Post by Paulie pchris00 on Dec 9, 2009 16:39:57 GMT -6
Paulie here, from Valparaiso, Indiana. Looking through some of the other introductions, I think I might have one of the longer ones, but anything that gets me writing and keeps me writing is a good thing. Astronomy seems to do that best.
I guess I’ve always had a passing interest in astronomy, but it didn’t become a hobby (or should I say passion?) until about two years ago. In 2007, I decided it was time to get a college education, so I signed up for classes at Purdue University’s North Central campus in Westville, Indiana. Then in January 2008, I opted to take an introductory astronomy course, the follow-up class to one I had considered taking the previous semester.
Three of my classmates had already taken the first part of the course, but otherwise it was obvious that I was the only one who had a real interest in astronomy. Within a month I had read the entire textbook (both semesters), and was checking out library books to supplement the material. I also began studying the sky, and found Mars and Saturn among the winter Zodiac constellations. Students began gravitating to me for help outside of class.
After the first of two scheduled class observation nights was cancelled because of snow, I started working on a few of the alternate home observation projects, so that if the second observation was cancelled too, I wouldn’t be scrambling to complete them at the last minute. (I also wasn’t opposed to the idea of negotiating cash or other considerations from any students who might need the make-up work). Although only one project would be required if we couldn’t have a class observation, they gave me a means to discover astronomy for myself.
Valparaiso University operates an observatory with a 16” telescope, and during the school year, they host public open houses every other Friday night. Attending one of their open houses was one of our alternate projects, so I went up there one night, and saw Saturn & Mars for the first time (telescopically), and those still stand as the best I’ve seen those planets. Now I’m a regular at VU’s Observatory open houses (more on that later).
As that semester ended, I seriously considered buying a telescope with my tax refund, but instead bought a laptop computer. On the last day of class, as I was turning in my final exam, Mike, the teacher, told me that I needed to get a telescope. I told him that I’d thought about, but he agreed the computer was a wiser purchase. Oh well. No telescope for Paulie. Until…
A $300 economic stimulus check! Woo-hoo! A co-worker had recently told me about a telescope store (20/20 Telescopes) in Dyer, Indiana, and when I happened to be working out that way, I stopped in to see if that stimulus check might put a dent in a decent telescope. I walked out with a 6” Dob! Nice.
I spent the rest of the summer observing Jupiter and the Galilean Moons, and to a lesser extent, Saturn and Venus. I had bought the Dob for planetary observations, after all. Deep sky objects hadn’t really crossed my mind until one night in late August 2008. As usual, I was viewing Jupiter when it occurred to me that the sky would be perfectly clear if it weren’t for that thin cloud stretching from Sagittarius up though Cygnus… Holy…!!! The Milky Way! Not like you see it from dark skies, but nonetheless a band slightly brighter than the rest of the sky.
I immediately started scanning the sky through the finder scope, looking for “faint fuzzies,” and sure enough I found some globular clusters in Sagittarius, and even the Andromeda Galaxy. I hadn’t expected to see DSOs with such a small scope, but I now realized that the entire universe was now on display for me. (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but certainly much of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Local Group were now in my reach).
Around that time, the new school semester was starting, and of course I had signed up for the first semester of the astronomy class. I was expecting Mike to be back, but he had taken a full time teaching job at a different school, so we got an Earth sciences teacher instead. It turned out to be a good thing (for me at any rate), because Jerry was fairly knowledgeable about the geological and atmospheric aspects of planetary science, but not so strong on the history of astronomy or observational astronomy. I became his go to guy about some of the course material.
The very first day of class, I distributed handouts explaining that I was an amateur astronomer, and that on Mondays after class I would be hosting observation sessions, and Jerry informed the students that if they attended it would count as their observation project. Every Monday that the weather looked promising I brought handouts stating the objects I planned to view, and why they were interesting, but for some reason it never caught on. I was sure that if the students had an opportunity to get out and see what we were studying, it would energize their spirits and deepen their quest for knowledge. Nobody seized the opportunity, or really expressed much interest at all.
