Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy Series For other titles published in the series, go to www.springer.com/series/3192 Make Time for the Stars Fitting Astronomy into Your Busy Life Antony Cooke Antony Cooke Capistrano Beach, CA ISBN 978-0-387-89340-2 e-ISBN 978-0-387-89341-9 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-89341-9 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in c onnection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) This book is dedicated to my mother, Margot Cooke, with love and appreciation for the encouragement, freedom, and opportunities she provided so that I could make the most of everything meaningful to me. About the Author It has often been said that music and astronomy go hand in hand. Antony Cooke’s passion for both fields were clear very early in his life, but music ultimately would claim his career. A cellist of international renown, Cooke has been one of the leading players in the Hollywood recording industry for many years, having been Associate Professor of Cello at Northwestern University in Chicago until 1984. A US citizen but born in Australia and educated in London, he received artist diplomas from the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. During this time he was a recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Gold Medal at the London Music Festival. Becoming England’s youngest principal cellist (London Mozart Play- ers), his career grew as international soloist, solo recording artist, university profes- sor, and published composer, including for prime time television. The dual nature of Cooke’s interests continued, astronomy remaining the counterbalance in his life. Always looking for ways to improve his experience at the eyepiece, he has constructed many telescopes over the years, with increasing sizes being the hallmark of his often quirky designs. With limited time becoming an increasing factor, and with simplicity in mind, Cooke made the conscious choice not to be a slave to the new directions of mainstream amateur astronomy. Blending some of the best that modern technology has to offer with the careful choice of portable equipment, Cooke’s somewhat unorthodox approach, developed over the course of his lifetime, has proved to be his best solution. Make Time for the Stars is Antony Cooke’s third book on astronomy, preceded by Visual Astronomy in the Suburbs (Springer 2003) and Visual Astronomy under Dark Skies (Springer 2005). vii Contents Section I The Busy Astronomer Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2 Making the Right Equipment Choices .......................................... 9 From Absolute Zero to Absolute Minimum ................................... 10 Potential Pitfalls – Do Not Fall In ................................................... 11 The Homebuilt Telescope ................................................................ 16 Eyepieces........................................................................................... 20 Right on the Money ......................................................................... 21 Aperture Fever ................................................................................. 22 Other Worthy Accessories ............................................................... 23 Chapter 3 How to Expand Your Potential ....................................................... 25 The Best of the Bunch ..................................................................... 26 Comparing CCD Video Cameras and Image Intensifiers ............. 43 A Word on Private Observatories ................................................... 44 And Finally ....................................................................................... 45 Chapter 4 Maximizing Your Time at the Telescope ....................................... 47 The Importance of Precise Optical Alignment .............................. 47 Quick Setup Project: Collimation Made Easy ................................ 49 The Importance of Clean Optics .................................................... 51 Quick Setup Project: Easy Cleaning of Optical Components ....... 52 Getting More from Your Newtonian .............................................. 52 Other Distractions ........................................................................... 55 The Weather! .................................................................................... 57 The Value of True Portability .......................................................... 58 ix x Contents Section II The Moon Chapter 5 The First Port of Call .................................................................... 63 Quick Project: Lunar Fly-By .......................................................... 64 A Real Lunar Fly-By! ...................................................................... 65 Chapter 6 The Moon: Close Up and Personal .............................................. 67 Choosing a Telescope ..................................................................... 68 Quick Project: Comparing Lunar Features to Familiar Landmarks .............................................................. 69 Flying with Apollo .......................................................................... 70 Quick Project: Examining Mountainous Contours at the Lunar Limb ...................................................................... 71 Apollo ............................................................................................. 71 Revisiting Familiar Lunar Features ............................................... 73 Quick Project: An Apollo Mission Relived .................................... 73 Chapter 7 Instant Imaging of the Moon ....................................................... 83 Resolving Lunar Detail with Digital Video Imaging .................... 86 Quick Project: Experiment for Effective Pixel Saturation with CCD Video ...................................................... 88 Chapter 8 The Lunar Terminator .................................................................. 91 Quick Project: A Different Way to See the Moon ........................ 92 Quick Project(s): Finding Specific Regions of the Moon and Features at the Terminator ...................................... 93 Section III The Greater Solar System Chapter 9 A Quick Guide to the Solar System ............................................. 101 The Sun .......................................................................................... 102 Rediscovering the Planets .............................................................. 105 The Use of Color Filters ................................................................ 105 Everything Else in the Solar Realm ............................................... 106 On Being Useful ............................................................................. 107 Chapter 10 Planetary Imaging on a Time Budget ......................................... 109 Drawing .......................................................................................... 