50 Things To See With A Small Telescope Read online

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  Things to See with a Small Telescope

  John A. Read

  www.facebook.com/50ThingstoSeewithaSmallTelescope

  Text Copyright 2013 @ John A Read --- Updated May 2017 ----All Rights Reserved

  Star maps used in this book are made using Stellarium, http://stellarium.org/ an open source stargazing program.

  Cover photo by Sean McCauley.

  Copy editing and final proof by Kurtis Anstey

  Images of the following telescopes provided compliments of Celestron: Celestron First Scope and Celestron NexStar 6se

  Images of the following telescopes reprinted with permission from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars: 6 Inch Orion SkyQuest, 8 Inch Orion SkyQuest

  Image of Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian provided compliments of Meade Instruments

  Image of Explore Scientific FirstLight 114mm Reflector provided by Explore Scientific

  Telescope view source files for deep sky objects were constructed from actual astrophotos used with permission from the following astrophotographers:

  Mark Stanford Sr: Trifid Nebula

  Stuart Forman: Double Cluster, M1, M13, M27, M51, M81 & M82, M81 (Supernova added digitally).

  Mike Harms: Andromeda, M42

  Dave Lane (Utilizing the Burke-Gaffney Observatory): Comet Catalina

  Images from NASA follow NASA’s photo usage guidelines found here:

  http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html

  Solar and Lunar Eclipse Schedule based on data acquired by Fred Espenak during his time at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Permissions freely granted based the guidelines found here: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpubs/5MCSE.html

  A Note from the Author

  When I look through my telescope, I am exploring a new and fantastic frontier. Just like you, I want to skip to the middle of this book, pick something cool, and see it with my telescope. However, only about a third of the items in this book will be visible in a given evening. Before you set up your telescope, please download stargazing software for your computer or mobile device. I recommend Stellarium, which is available for free at http://www.stellarium.org, or from the app store. Using this software, you can determine if your target is visible.

  Since I do my astronomy in the northern hemisphere, this edition of the book contains several items visible only to those living north of the equator. A Southern Hemisphere edition of this book is also available.

  Finally, as the first of many reminders, do not look at the Sun, through a telescope, without utilizing a commercial solar filter.

  This book is dedicated to Jennifer, who listens to me to talk

  about outer space pretty much all of the time.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to express my gratitude to Marni Berendsen, developer of the NASA Night Sky Network, for her fantastic contribution of editing and fact-checking this book.

  I would also like to thank the Mount Diablo Astronomical Society (MDAS), for feeding my desire to learn more about the universe. This book would not be possible without the support of the wonderful folks at MDAS.

  To find the astronomy club nearest you, please visit:

  http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov (USA)

  www.rasc.ca/locations-across-canada (Canada)

  www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-clubs-organizations/ (All)

  Introduction

  I wrote this book to accompany a person’s first telescope. It saddens me that many telescopes are used once, and then shoved to the back of a closet. I assume folks are persuaded to purchase these telescopes based on the pictures of planets and galaxies on the box, leading them to believe their new scope is as powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope. Or maybe it was a well-meant gift, lost to time.

  Maybe you tried to use the telescope, but realized the mount was too flimsy, the optics were poor, or if it had a go-to computer, that computer didn’t know Jupiter from the Moon.

  My first three telescopes met these criteria. As a kid, I spent hours looking at random objects in space, dreaming I might someday see something cool. I desperately hoped to see something to ignite my soul, slingshotting me into a lucrative career as an astronaut or astronomer.

  I was an adult before I had an enlightening experience with a telescope, and well into an established career in corporate finance, when my soul was truly ignited for astronomy. The local pharmacy was selling small telescopes for $13.99. The box was beautifully designed with pictures of Saturn and Jupiter. I thought, what the heck, I’ll do it, I’ll buy this telescope!

  I carried the telescope home and set it up. “This is terrible!” I thought, feeling embarrassed for wasting my money. The telescope sat on a camera tripod instead of a proper telescope mount, the eyepieces were tiny, the aperture was the size of a silver dollar, and the finder scope was obviously just for decoration.

  That night I carried the telescope outside, setting it up in front of my apartment complex, under a streetlight and beside a Bay Area Rapid Transit station. I pointed the small telescope at a bright yellow star hovering a few degrees above the horizon.

  “Oh, my,” I thought, overwhelmed with awe. The wobbly scope steadied itself in the still air. Before my eyes, in perfect clarity, in perfect focus, without a shimmer of distortion, I saw, for the first time in my life, Saturn and its rings.

  You may be wondering what inspired me to write this book? I do a lot of volunteering with my local astronomical society’s outreach group, through NASA’s Night Sky Network. We go from school to school teaching students how to use a telescope. The thing is, even though we are in California, the sky is not always clear, and this happens:

  Kid: “Can we look at the Sun?”