Desperate for an audience, I decided to lug the Dob up to class with me one night, and seeing it sitting at the front of the classroom finally sparked the curiosity of a few people. That night a small group gathered with me behind the main building on campus and fought scattered clouds to see a first quarter Moon, Jupiter, and the Ring Nebula. It was the first time that I had had an audience at the telescope, and it wouldn’t be the last. I absolutely loved showing them the things I had seen and describing what they were looking at.
About a month later, when the time change meant that our class would meet in darkness for the first time, Jerry moved the class outside for our observation night. He turned the class over to me and my 6” Dob. I was geeking out, pointing out several constellations and stars, throwing in a little of the ancient mythology, and of course letting my classmates look through the telescope. The conditions that night were terrible in my opinion, but since a warm breeze on a humid early November night made the experience more comfortable for everybody else, I wasn’t about to complain. Since nobody else had ever observed in good conditions, they really didn’t know what they were missing anyway, and mostly seemed excited about the observation. We saw a 5 day old Moon, Jupiter, Venus, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, the Double Cluster, and for those who stayed after Jerry dismissed the class, the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula. I thoroughly enjoyed myself that night, but I was nervous as hell, and most of my memories come from the written portion of the observation. I wish I could have savored the experience as it was happening. Oh well.
Heading into the International Year of Astronomy 2009, I now had a 4.5” Go-To Newtonian reflector to go with the Dob. Valparaiso University announced a public lecture schedule in addition to their observation nights to celebrate the IYA, and I made it a point to attend every one I could. I usually hauled the Dob on those nights, because when the weather was good, large crowds came out to the observatory. In addition to the 16” observatory telescope, VU would set up an 8” scope behind the dome, and still it was sometimes necessary for me to set up so that there weren’t long lines at any one telescope. Dr. Hrvnak, professor of physics at VU, always thanked me afterward, but I always figured that you can never have too many telescopes at a public star party.
I attended public star parties held by the Calumet Astronomical Society at the Conway Observatory in Lowell, Indiana, and met some accomplished amateurs, but somehow felt out of place in the group. Probably my favorite event of the year was one that didn’t happen. Purdue North Central was hosting a public observation for Astronomy Day in May, and the physics department had told me that I was welcome to bring my telescopes. I drove out to the campus, searched the area where I thought they would set up, but nobody was there. I grabbed my computer and went inside to check my email for a cancellation notice, but hadn’t received one, nor were there notices anywhere in the building. It was partly cloudy, sure, but not so bad that I thought it would be cancelled without notice. I went back to my car and noticed there were people parkednearby, probably there for the observation, but not sure where to go. I grabbed my scopes and set up away from the parking lot lights. Sure enough people followed me and were anxious to do some celestial viewing.
The clouds were moving in, but to the south Saturn and the Moon were still visible, and were the obvious targets. I let the Go-To track the Moon while I sighted the Dob on Saturn. I found out most of the crowd was celebrating one girl’s 18th birthday, and her parents really appreciated that I had shown up, otherwise they wouldn’t have seen anything at all. That made me feel really good. I may not have the biggest or best telescopes, but they certainly wowed that family.
In October I saw on the Adler Planetarium Facebook page that they were hosting a public star party to coincide with President Obama’s Whitehouse star party, so once again, I packed up my telescopes, and drove to Chicago. There were others setting up telescopes on the southwest side of the building, so I set up the Dob alongside them. After watching President Obama’s speech inside the planetarium, I moved back outside. Scattered clouds and the city’s light pollution hindered my ability to find DSOs, but with Jupiter shining brightly to the south, I targeted the mighty planet (as did everybody else, I think). I let one woman and her young son pretty much have free reign over my telescope most of the night, although in the city lights I didn’t think there was much to see. Later, when the Moon rose over the Lake, I repositioned and I think was the first person to have a telescope pointed at the Moon. Several people watched the moonrise with me, and I explained to them why it was red, and that as it rose higher, it would turn white.
At one point that night, a man came over to me, introduced himself as Joe, and thanked me for bringing out my telescope. He gave me a business card, and when I read it the next day, the name sounded familiar. I looked up Joe on Facebook that day, and was welcomed into the Chicago Astronomer’s fold. The rest of my astronomical stories will be found here from now on. Thanks Joe. Clear skies, and see you soon. As for everybody else, I hope to meet you soon under a clear sky.
