Post by Harrelson on May 21, 2005 17:12:13 GMT -6
What are “armchair astronomers”? Typically, they are amateur astronomers who pursue their hobby through books, magazines, and/or the internet without the use of their own telescope. I believe another definition may need to be added to the term “armchair astronomer.” In the future “armchair astronomers” may refer to amateur astronomers that are able to practice serious sky watching through their own telescope using CCD video cameras from the comfort of their home while sitting in their favorite armchair even in areas having light polluted skies. This version of “armchair astronomy” may become one of the greatest advancements ever in amateur astronomy and has the potential to bring a whole new group of people into the amateur astronomy community.
Currently, only approximately 100,000 amateur astronomers using telescopes exist in the United States. Why is this number so small? Amateur astronomers will tell you that you have to be a little crazy to put up with all the inconveniences associated with this hobby. What other activity involves traveling miles from your home to get away from light polluted skies, packing, unpacking, setting up, and breaking down 50 to 150 or more pounds of equipment, sitting out in the elements during nighttime hours, and having to wait from 30 minutes to an hour for your eyes to become dark adapted? Plus, all this effort could be wasted if clouds or weather roll in and obscure the viewing.
I was once a member of that group putting up with all of the inconveniences to practice my hobby of amateur astronomy. I am a native of south Georgia, who served in the United States Navy and has spent the last 35 years as an elevator installer. I used to load up my 12” Meade LX200 telescope and associated equipment (approximately 75 lbs. of telescope and 50 lbs. of tripod) into the back of my pick-up truck and drive to a location to set up in a field nearby my home. The location was selected due to the screening of the security lights from the nearby homes. Once set up, I still had to deal with hot/cold temperatures, insects, varmints, dew, passing cars, etc.
But I found myself traveling to Atlanta from south Georgia for my job, not a lot of elevators being installed in south Georgia. I tired of this long commute and rented an apartment in Alpharetta, a northern suburb of Atlanta. My apartment is on the third floor facing south along a heavily traveled four lane street and directly across from an extremely well lit shopping center including a 24 hour grocery store. I had no yard only a 10’ by 5’ wooden balcony. I desired to continue his practice of amateur astronomy, but was up against two long held premises in the field of amateur astronomy, that your telescope has to be mounted on solid ground and that serious sky watching can not be accomplished in a light polluted city sky.
As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention,” my love of amateur astronomy pushed me to attempt what the amateur astronomy community said was impossible. I combined the technologies of the computer controlled telescope and the CCD video imaging camera with my unique perspective as an elevator installer to do what I was told to be impossible. I now have my modified 12” Meade LX200GPS telescope mounted on a small rolling table. A CCD video imaging camera is mounted on the telescope and hooked into a high resolution monitor. I have had to add cable extensions to both the video output from the camera and the handheld controller of the telescope to extend their reach into the living room of my apartment. In addition, I have connected a DVD recorder with microphones to my setup, so I can record my sessions with audio for viewing later when I often notices things I missed during the original session.
With this setup I am able to merely roll my telescope out onto my balcony, connect the cables, tighten the telescope gears, power up the system, perform an alignment, and then I am ready in only a few minutes to spend a night observing the night sky from the comfort of my living room, either alone or with a room full of people. Now I am an “armchair astronomer.” No driving, no heavy lifting, no sitting outside, no waiting for dark adapted eyes, no waiting in line to view through the eyepiece, and no making notes and drawings in log books.
What about clouds? Well, if I want to do some observing, I merely walk out onto my balcony and check the weather. If the seeing and/or weather are unacceptable, I simply return to whatever activity I was previously doing, such as watching television, reading, sleeping, etc. However, if the seeing is acceptable, I am making observations within a few minutes. Likewise, if I am in the middle of an observation session and the clouds roll in, I can either attempt to wait it out in the comfort of my home or shut down for the night, which also only takes a couple of minutes. No wasting of time due to clouds or bad weather.
