I wonder what I was going to write yesterday. It was a VERY full day, so no surprise I didn't get anything down.
Breakfast, worship, chores, session, lunch, trip to Staffa, set for dinner, dinner, clean up from dinner, session ("What Is Healing"), worship, cielidh (sp?). I skipped the last - the Scottish barn dance - because I was spent. I REALLY wanted to go to it, but it had just been too much.
Today was full, but not that full. No sessions, for one thing. I had been wanting to take the full off-road pilgrimage around the island today, but I didn't have the right shoes and I was running out of steam. So yesterday I decided not to push it. I went on the on-road pilgrimage, and it was enough. The weather was "low clouds" (read: rain), high winds, threatening. The journey went from the Abbey to Martyrs' Bay to the crossroads to Columba's Bay. Then lunch, and back to the Machair for tea and "flapjack" - granola bars - with the off-roaders. On to the Hill of Angels, the Village Bench, and through the village to end at St. Orin's Chapel. It was enough. Very interesting really.
It's now getting near time for the healing service tonight, so remind me to tell you about all the spots on the pilgrimage, about walking the labyrinth, about worship here, and about what hasn't happened as I might have expected.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
On the bus across Mull
Spectacular scenery on Mull: steep, high hills or what I could call blunted mountains -- not quite craggy but not quite rounded -- with deep crevices and a stream in the midst of the valley.
The man next to me (from Ireland) pointed out the old road, running beside the current road and the stream, walked by pilgrims in years past and present, rather than taking the bus. He called this area "hugely uninhabited." Heh! It kind of looks like Wyoming, maybe?
My thoughts from NM about glimpses of things that are just on the edge of perception return here. First there were glimpses of mountains and the glen, now of the sea on the coast. Similar experience on the train up from Glasgow.
The scenery is real Scottish Field stuff, especially as we are going through at about the "golden hour."
Now a broad bay with rocky coast. Bunted mountains give way to more stratified, terraced hillsides. [Getting hungry. Have only had a pastry, cup of soup, some bread, and a chocolate bar today.]
Now the flattening coast begins to break up into islands. More houses and a few villages appear among the rock outcrops, somewhat like Galilee. Clouds are moving in as the sun sinks lower.
The man next to me (from Ireland) pointed out the old road, running beside the current road and the stream, walked by pilgrims in years past and present, rather than taking the bus. He called this area "hugely uninhabited." Heh! It kind of looks like Wyoming, maybe?
My thoughts from NM about glimpses of things that are just on the edge of perception return here. First there were glimpses of mountains and the glen, now of the sea on the coast. Similar experience on the train up from Glasgow.
The scenery is real Scottish Field stuff, especially as we are going through at about the "golden hour."
Now a broad bay with rocky coast. Bunted mountains give way to more stratified, terraced hillsides. [Getting hungry. Have only had a pastry, cup of soup, some bread, and a chocolate bar today.]
Now the flattening coast begins to break up into islands. More houses and a few villages appear among the rock outcrops, somewhat like Galilee. Clouds are moving in as the sun sinks lower.
Iona bound
Made the train this morning from Glasgow to Oban but missed the ferry to Mull. Had to wait for the 4:00 one. Gracefully it is a beautiful day. Waiting in the departure lounge now. Oban is charming and beautiful. Hope I make the other connections, or unhappiness will aboond. More later as Internet is available. Stay subscribed.
More training
On the train from Glasgow to Oban. Scenery is beautiful! Small mountains, large lachs, blue sky and sunshine. Trees just starting to turn in places or lots of evergreens. Some streams and a few ravines, but more open prairies (?) or rolling hills. Looks like Missouri, maybe, sometimes.
Need to get cash exchanged in Oban, which may be challenging, since I have just a little time to make the ferry for Mull, but it's the last chance.
Wonder what folks do for a living up here. Not as many sheep.....
Need to get cash exchanged in Oban, which may be challenging, since I have just a little time to make the ferry for Mull, but it's the last chance.