  Me: “No, you can only see the Sun during the day.”

  Kid: “Can I see the Moon?”

  Me: “No, it’s not up tonight. But there are other things to see.”

  Kid: “Like what?”

  Meanwhile the clouds begin to roll in.

  Me: “Like this!” I point the telescope at Saturn.

  Kid: “I don’t see it.”

  Me: “Ah, a cloud has strategically positioned itself in front of Saturn.”

  The kid walks away.

  When this happens, it’s time to get creative; otherwise, mayhem follows. The students start to get bored, and they start throwing things. The teachers give them flashlights, which they shine in your eyes. You turn your back for ten seconds and then there is a child riding your telescope like a horse.

  Sometimes, we need to think unconventionally. I was on top of Mount Diablo, at an astronomy event, when the clouds rolled in. I decided to point the telescope at a red light on the top of the observation building at the summit. The students were fascinated!

  The light was a quarter mile away, yet you could see the condensation on the red glass enclosure. A moth fluttered around it.

  The kids noticed how the light bulb appeared upside down in the scope, and I had to explain how this was due to the lenses and mirrors inside. In looking at a light-bulb a quarter mile away, we were able to grasp the power of the telescope; the ability to see something familiar, small, and far away.

  We spent half an hour looking at that light bulb. It was seen by at least a hundred people. That night probably churned out as many future scientists as a night where there were no clouds at all. I started thinking unconventionally about what to observe, and how to best share the observations; breaking down stargazing into its simplest form. And that’s how 50 Things to See with a Small Telescope began.

  Telescope Shopping?
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  Since I published the first version of this book, back in 2013, many people have contacted me asking what telescope they should buy given their budget. The most common response to this is: it depends. I hate giving that response. Most people who are getting started in amateur astronomy have one goal: to see cool stuff. They’re not trying to take pictures, make groundbreaking discoveries, or memorize the constellations. With this in mind, my one rule for a first telescope is to get the one with the most aperture you can afford (aperture is the diameter of the primary lens or mirror).

  If your budget is around $75: This table top scope has 76mm of aperture, more than enough to see everything in this book. And for around $50 (plus tax), you can’t beat the easy to use table top mount.

  Between $100 and $150: At this price range, start looking for telescopes with over 110mm (~4.5 inches) of aperture. This will enable great views of Saturn’s rings, and hundreds of deep sky objects.

  Between $150 and $300: In this range, we’re looking at some really great telescopes. Try your best to reach the six inches of aperture range, you won’t regret it! Dobsonians make extremely loveable telescopes.

  Between $300 and $500: At this price range, we can move beyond the small telescope. These telescopes have between six and ten inches of aperture. Personally, I prefer Dobsonians for their ease of use, and spectacular views of galaxies, nebulae, and globular clusters. However, if the size of a Dobsonian is an issue, consider a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, instead.

  Between $500 and $1000: A twelve inch Dobsonian is a serious telescope. In dark skies, you can see distant comets, and dim galaxies. Some people even use these telescopes to search for undiscovered supernovae! At this price range, you may want to consider trading aperture for a computerized telescope. Dollar for dollar, I prefer aperture to computing power, but it is an option.

  When priced under $1000, decent go-to (computerized) telescopes tend to have no more than six inches of aperture. However, many go-to scopes have great features like sky-tours and satellite tracking. Newer models, like the NextStar Evolution Series, have internal lithium ion batteries, and can be controlled by a phone or tablet.

  A Note on Color

  Did you know that in dim lighting the human eye can only see in black and white? Only when you use a digital camera do galaxies and nebulae get color. Many objects imaged using professional telescopes aren’t even in wavelengths the human eye can see! In this case, professional astronomers assign a color the human eye can see to that particular wavelength of light. This is called false color, or representative color.

  This book is about what you can see through your telescope, not what a camera can image. Amateur astronomers often call deep-sky targets “beautiful smudges”, because without a camera, that is what most deep-sky objects look like. For this reason, this book is different than most other beginner astronomy books. All the photos of galaxies and nebulae are in black and white, which is exactly how they will appear through the eyepiece of a telescope.

  Adapting Your Eyes to the Dark

  Most of the items in this book, including stars, planets, and the Moon, can be seen with ease, if the telescope is pointed in the right direction. However, when you move on to section three, Deep-Sky Objects, you’ll need to adapt your eyes to the dark, before attempting to observe.

  How do you adapt your eyes? You prepare your eyes to view deep-sky objects by avoiding looking at any light source, for at least twenty or thirty minutes. This means avoiding looking toward porch lights, cell phones, and car headlights. It also means avoiding bright objects in the sky, including the Moon and planets, too.

