Telescopes | Observations in Astronomy

Observe and Report: Astronomy

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It’s another midnight, another sprawl of sky and stars; the twisting trails of constellations and lunar cycles. You recognize the patterns. You’ve learned them all, have devoted your evenings to memorizing every shape, every aspect. The distance is well charted and well known. And this is why you immediately understand that something has… changed. Your universe is not as it was the day before. It has instead yielded a prize.

And you’re the one who found it.

There is one truth in Astronomy that can never be denied: its discoveries are without prejudice. Men may struggle for years, hunched behind the rattle of their equipment, charting out all possibilities. And yet their theorems will offer no realities and their efforts will only bring frustration. They will give month after month of their lives, only to receive nothing in return. Their sacrifice will be in vain. And you–a hobbyist, spending your idle hours on a hill–will suddenly discover what others have been seeking.

And it was all simply by staring in the right direction at the right time.

Unlike the harder sciences (which can only by followed by those versed in their principles, in obscure mathematics and formulas), Astronomy is accessible to all. It can be understood by any who wish to learn it and requires little more than patience and a telescope. And, through this, amateur exploration is possible–and is often accomplished. Revelations can be made by luck and simple curiosity.

And such a notion distinguishes Astronomy from its sister-sciences. This is not a field dominated to impossible codes and technological intrigue. It is instead a field that allows any to participate. There is no limit to the sky and there is therefore no limit to the ones who can view it.

And this allows vital discoveries to be made by simple good fortune. All have the chance to achieve greatness. All have the opportunity to leave their mark on the world.

Astronomy offers equality and the far more important hope.

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How to Easily Build Your Own Telescope

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Telescopes have come a long way since the pioneers like Galileo; high-tech ones are in every astronomical laboratory, and some pretty decent ones can be found in retail stores as well. You can buy one of your own if you have the cash to spend. However, you can actually build one quite easily using common materials.

It may seem surprising that cardboard tubes are suitable for building a simple telescope, but these are your main ingredient for something quick and simplistic. Add a couple of lenses, along with two tubes of different diameters, some glue or cardboard rings to hold the lenses, and you can assemble a scope in no time. The project won’t even cost more than a few dollars.

To ensure an even more secure fit for the cardboard tubes, you can add wooden rings between them. If you want to get more technical with the lenses in a Galilean telescope, you can set up an optical bench, which will allow you to attach different lenses and set them at different distances to see how the system will work, before you fit them into the scope. Once you are ready to assemble, you can also add some stain or lacquer to darken the inside of the tubes.

Building a simple telescope is easy, and all you have to do is look through it and adjust the two tubes to get a clear focus. You can try looking up at the sky at night. Although you won’t see crystal clear images of far away nebulas like with Hubble, you may see some more detail on the moon than you would ordinarily see with the naked eye. The scope might also be useful when looking at things on the ground, similar to using binoculars.

There are many websites that feature instructions on how to do this as well, so there is no shortage of resources. Astronomy stores also have many guidebooks that can also help you along if you want to fill in some time with a fun project.

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Types of Telescopes

Vast amounts of information have been obtained about the solar system, our galaxy, and the universe going out to billions of light years. All of it has been taken by observations from one kind of telescope or another, whether based on the ground or launched into Earth’s orbit.

Most optical telescopes use visible light and come in refracting types that use lenses to create images, reflecting types that use mirrors and compound telescopes that use lenses and mirrors. The larger the size of the mirror, known as the aperture, the finer the detail the system can see. There is a 100 inch reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles, while home models tend to have mirrors or lenses down to just a few inches.

The basic kinds take the form of larger scopes used in laboratories, or smaller versions that you can buy in a store and use at home. There are also variations that detect and analyze infrared or ultraviolet light, depending on the light sources that scientists, or amateurs, want to analyze.

Radio telescopes are also widely used to scan the heavens. A form of directional radio antenna, a radio telescope detects radio waves and collects data from sources of radio waves in space. It must be shielded from electromagnetic interference rather than visible light, so is usually placed in a valley far away from urban areas. Examples are the Very Large Array in New Mexico and Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

As the universe can be analyzed differently using different wavelengths, there are also ways to see where X-rays are coming from, as well as Gamma rays. X-ray and Gamma-ray telescopes are usually placed on orbiting satellites, as the atmosphere blocks this kind of light from reaching the surface.

One of the most well-known telescopes is Hubble, which was launched by the space shuttle in 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope is a Cassegrain reflector with two hyperbolic mirrors to image over wide fields of view. It has taken pictures of some of the most distant and oldest parts of the universe yet found.

