Through A Glass, Darkly

New Moon Photos

We had great seeing here (at least, for Philly) over the weekend and I was able to spend some time viewing the Moon. I think I enjoy planetary viewing the most, with the Moon and Jupiter being my favorite objects. I took a bunch of photos, and have added them to the Moon gallery over there in the right-hand column. Again, nothing fancy -- I literally shot these by holding my digital camera up to the lens. But they turned out alright. Some samples (click to embiggen):

Viewing Report: 10.6.07

I spent a good bit of time getting to know the telescope last night and again this morning (gotta love that 4 AM feeding). First smart move: Setting the scope up during sunset for last night's viewing. This made it much easier to get the thing level, plug in the AC adapter, set up my lenses in the accessory tray, and perhaps most important, allowed the scope to adjust to the ambient temperature so I wouldn't get dew on the lens (which I didn't). Conditions were better than earlier in the week due to lower humidity (a bit) and clear skies (translation, good clarity, not the best transparency). Morning conditions were significantly better due to the more slender, and later-rising, Moon.

For my object list I worked from Skyhound's excellent In The Eyepiece This Month page, focusing in particular on their "Objects for Newbie Skyhounds" list. (The whole site is a fantastic resource, and the object-specific pages are wonderful.) Here are the objects from my list that I was able to see from the front yard (based on line of sight, not magnitude), with observing notes for each. The pictures below are simulated by the excellent planetarium software Equinox 6, although they seem smaller than in the lens because they're not filling one's field of vision. But the proportions are right.

• Jupiter: Caught the gas giant just before it set below the trees to our west. Not as much humidity as in past days, and the big planet put on a good show. Changing filters produced some interesting effects; blue, in particular, helped resolve the banding in the Jupiter's clouds. All four of Jupiter's large moons were visible, and in the 12.5 with the Barlow the image looked a little like this. The moons, from left to right, are Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.

• Andromeda Galaxy (M31): No better resolution than the large haze I've seen in the past, although the new lenses produced a larger haze than before.
• M13: Great. Plenty of individual star resolution with the 12.5mm.
• The Ring Nebula (M57): The show of the night. Just fantastic. I had tried to spy M57 from the Poconos and was left wondering if I'd seen it; no doubt last night. While I couldn't resolve any red color, the ring did appear distinctly non-gray, with the color being closes to blue. Nice in all lenses, even when Barlowed (the view below simulates the 25mm). What a thrill!

• Epsilon Lyrae (the "Double Double"): Just a great set of stars. Able to split both doubles in the 25 and 12.5.
• 61 Cygni: What a fantastic double. Bright orange in my lenses.
• M2 and M15: Small, but visible and nice.
• Betelgeuse, Sirius: Just nice to have in the lens ...
• Orion Nebula (M42): Viewed this morning and much better than in the Poconos, in part due to the Moon not yet being up and in part from having clearer skies and better lenses. Clear resolution of the central stars. No red color, but an image that filled the field of view.
• Mars: Nice for the same reasons as Orion. Difficult to make out surface patterns, but could just do so with the blue filter.
• Venus: My first view of Venus and wow! Almost too bright, and a fantastic crescent.

• The Moon: A wonderful waning Moon nearly to a sliver. The higher mag lenses produced great close-ups, although the warming morning atmosphere and heat coming off the room made the image quality for the 12.mm with the Barlow pretty poor. Still, a great view. Also checked out the ND filter, but the Moon wasn't quite bright enough to get the contrast benefit. I tried to get some snaps but there wasn't quite enough light.

My Gear

This is my new (and first) telescope, a Celestron NexStar 8 SE. It's an eight-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, which is a nice all-around scope that combines elements of a reflector and refractor. This is the telescope I've always wanted. A neighbor had a classic Celestron SCT (probably a six inch based on my memory) and I longed for that telescope -- the shape, the view, and especially, that orange color. Awesome!

The scope is just over eight inches across and about 17 inches long, with useful magnifications ranging between 29 and 480 times. What's great about this scope is its NexStar system, an on-board database of some 4,000 stellar objects (and which you navigate with that keypad on the fork arm). Take a moment to tell the scope your location and time, align it to a few stars in the night sky, and then just select and go. What to see the Hercules Cluster? Select it from the "Named Objects" menu, punch "enter" and the scope automatically slews to the object. It's extremely slick.

Other hardware I'm using (all made by Celestron):

• 12.5mm Plossl eyepiece
• 25mm E-Lux Plossl eyepiece
• 32.5mm Plossl eyepiece
• 2-inch x 1.25 inch Barlow lens
• #21 Orange 46% filter
• #80 Light Blue 30% filter
• #56 Light Green 53% filter
• #96 Neutral Density 25% filter
• 120V AC adapter

Photo Gallery and New Eyepieces

I tried my telescope for the first time in the Poconos earlier this week. The first night was cloudy, and I only had a few moments to poke around the sky, getting a glimpse of M31 which, while just a fuzzy blob with a noticeable center under the conditions, was a thrill nonetheless.

The first real opportunity to try out the scope was actually in the early morning. Our son, James, likes to wake for a feeding around 4 AM. At that time the clouds were gone and Orion, Mars, and most important, the Moon were in view. I managed to take some photos of the Moon just by holding my small digital camera up to the lens (and by futzing with the film speed, etc.). I've created a gallery for the shots, which is here and also linked in the column over there on the right.

Here's a nice full-field picture from the few that were steady enough to make the cut. Click to embiggen. What's nice is that I took this using the standard 25 mm Plossl eyepiece that came with the scope. Yesterday UPS delivered my eyepiece accessory kit, which augments my eyepiece set with 12.5mm (smaller numbers = higher power) and 32mm eyepieces, and a 2 inch Barlow lens (and a few filters). With the Barlow and the 12.5, I should have an effective power four times greater than that pictured below (with some associated loss of resolution). Fun!

Welcome to Through A Glass, Darkly

Since I was, oh, say ... five? ... I've loved the stars and all things astronomy. It's been nothing more than an interest since then, until now. This past week I finally purchased a telescope, fulfilling a dream and wish I've had since those days as a wee lad. More on the setup later. For now I want to introduce Through A Glass, Darkly, a little blog that will serve as my web nexus for logging my viewing and e-community involvement as I pursue my new hobby. A great way to spend sabbatical, eh?

About the name. First, I've always liked the line. The original reference is from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 13:12, which (in the King James) reads:

For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

The general interpretation of the phrase is that humans have an imperfect perception of reality; this is certainly true in general, and physically accurate when considering backyard astronomy. Second, the word "glass" is generally interpreted to mean "mirror," which is certainly appropriate when considering telescopes. Third, the entire passage is Paul's famous passage on the meaning of love, and it's worth reading astronomy or not.

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

More on 1 Corinthians 13 at Wikipedia.