Hey! I did some backyard observing last night, too, from my house in Palo
Alto.
I go outside at 10:45 PM and look at the sky with just my eyes. My backyard
faces east. I recognize Cassiopeia, but I can't recognize or name anything
else (from this you can tell I haven't yet earned my Certificate for having
Observed Every Object in the Universe) :-)
Next I get binoculars. The seeing from Palo Alto is surprisingly good. There
is this window in the sky, in the general area of Cassiopeia, where for some
reason the light-polluted mist is rolled back, like God parting the Red Sea,
and the view through binocs knocks my socks off.
Below Cassiopeia I witness an awesome stretch of sky with stars crowded all
over the place. What is that? I go inside and fire up SkyGlobe 3.6
(incredible freeware assembly-language program) to find out. OK it's named
Perseus. Look! I learn that both Cassiopeia and Perseus are thick in the
middle of the Milky Way. Heck, I learn something new every day. I see also,
from this software, that Saturn should be prominent.
Right. So I open the shed and drag out my very best telescope (happens to be
my only scope): an equatorially mounted Celestron 60mm refractor "Firstscope".
Oh boy. A book tells me one of the stars in Cassiopeia is supposed to be a
double. Skyglobe calls this star "ETA CAS". You're supposed to be able to
split it, if you can achieve 100X magnification.
The little plastic spotter is almost useless, so forget that. I sight along
the barrel of the refractor to get it in the neighborhood of Cassiopeia, then I
go hunting around using my Celestron 25mm "Wide View" eyepiece. Dang I have
the best equipment, don't you think?! Each time I mention my eyepiece, a
choir of brass horns should play fanfare ... so, 25mm Wide-View! Tat-Tata-Da!
Yeah!
Anyway. I see lots of stars but I can't be certain I've got ETA CAS. I trade
off between quick looks through the binoculars and quick looks through the
scope, to help sort things out. But it's difficult because the scope view is
inverted! Maybe if I hold the binoculars upside-down ... no, that doesn't help
;-) OK eventually I'm 100% certain I've got ETA CAS centered in view.
The scope is 900mm focal length, so my 25mm "Wide View" eyepiece (Tat-Tata-Da!)
gives 900/25 = 36 magnification, right? Is that how you calculate it? Next I
put in my 2X barlow. That means 72 power, right? Well, can't split it. Next
I use my 10mm eyepiece, 90 power. I start to imagine I'm splitting it. I go
for broke and use the 10mm with the barlow, but I just don't know. The image
seems wobbly and vague. Maybe the magnification is beyond the seeing. Or
maybe I just need to get my dang contact lenses to settle down. OK now I think
I've split it. A smaller dim dot to the right of the main star in my view. Or
maybe I'm just imagining it.
My wife starts calling from the bedroom. I can hear her from out in the
backyard. When are you coming to bed? Pretty soon dear, but I'm still kind of
awake.
I'm buzzing with this soft excited feeling, that I've been susceptible to all
my life, that comes onto me when I'm working hands-on with fine systems or
mechanisms or instruments. You can bet this science-excited feeling is the
reason I wound up here in Silicon Valley, instead of staying in my native Salt
Lake and becoming a truck driver.
OK so I point the thing at Saturn, and Saturn looks fine. I mean, it looks
really great. Stunning through my 25mm Wide-View (Tat-Tata-Da!) + barlow, and,
like, 3D and close enough to touch through my 10mm. I can see that gap in the
rings, you know, whatever that gap is called. But using the 10mm and barlow
together, I see the wobbly vague effect again. Maybe those lenses are not
meant for each other.
My wife calls for me again. Says the bed's too cold and she can't heat it
herself. It's a female metabolism thing. She uses our wife-husband
code-nickname for me, "cordless". "Cordless!" It means she wants my
high-metabolism, "cordless" auto-heat-generating self in bed with her, so she
can get to sleep. OK.
I did not leave the scope set up. I packed away the eyepieces, then tucked the
scope (tripod and all) under one arm and carried it back to the shed. I'll
observe tonight too if those clouds don't show up.
Well, here's looking up your old address!
Salutations from Dan Wright
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