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What to Consider When Buying a Home Telescope

Owning a small telescope can be a fascinating experience. You’ll be able to see the shapes of distance galaxies, and even see clouds on Jupiter and the rings around Saturn. The craters and mountains on the moon can easily be seen. Even though you can find one for a relatively inexpensive price, as far as technological hobbies go, there are a few things to look at when you buy a telescope.

The first consideration is the type that you want to get. The most familiar is the refractor telescope that has a lens at the front of the device’s tube. It is easy to maintain, but as the aperture gets larger, the product can be quite expensive. The least expensive, based on aperture, is the reflector type, with a mirror at the rear of the tube. However, the optical alignment needs frequent adjustment, especially if you move the scope or bump into it a lot.

The compound telescope features a combination of lenses and mirrors inside. The tube is more compact and the light bounces around inside between the lenses and mirrors before coming out through the eyepiece.

Regardless of the type, the most important part of the telescope is the aperture, or the diameter of the lens or mirror. Usually measured in millimeters, the aperture is the main indicator of the scope’s magnification power. A larger one makes it easier to see fainter objects in the sky, as well as finer details. Read the aperture size rather than magnification power to get a better idea when shopping around.

Another important consideration is the telescope’s mount, important in keeping the unit sturdy. Many scopes will come with tripods or mounts, but if there is only a mounting block, you can get altitude-azimuth or Dobsonian mounts which swing up or down or left and right. An equatorial mount turns on a single axis to track the motion of stars, and has to be aligned to the North Star to work properly. With all of these carefully chosen, you should enjoy your telescope for years to come.

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Decent Telescopes for Amateur Space Enthusiasts

You don’t have to be a professional astronomer to have the equipment available to get a closer peek at the stars. Of course, gigantic mountaintop observatories and space telescopes like Hubble can see billions of light years into space and the past, but there are consumer telescopes you can buy that will give you a pretty good view nonetheless.

For amateur astronomers and hobbyists, there are many telescopes available. For under $1,000, you can find a 6 inch scope that will enable you to see such things as globular clusters and some details of Mars. If you’re just starting out, you can even find starter telescopes for under $250. The main things to consider when making the purchase are the quality of the optics, and how smoothly the device’s mount operates so you can move it around easily.

One starter telescope has a 4.5 inch mirror. It is great for beginners but even the experts find it useful, because when you look through the lens on a clear night, you can see the moon’s craters and even cloud bands on Jupiter. A steady base and easy maneuverability also make it a good choice. For just about $100, one reflector telescope includes a tripod, altazimuth mount, focuser, finder scope and two eyepieces; a nice choice for backyard observation for the whole family.

While many amateur telescopes are great for use around the home, portable models are also available, including one that can feature a 16x or 30x eyepiece. Its streamlined, red design allows it to be carried around and it can even be placed in an overhead compartment of an airplane. With this, you can view the universe from anywhere; the only limit is where you are able to travel to enjoy the scope’s benefits.

There are so many kinds available to beginners, all you have to do is look online or visit a scientific retailer to get an idea of what is best for you. Even a simple scope may spark your interest in pursuing a life-long career or hobby.

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The Ordinary and Amazing Sun

The sun is the brightest thing in the sky and, unless you travel to some brighter star elsewhere in the galaxy or universe, is the brightest object you’ll ever see. It is the reason we are all alive, as without the star at the center of our solar system, everything would be frozen and lifeless.

It is huge, much bigger than any of the other planets, asteroids and comets put together that lie within the solar system. Still, the sun is considered to be an ordinary star, as there are millions of stars as big or slightly smaller than it. However, it is many, many times the diameter of Jupiter, the second largest object in the system, and comprises nearly 99% of the solar system’s mass.

Nuclear fusion reactions are how it generates all the energy needed to constantly output light and the streams of particles that emanate from it. As big and as powerful as it is, the sun does have structural layers, including a solid core. Beyond that, each layer is somewhat fluidic and in fact, the sun does not even rotate evenly, as the surface of the equator rotates faster than that near the poles. The surface is called the photosphere and above the surface is the chromosphere. Huge areas of gases are constantly pushed away from the sun, and the main area where these are concentrated is the corona.

The sun also has a magnetosphere, which is the extent of its magnetic field, but this goes out billions of miles, and even beyond Pluto. The effects of the sun, other than the warmth and light we experience every day, include solar wind, which affects the tails of comets and can affect the movement of spacecraft. When streams of particles hit the upper atmosphere of Earth, there are auroras near the north and south poles.

In reality, the sun is responsible for everything we see on Earth, as the planet itself would never have existed without it, nor would have humans who live from, worship and observe it every day.

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