  What can you do while you wait? Besides watching for shooting stars, you can observe double stars, and star clusters like the Pleiades.

  Stargazing Checklist

  A telescope (or binoculars), and a couple eyepieces.

  A basic understanding of how to focus your telescope, and point it at the bright stuff in the sky.

  A dark, cloud-free sky (if you are viewing galaxies, nebulae, and globular clusters). To find the darkest skies near you, use this website: http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html

  A stargazing application for determining the location of the planets.1 I recommend “Stellarium” (it’s free): http://www.stellarium.org.

  A commercial solar filter, or Coronado PST. If you plan on using your telescope to look at the Sun, ALWAYS use a solar filter over the objective lens or primary mirror.2

  1 Planets do not follow any annual calendar, so you will need software to find a planet’s current position in the sky.

  2 Never use a solar filter that covers only your eyepiece. The sunlight will burn through the filter and YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY GO BLIND.

  Difficulty

  *Sometimes it can take hours of patience to finally find the object you are looking for, and it may not always be spectacular; but that’s not the point. The point is to appreciate the objects that you can see! Hopefully, this book will help you appreciate the true splendor of everything in the sky.

  Part One

  Stars and Constellations

  This section will focus on a several popular stars, constellations, and asterisms (patterns within constellations). Learning to locate these stars and star-patterns will familiarize you with the night sky, and help you locate the other objects mentioned in this book.

  Each section will feature at least one star worth observing with your telescope. As you view the star, take note of its color. Is it orange, yellow, white, or blue? Is the star alone, or in a pair? Many people don’t realize that stars come in several colors, or that they typically have companions. Simply viewing stars through your telescope, and learning to appreciate their beauty, is often one’s first step into the larger Universe.

  1. The North Star (Polaris)

  Many people have incorrect assumptions about which star is actually the North Star. Some people believe that it’s the brightest star in the sky. I’ve actually had folks argue with me over which star is the North Star, some people even pointing to Sirius (located on the other side of the sky), just because it was the brightest star they could see at the time. In reality, the North Star is the 48th brightest star in the night sky.

  To find the North Star, follow the two stars (often called the Pointer Stars) that form the front of the cup of the Big Dipper to the next brightest star (as shown in the diagram below).

  The North Star is what is commonly called a visible binary star. With your telescope, you may be able to make out the second star, Polaris B.

  Polaris is very important to folks who own an equatorially mounted telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. In order for this type of mount to function correctly, one axis must be pointed directly at this star.

  2. Arcturus and Spica

  Beginning in the springtime, “Arc to Arcturus then Spike to Spica” is a great phrase to remember as you begin to navigate around the eastern sky. By creating an arc with the handle of the big dipper, and following it across the sky to arrive at the bright star Arcturus, you can then straighten your arc to hop over to the bluish star, Spica.

  Arcturus is an Orange Giant, and the fourth brightest star in the sky. Spica is a Blue Giant, and the fifteenth brightest star. Spica resides in the constellation Virgo, while Arcturus is located in Boötes (which is much more fun to say).

  Arcturus is very interesting, as over the course of our lifetime it will move, relative to nearby stars (about one seventh the diameter of the Moon, in one hundred years). The star is moving at over 90 miles per second, so fast that in 500,000 years it will be gone from sight altogether!

  Spica is both rotating and variable (increases and decreases in brightness). At its equator, it rotates at almost 200 kilometers per hour, and changes in brightness ever so slightly with each rotation.

  3. Altair and the Summer Triangle

  The Summer Triangle (or as my wife calls it, “The Great Pizza Slice”)
is an interesting part of the sky, as it straddles the plane of our galaxy. Because of this, it is filled with many objects to discover as you dive deeper into astronomy and upgrade to larger telescopes.

  The Summer Triangle is a great way to learn your way around the sky. It is outlined by three stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair. An asterism called The Northern Cross (in the constellation Cygnus) is also frequently referenced to locate targets in this part of the sky.

  Altair is frequently mentioned in science fiction due to its proximity to Earth. At only 16.7 light years away, it is one of the closest bright stars. Altarian dollars is the currency used throughout The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Altair is also mentioned in multiple Star Trek episodes, Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan, and two episodes of Doctor Who.

  No planets have been discovered orbiting Altair, but this may change in 2018 with the launch of a spacecraft called TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). TESS will continually scan two million of the closest star systems, searching for Earth-like planets.

  4: Pollux and Castor

  The constellation Gemini rises near midnight in the autumn, and is at its best during the evenings in winter and spring. Gemini is visualized by picturing twins holding hands. Stars Castor and Pollux make up the heads of these twins.