Well, in the last six months, I've had a mount that was irreparable damaged, which somehow was restored to life. Then my scope was squished, and miraculously was revived. This weekend, after removing the battery from my camera, the power sorted in the flash capacitors somehow shorted to the motherboard, causing-quite literally-a small explosion. It is now an ex-camera. It is not resting. it is not pining for the fjords. It has met its maker; it has, in a word, snuffed it. Photography is, for the moment, off the menu.
However, it is still July, and I have a nice telescope-and eyes! The views available to the direct south this month are spectacular, even with nothing but your eyes and some darkness. A small pair of binoculars will easily bring 20 to 30 of the Messier objects into plain view, some of them dramatically so. So while I figure out what to do about a camera, there is still much to do, and as I have mentioned before, photography has often distracted me from enjoying the spectacle that looking through a scope can provide.
If you only have some binoculars, here is what I recommend that you try. Late this evening, look south and find Antares-it will be the brightest star to the south, and is clearly reddish. In binocs, it is striking-almost uncomfortably bright to look at. About half of one field of view to its upper right is another star, and forming a shallow "V" between them is a globular cluster, M4. Let your eyes adapt to the dark a bit, then see if you can see a fuzzy cotton ball to the right of Antares. At first, you may see it best if you look slightly to one side of it-the very center of our vision is not very sensitive to light, actually. Looking just to the side while paying attention to the target is called "averted vision" and is a learned skill for visual telescopists.
To the left of Antares, see if you can find a group of stars (not a full constellation, but an "asterism") that looks like a teapot. Find a trapezoid shape, a bit leftish of the bright band of the Milky Way if you are lucky enough to see that, and in Saggitarius if you happen to know where that is. There is another star above the trapezoid that forms the top of the teapot, with the spout to the right. Once you see it, it will forever be obvious.
To the lower right, where this picture says M7, there is a bright star with a smaller one to the right and lower-the sting in Scorpius' tail. Above it and to the left is M7 itself, a wonderful binocular view of an open cluster that was even described by Ptolemy 2000 years ago. M6, to its upper right, is the Butterfly Cluster, dominated by one red supergiant star and a few blue supergiants. These things don't show their splendor in photos, so they get passed by a lot (by me as well-I've written about open clusters before in this blog.) But with binoculars or even a very small scope, they are dazzling.
Above the teapot's spout, almost like steam, are a couple of the most magnificent nebulae in the sky. M8 is easily visible with the eye alone in a dark area (I can even see it from MY yard, after 20 minutes of dark-adaptation.) Just above it is a "w" of stars, around which the Triffid Nebula M20 is located. There is another cluster around the upper left of the W too.
Once you find M8 in binocs, try moving directly to the left about two fields of view and see if you can find another cotton ball-this is the globular cluster M22. If you scan around the area between and above M8 and M22, there is almost no limit to what binoculars will show, and be sure to notice the background to it all-the utterly uncountable number of stars fading as far back as your eye can see.
This is definitely the best month of the year to watch the sky, especially if you don't have a load of fancy gear. And the area to the south is so full of beautiful sights that you need not be able to read 9or even own) star charts to find the good stuff. My binocs were only about $25, and they offer splendid views; this hobby definitely does NOT require a large budget. Get outside tonight and look up!
However, it is still July, and I have a nice telescope-and eyes! The views available to the direct south this month are spectacular, even with nothing but your eyes and some darkness. A small pair of binoculars will easily bring 20 to 30 of the Messier objects into plain view, some of them dramatically so. So while I figure out what to do about a camera, there is still much to do, and as I have mentioned before, photography has often distracted me from enjoying the spectacle that looking through a scope can provide.
If you only have some binoculars, here is what I recommend that you try. Late this evening, look south and find Antares-it will be the brightest star to the south, and is clearly reddish. In binocs, it is striking-almost uncomfortably bright to look at. About half of one field of view to its upper right is another star, and forming a shallow "V" between them is a globular cluster, M4. Let your eyes adapt to the dark a bit, then see if you can see a fuzzy cotton ball to the right of Antares. At first, you may see it best if you look slightly to one side of it-the very center of our vision is not very sensitive to light, actually. Looking just to the side while paying attention to the target is called "averted vision" and is a learned skill for visual telescopists.
To the lower right, where this picture says M7, there is a bright star with a smaller one to the right and lower-the sting in Scorpius' tail. Above it and to the left is M7 itself, a wonderful binocular view of an open cluster that was even described by Ptolemy 2000 years ago. M6, to its upper right, is the Butterfly Cluster, dominated by one red supergiant star and a few blue supergiants. These things don't show their splendor in photos, so they get passed by a lot (by me as well-I've written about open clusters before in this blog.) But with binoculars or even a very small scope, they are dazzling.
Above the teapot's spout, almost like steam, are a couple of the most magnificent nebulae in the sky. M8 is easily visible with the eye alone in a dark area (I can even see it from MY yard, after 20 minutes of dark-adaptation.) Just above it is a "w" of stars, around which the Triffid Nebula M20 is located. There is another cluster around the upper left of the W too.
Once you find M8 in binocs, try moving directly to the left about two fields of view and see if you can find another cotton ball-this is the globular cluster M22. If you scan around the area between and above M8 and M22, there is almost no limit to what binoculars will show, and be sure to notice the background to it all-the utterly uncountable number of stars fading as far back as your eye can see.
This is definitely the best month of the year to watch the sky, especially if you don't have a load of fancy gear. And the area to the south is so full of beautiful sights that you need not be able to read 9or even own) star charts to find the good stuff. My binocs were only about $25, and they offer splendid views; this hobby definitely does NOT require a large budget. Get outside tonight and look up!
No comments:
Post a Comment