But what can I really see in these light polluted skies? To date with an Astrovid StellaCam EX video camera on my 12” LX200GPS, I have observed numerous deep sky objects of magnitudes of 9.5 and less. In fact, I even purchase one of Meade’s least expensive GOTO telescope, the ETX70AT, to see how well it would work off my balcony. I installed the new Astrovid StellaCam II to the ETX70AT and was treated to viewing similar to viewing through the eyepiece of my 12” telescope in the dark skies of south Georgia. Of particular note I was able to observe together the galaxies of the Leo triplet on the screen of the monitor in a quality that compares favorably to the view through my 12” telescope at a dark sky site. Furthermore, one of these galaxies, NGC 3628, is not even in the database of the ETX70AT telescope. Due to my work schedule and the spring weather, I have not made any observations with the StellaCam II on my 12” telescope, but I calculate I will be able to observe objects of at least magnitude 13 off the balcony of my apartment.
Well, how do I do this? I have applied for a patent for my system and method that includes three concepts. The first concept is a unique way of balancing the telescope. The second concept involves using the camera so that you are off the balcony during observations, and the third concept involves marking the screen of the monitor to add precision to the alignment process. Put these concepts together and you have the potential for a great number of this new brand of “armchair astronomers,” not just those that can afford observatories and/or concrete pilings from their deck. I am in the process of contacting some major telescope manufacturers to get their interest in marketing such a system.
I believe my invention could start a revolution in the field of amateur astronomy. Existing amateur astronomers will warmly embrace my invention because it will make them more efficient and comfortable in their viewing. And in our “fast food” society, the removal of all these inconveniences of amateur astronomy will make it feasible for more people to take up the hobby, because it will not demand the additional time required to travel to a dark sky location or waste their time if the weather conditions change. In addition, by taking away the heavy lifting and driving, amateur astronomy becomes a viable activity for the young, the old, the physically challenged, etc. I admit that weather/cloud cover is one inconvenience that I have not been able to fix, but that my system greatly reduces the amount of time wasted due to it. How many more amateur astronomers will this generate, I believe the sky is the limit and look forward to the day when many more people join me as this new brand of “armchair astronomers.”
I warmly welcome your questions and comments regarding this information and invite you to contact me.
Currently, only approximately 100,000 amateur astronomers using telescopes exist in the United States. Why is this number so small? Amateur astronomers will tell you that you have to be a little crazy to put up with all the inconveniences associated with this hobby. What other activity involves traveling miles from your home to get away from light polluted skies, packing, unpacking, setting up, and breaking down 50 to 150 or more pounds of equipment, sitting out in the elements during nighttime hours, and having to wait from 30 minutes to an hour for your eyes to become dark adapted? Plus, all this effort could be wasted if clouds or weather roll in and obscure the viewing.
I was once a member of that group putting up with all of the inconveniences to practice my hobby of amateur astronomy. I am a native of south Georgia, who served in the United States Navy and has spent the last 35 years as an elevator installer. I used to load up my 12” Meade LX200 telescope and associated equipment (approximately 75 lbs. of telescope and 50 lbs. of tripod) into the back of my pick-up truck and drive to a location to set up in a field nearby my home. The location was selected due to the screening of the security lights from the nearby homes. Once set up, I still had to deal with hot/cold temperatures, insects, varmints, dew, passing cars, etc.
But I found myself traveling to Atlanta from south Georgia for my job, not a lot of elevators being installed in south Georgia. I tired of this long commute and rented an apartment in Alpharetta, a northern suburb of Atlanta. My apartment is on the third floor facing south along a heavily traveled four lane street and directly across from an extremely well lit shopping center including a 24 hour grocery store. I had no yard only a 10’ by 5’ wooden balcony. I desired to continue his practice of amateur astronomy, but was up against two long held premises in the field of amateur astronomy, that your telescope has to be mounted on solid ground and that serious sky watching can not be accomplished in a light polluted city sky.
