Sharing my love of astronomy has been part of my life for
decades. Pointing out things in the sky out to neighbors, setting up my
telescope at Halloween for the kids to look through or helping out at star
parties, I always enjoy doing something astronomical. It is just what I like
to do.
There is a certain kick I get when I hear someone’s
exclamation after seeing Saturn through a telescope. It’s fun to explain how
Jupiter’s moons move during the night or how the moon can cover a star. Seeing
people lined up waiting to get a look through a telescope is exciting. I can’t
help but hope that some of them will continue on and become astronomers themselves.
Hopefully, I would be a part of that decision. After a star party or even a
simple astronomical interaction, I always feel good and am happy with the world.
The astronomy club (3AP.org) recently had a pair of star
parties, one on Friday and the other on Saturday. The first was clouded out. Star
parties work best when you can see the stars!
The skies on Saturday were deep blue with hardly any clouds.
The observatory was opened at 4 and club members and guests started arriving
soon after. One of the scopes was pointed at the sun and guests were able to
see a couple small sunspots on its surface. They were told to stick around until
dark, that was when the real fun would start. The planet Saturn would be the
high point of the evening, everyone loves to view Saturn! Before long, the observatory
started getting crowded.
I kept thinking about seeing Saturn through the big scope as
the evening progressed. I also thought about going home and using my own scope
to see it!
As the sky darkened, both scopes in the building were open
and lines had formed. The room between them was filled with people talking and
looking at the displays. Kids were running around having a blast while their
parents attempted to keep an eye on them. Outside, members were showing people
the views through their own scopes.
Having been there for over 4 hours, I was ready to head back
home. I’m not as young as I used to be and standing for that long puts a strain
on my legs. I said my good-byes and tried my best not to drive over anyone on
the way out. The members’ telescopes had plenty of people around them!
I never had a chance to view Saturn so I decided when I got
home to set up my scope in the front yard. Surprisingly, there were very few
lights lit in the neighborhood. Porch lights shining on me is one of the major
problems with observing at home.
Within a short time I had the scope set up in a corner of the
yard. Unfortunately, Saturn was still hidden from me by a tree. It would appear
soon and so I just spent the time browsing. I looked off towards the west and
visited some old familiar sites such as M-57, the Ring Nebula and Epsilon Lyrae,
the Double-Double star. I easily found the Coat Hanger Cluster with my
binoculars and then spent some time just pushing the scope back and forth,
seeing whatever popped into my view. The sky was extremely clear, a rarity in
Glenshaw.
A car pulled up to a neighbor’s house and, of course, the
lights shown directly onto my scope. It was time to take a small break; I went
into the house for a drink.
Coming back outside, Saturn was now above the tree so I
turned the scope towards it. The next ½ hour was spent fixated on the ringed
planet. The telescope provided me one of the best views of the planet I’ve ever
seen through it.
One of the nice things about long observations is that even
though the view may look great, it often improves for a few seconds. What looked
absolutely fascinating can suddenly become mind blowing! On this evening, it
looked 3-dimentenal, it looked like a photograph. At times it appeared like a
fine pen and ink drawing, the lines looked so delicate and exact! I couldn’t
remember ever seeing the planet look this good when viewed from Glenshaw or
through this telescope. This was a night to remember!
While observing this wondrous sight, I was thinking about the
star party. Should I have stayed? Was I selfish coming home to observe by
myself?
Even though I enjoy sharing my hobby with others, there are
times that I just want to be by myself. It can be extremely relaxing to be out
under the stars with no one else around. Listening to crickets chirping, coyote
pups yipping at each other and maybe the quiet footsteps of deer walking past,
oblivious to your presence, these are all things that I’ve experienced. Standing
in an unbroken field of snow with the stars sparkling on the snow crystals and
watching the moon rise over a hilltop can be almost a religious experience. I’ll
never get tired of seeing these things, and being there by myself gives me a
chance to look into my inner being a bit.
When observing at a telescope, being alone allows me to take my
time, to relax and enjoy the view. I can take notes, experiment with eyepieces
and if I choose to do so, just push the scope around to see what pops into
view. There are no distractions and no time table.
I had put my time in at the party. There were others that could
do what I was doing, in fact, they would do it better! So this personal bit of
observing wasn’t greed or a desire to get away from everyone…I’d like to look
at it as a small reward. I’d done my sharing for the evening, now it was time
to relax and enjoy.
By all means, I’ll always share my love of astronomy with
others but whenever I get the chance to do some solo observing, I’ll grab it!
The peaceful quiet of the night is one of the things that has always grabbed
me, I can’t give it up! No, it isn’t greed, it’s more like love…
