering course to starboard and NOT ordering #14 with eggrolls!

 

The signal completed and checked, you run it up smartly!  The final result is colorful AND informative,; the receiving ship(s) will respond by hoisting the same signal in reply.  This is useful in two ways; firstly it allows you to check that they did indeed receive the proper message, and secondly they are repeating the message to other ships that might not be able to see the signal hoists.

 

The photo above was taken on my first day as Grumman's "Flag Boss", about a month ago.  At that time I was pretty nervous that I'd get it wrong somehow, and I'll admit that I made a few mistakes along the way.  Now that I feel confident that I can communicate smoothly and accurately with other ships using the flags and pennants, it's time to add to my repertoire as a signalman...

 

How's your Morse Code?