As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention,” my love of amateur astronomy pushed me to attempt what the amateur astronomy community said was impossible. I combined the technologies of the computer controlled telescope and the CCD video imaging camera with my unique perspective as an elevator installer to do what I was told to be impossible. I now have my modified 12” Meade LX200GPS telescope mounted on a small rolling table. A CCD video imaging camera is mounted on the telescope and hooked into a high resolution monitor. I have had to add cable extensions to both the video output from the camera and the handheld controller of the telescope to extend their reach into the living room of my apartment. In addition, I have connected a DVD recorder with microphones to my setup, so I can record my sessions with audio for viewing later when I often notices things I missed during the original session.
With this setup I am able to merely roll my telescope out onto my balcony, connect the cables, tighten the telescope gears, power up the system, perform an alignment, and then I am ready in only a few minutes to spend a night observing the night sky from the comfort of my living room, either alone or with a room full of people. Now I am an “armchair astronomer.” No driving, no heavy lifting, no sitting outside, no waiting for dark adapted eyes, no waiting in line to view through the eyepiece, and no making notes and drawings in log books.
What about clouds? Well, if I want to do some observing, I merely walk out onto my balcony and check the weather. If the seeing and/or weather are unacceptable, I simply return to whatever activity I was previously doing, such as watching television, reading, sleeping, etc. However, if the seeing is acceptable, I am making observations within a few minutes. Likewise, if I am in the middle of an observation session and the clouds roll in, I can either attempt to wait it out in the comfort of my home or shut down for the night, which also only takes a couple of minutes. No wasting of time due to clouds or bad weather.
But what can I really see in these light polluted skies? To date with an Astrovid StellaCam EX video camera on my 12” LX200GPS, I have observed numerous deep sky objects of magnitudes of 9.5 and less. In fact, I even purchase one of Meade’s least expensive GOTO telescope, the ETX70AT, to see how well it would work off my balcony. I installed the new Astrovid StellaCam II to the ETX70AT and was treated to viewing similar to viewing through the eyepiece of my 12” telescope in the dark skies of south Georgia. Of particular note I was able to observe together the galaxies of the Leo triplet on the screen of the monitor in a quality that compares favorably to the view through my 12” telescope at a dark sky site. Furthermore, one of these galaxies, NGC 3628, is not even in the database of the ETX70AT telescope. Due to my work schedule and the spring weather, I have not made any observations with the StellaCam II on my 12” telescope, but I calculate I will be able to observe objects of at least magnitude 13 off the balcony of my apartment.
Well, how do I do this? I have applied for a patent for my system and method that includes three concepts. The first concept is a unique way of balancing the telescope. The second concept involves using the camera so that you are off the balcony during observations, and the third concept involves marking the screen of the monitor to add precision to the alignment process. Put these concepts together and you have the potential for a great number of this new brand of “armchair astronomers,” not just those that can afford observatories and/or concrete pilings from their deck. I am in the process of contacting some major telescope manufacturers to get their interest in marketing such a system.
I believe my invention could start a revolution in the field of amateur astronomy. Existing amateur astronomers will warmly embrace my invention because it will make them more efficient and comfortable in their viewing. And in our “fast food” society, the removal of all these inconveniences of amateur astronomy will make it feasible for more people to take up the hobby, because it will not demand the additional time required to travel to a dark sky location or waste their time if the weather conditions change. In addition, by taking away the heavy lifting and driving, amateur astronomy becomes a viable activity for the young, the old, the physically challenged, etc. I admit that weather/cloud cover is one inconvenience that I have not been able to fix, but that my system greatly reduces the amount of time wasted due to it. How many more amateur astronomers will this generate, I believe the sky is the limit and look forward to the day when many more people join me as this new brand of “armchair astronomers.”
I warmly welcome your questions and comments regarding this information and invite you to contact me.