110 Quick Project: Drawing Jupiter in Pencil from Observation ...... 111 Quick Project: Drawing Mars in Pencil from Observation ......... 113 Quick Project: Drawing Saturn in Pencil from Observation ...... 114 Drawing in Color ........................................................................... 114 Quick Project: Drawing the Planets in Color ............................... 115 Some Imaging Perspectives ........................................................... 119 Quick Project: Combining the Best of Video and Drawing ........ 119 A New Solution! ............................................................................. 120 Contents xi Quick Project: Combining Video Frames and Drawing - Jupiter and Mars ............................................... 120 Quick Project: Combining Video Frames and Drawing of Saturn .............................................................. 124 Chapter 11 Spectacles in Our Neighborhood ................................................ 127 Filters, Again! ................................................................................. 128 Quick Project: Evaluating Views of Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn with Color Filters ...................................................... 128 Mars ................................................................................................ 129 Quick Project: Mapping Mars ....................................................... 138 Jupiter ............................................................................................. 140 Quick Project: Drawing Small Regions of Jupiter’s Disc and Cylindrical Projections .............................................. 141 Saturn ............................................................................................. 146 Chapter 12 The Far In and Far Out ................................................................. 151 The “Far-In” Planets: Mercury and Venus .................................... 152 Quick Project: Viewing Cloud Detail on Venus ........................... 155 The “Far-Out” Planets: Uranus and Neptune .............................. 157 Quick Project: Viewing Uranus and Neptune .............................. 160 Pluto and Plutinos ......................................................................... 160 Visitors from the Far Reaches: Comets ......................................... 163 Quick Project: Viewing a Bright Comet ....................................... 166 Asteroids and Minor Planets ......................................................... 166 Chapter 13 Daytime Astronomy ..................................................................... 169 Observing the Sun ......................................................................... 169 Quick Project: Indirect Solar Viewing Using Projection ............. 171 Direct Solar Viewing ...................................................................... 172 Quick Project: Direct Viewing ...................................................... 172 Observing the Sun ......................................................................... 173 Meade ETX-90 ............................................................................... 174 Coronado PST................................................................................ 174 Imaging on the Run ....................................................................... 176 Viewing the Planets During Daylight Hours................................ 178 Quick Project: Viewing the Brighter Planets During the Day ..... 179 Observing During Twilight and Early Morning .......................... 180 Other Daytime Prospects .............................................................. 180 Quick Project: Seeing Stars............................................................ 180 Section IV Deep Space Chapter 14 Viewing Deep Space Objects ........................................................ 185 Near Deep Space ............................................................................ 188 Star Clusters ................................................................................... 188 xii Contents Open Clusters ................................................................................ 188 Globular Clusters ........................................................................... 189 Quick Project: Touring Bright Clusters ........................................ 191 Diffuse Nebulae ............................................................................. 192 Quick Project: Viewing and Comparing Diffuse Nebulae ........... 194 Quick Project: Viewing Large Diffuse Nebulae ............................ 195 Quick Project: Seeing Colors in Deep Space ................................ 196 Planetary Nebulae .......................................................................... 197 Quick Project: Viewing the Brightest Planetary Nebulae ............ 197 Ever-Deeper Space ......................................................................... 198 Galaxies .......................................................................................... 199 Quick Project: Viewing Detail in Galaxies .................................... 200 Novae, Supernovae, and Variable Stars ......................................... 202 Chapter 15 Deep Space Imaging...................................................................... 205 Drawing .......................................................................................... 206 Quick Project: Drawing Deep Space Objects ............................... 207 CCD Video Imaging with Image Intensifier ................................ 209 Quick Project: Making Images with a Digital Camera ................ 212 A Comparison of Methods ............................................................ 212 Chapter 16 Astronomy via the Internet .......................................................... 215 The Moon ....................................................................................... 216 The Sun and the Planets ................................................................ 218 Comets ........................................................................................... 220 The Milky Way Galaxy ................................................................... 221 Variable Stars.................................................................................. 221 Deep Space ..................................................................................... 221 Supernovae ..................................................................................... 223 Observing ....................................................................................... 223 Miscellaneous ................................................................................. 224 Robotic and Manned Spaceflight .................................................. 225 Chapter 17 A Guide for Viewing Sessions ...................................................... 227 Index 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