I guess I’ve always had a passing interest in astronomy, but it didn’t become a hobby (or should I say passion?) until about two years ago. In 2007, I decided it was time to get a college education, so I signed up for classes at Purdue University’s North Central campus in Westville, Indiana. Then in January 2008, I opted to take an introductory astronomy course, the follow-up class to one I had considered taking the previous semester.
Three of my classmates had already taken the first part of the course, but otherwise it was obvious that I was the only one who had a real interest in astronomy. Within a month I had read the entire textbook (both semesters), and was checking out library books to supplement the material. I also began studying the sky, and found Mars and Saturn among the winter Zodiac constellations. Students began gravitating to me for help outside of class.
After the first of two scheduled class observation nights was cancelled because of snow, I started working on a few of the alternate home observation projects, so that if the second observation was cancelled too, I wouldn’t be scrambling to complete them at the last minute. (I also wasn’t opposed to the idea of negotiating cash or other considerations from any students who might need the make-up work). Although only one project would be required if we couldn’t have a class observation, they gave me a means to discover astronomy for myself.
Valparaiso University operates an observatory with a 16” telescope, and during the school year, they host public open houses every other Friday night. Attending one of their open houses was one of our alternate projects, so I went up there one night, and saw Saturn & Mars for the first time (telescopically), and those still stand as the best I’ve seen those planets. Now I’m a regular at VU’s Observatory open houses (more on that later).
As that semester ended, I seriously considered buying a telescope with my tax refund, but instead bought a laptop computer. On the last day of class, as I was turning in my final exam, Mike, the teacher, told me that I needed to get a telescope. I told him that I’d thought about, but he agreed the computer was a wiser purchase. Oh well. No telescope for Paulie. Until…
A $300 economic stimulus check! Woo-hoo! A co-worker had recently told me about a telescope store (20/20 Telescopes) in Dyer, Indiana, and when I happened to be working out that way, I stopped in to see if that stimulus check might put a dent in a decent telescope. I walked out with a 6” Dob! Nice.
I spent the rest of the summer observing Jupiter and the Galilean Moons, and to a lesser extent, Saturn and Venus. I had bought the Dob for planetary observations, after all. Deep sky objects hadn’t really crossed my mind until one night in late August 2008. As usual, I was viewing Jupiter when it occurred to me that the sky would be perfectly clear if it weren’t for that thin cloud stretching from Sagittarius up though Cygnus… Holy…!!! The Milky Way! Not like you see it from dark skies, but nonetheless a band slightly brighter than the rest of the sky.
I immediately started scanning the sky through the finder scope, looking for “faint fuzzies,” and sure enough I found some globular clusters in Sagittarius, and even the Andromeda Galaxy. I hadn’t expected to see DSOs with such a small scope, but I now realized that the entire universe was now on display for me. (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but certainly much of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Local Group were now in my reach).
Around that time, the new school semester was starting, and of course I had signed up for the first semester of the astronomy class. I was expecting Mike to be back, but he had taken a full time teaching job at a different school, so we got an Earth sciences teacher instead. It turned out to be a good thing (for me at any rate), because Jerry was fairly knowledgeable about the geological and atmospheric aspects of planetary science, but not so strong on the history of astronomy or observational astronomy. I became his go to guy about some of the course material.
The very first day of class, I distributed handouts explaining that I was an amateur astronomer, and that on Mondays after class I would be hosting observation sessions, and Jerry informed the students that if they attended it would count as their observation project. Every Monday that the weather looked promising I brought handouts stating the objects I planned to view, and why they were interesting, but for some reason it never caught on. I was sure that if the students had an opportunity to get out and see what we were studying, it would energize their spirits and deepen their quest for knowledge. Nobody seized the opportunity, or really expressed much interest at all.
Desperate for an audience, I decided to lug the Dob up to class with me one night, and seeing it sitting at the front of the classroom finally sparked the curiosity of a few people. That night a small group gathered with me behind the main building on campus and fought scattered clouds to see a first quarter Moon, Jupiter, and the Ring Nebula. It was the first time that I had had an audience at the telescope, and it wouldn’t be the last. I absolutely loved showing them the things I had seen and describing what they were looking at.
About a month later, when the time change meant that our class would meet in darkness for the first time, Jerry moved the class outside for our observation night. He turned the class over to me and my 6” Dob. I was geeking out, pointing out several constellations and stars, throwing in a little of the ancient mythology, and of course letting my classmates look through the telescope. The conditions that night were terrible in my opinion, but since a warm breeze on a humid early November night made the experience more comfortable for everybody else, I wasn’t about to complain. Since nobody else had ever observed in good conditions, they really didn’t know what they were missing anyway, and mostly seemed excited about the observation. We saw a 5 day old Moon, Jupiter, Venus, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, the Double Cluster, and for those who stayed after Jerry dismissed the class, the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula. I thoroughly enjoyed myself that night, but I was nervous as hell, and most of my memories come from the written portion of the observation. I wish I could have savored the experience as it was happening. Oh well.
Heading into the International Year of Astronomy 2009, I now had a 4.5” Go-To Newtonian reflector to go with the Dob. Valparaiso University announced a public lecture schedule in addition to their observation nights to celebrate the IYA, and I made it a point to attend every one I could. I usually hauled the Dob on those nights, because when the weather was good, large crowds came out to the observatory. In addition to the 16” observatory telescope, VU would set up an 8” scope behind the dome, and still it was sometimes necessary for me to set up so that there weren’t long lines at any one telescope. Dr. Hrvnak, professor of physics at VU, always thanked me afterward, but I always figured that you can never have too many telescopes at a public star party.
I attended public star parties held by the Calumet Astronomical Society at the Conway Observatory in Lowell, Indiana, and met some accomplished amateurs, but somehow felt out of place in the group. Probably my favorite event of the year was one that didn’t happen. Purdue North Central was hosting a public observation for Astronomy Day in May, and the physics department had told me that I was welcome to bring my telescopes. I drove out to the campus, searched the area where I thought they would set up, but nobody was there. I grabbed my computer and went inside to check my email for a cancellation notice, but hadn’t received one, nor were there notices anywhere in the building. It was partly cloudy, sure, but not so bad that I thought it would be cancelled without notice. I went back to my car and noticed there were people parkednearby, probably there for the observation, but not sure where to go. I grabbed my scopes and set up away from the parking lot lights. Sure enough people followed me and were anxious to do some celestial viewing.
The clouds were moving in, but to the south Saturn and the Moon were still visible, and were the obvious targets. I let the Go-To track the Moon while I sighted the Dob on Saturn. I found out most of the crowd was celebrating one girl’s 18th birthday, and her parents really appreciated that I had shown up, otherwise they wouldn’t have seen anything at all. That made me feel really good. I may not have the biggest or best telescopes, but they certainly wowed that family.
In October I saw on the Adler Planetarium Facebook page that they were hosting a public star party to coincide with President Obama’s Whitehouse star party, so once again, I packed up my telescopes, and drove to Chicago. There were others setting up telescopes on the southwest side of the building, so I set up the Dob alongside them. After watching President Obama’s speech inside the planetarium, I moved back outside. Scattered clouds and the city’s light pollution hindered my ability to find DSOs, but with Jupiter shining brightly to the south, I targeted the mighty planet (as did everybody else, I think). I let one woman and her young son pretty much have free reign over my telescope most of the night, although in the city lights I didn’t think there was much to see. Later, when the Moon rose over the Lake, I repositioned and I think was the first person to have a telescope pointed at the Moon. Several people watched the moonrise with me, and I explained to them why it was red, and that as it rose higher, it would turn white.
At one point that night, a man came over to me, introduced himself as Joe, and thanked me for bringing out my telescope. He gave me a business card, and when I read it the next day, the name sounded familiar. I looked up Joe on Facebook that day, and was welcomed into the Chicago Astronomer’s fold. The rest of my astronomical stories will be found here from now on. Thanks Joe. Clear skies, and see you soon. As for everybody else, I hope to meet you soon under a clear sky.
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