Wonder what folks do for a living up here. Not as many sheep.....
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What's the difference, Part 2
ScotRail is a very pleasant experience so far. Molly and I are on the train from Leuchars to Edinburgh. Ticket man was friendly and helpful. Train was right on time. It is quite comfortable and mostly clean. Also not very expensive -- less than £30 for two return (round trip) tickets. Again, why not, USA?
What's the difference?
I've been really impressed by the energy consciousness and awareness of sustainability here in the UK. All the power outlets have switches, from the lamps to the fridge to the cooker to the shower. When you're done you switch it off. No vampire charges -- good for conservation, good for the wallet. I'm thinking to retrofit our house that way.
Also, the food shopping experience is quite different. Ian was complaining that supermarkets are ruining food shopping. He wasn't talking about SuperWalmart or Wegmans, but stores like Martins or Food Lion. But for now there are still butchers and bakers and fishmongers and such in most towns. Really good food from real people. Why not? Why can't we do that any more? Convenience -- FEH! Efficiency --FEH! A Jedi craves not these things. Unfortunately, most Americans are not Jedi.
Is factory-produced food shipped across the country or the world so much better for the economy that we accept all the engineering and chemicals and tastelessness and all? Maybe. Wealth vs. Health, again.
Also, the food shopping experience is quite different. Ian was complaining that supermarkets are ruining food shopping. He wasn't talking about SuperWalmart or Wegmans, but stores like Martins or Food Lion. But for now there are still butchers and bakers and fishmongers and such in most towns. Really good food from real people. Why not? Why can't we do that any more? Convenience -- FEH! Efficiency --FEH! A Jedi craves not these things. Unfortunately, most Americans are not Jedi.
Is factory-produced food shipped across the country or the world so much better for the economy that we accept all the engineering and chemicals and tastelessness and all? Maybe. Wealth vs. Health, again.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
On Scotland, briefly
The Scottish landscape is remarkably like parts of the US. Rolling hills with wide grain fields, high hills/low mountains in the distance, plenty of trees along the road. The houses mostly look quite old, though, and old-fashioned. Mostly of stone with high-pitched roofs. Not many are two stories, virtually none are more than that, city of Aberdeen notwithstanding. And sooooo many sheeeep!
Oh geez! Oh man!
On the way to St. Andrews Have now pretty much mastered day-to-day driving (except for the fine points of roundabout etiquette). Made it down through Aberdeen.
Next a new motor terror: NOT DRIVING! Dad took over just out of A-city, his first go at UK driving w/stick shift in 7-26 years. Feeling very exposed and vulnerable in the passenger seat, butt clenched right the way along. Just to add to the fun, a car just about 1/4 mile ahead of us went out of control, swerved off on the right, then shot off the road left into a field, right in front of a big lorry! God save us!
I feel kind of like when going out with the kids for their first time driving. I think it's coming back to him, though. I think.
Breathe.....
Next a new motor terror: NOT DRIVING! Dad took over just out of A-city, his first go at UK driving w/stick shift in 7-26 years. Feeling very exposed and vulnerable in the passenger seat, butt clenched right the way along. Just to add to the fun, a car just about 1/4 mile ahead of us went out of control, swerved off on the right, then shot off the road left into a field, right in front of a big lorry! God save us!
I feel kind of like when going out with the kids for their first time driving. I think it's coming back to him, though. I think.
Breathe.....
Checking in
Internet has been hard to come by. Cullen is grand. Dornoch Cathedral worship was marvelous, and Rev. Susan Brown delightful. Going to St. Andrews today to see about the Reformation a bit, then Edinburgh tomorrow, hopefully for more of the same. Friday it's off to Glasgow and Iona on Saturday for a week. Posts may continue to be spotty. Sorry about that. Scotland is fabulous and not unlike home in many ways. Got to go now. Stay subscribed!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Under the shiny emerald surface
Today I had opportunity to talk with a local fellow and talk turned to the politics of Ireland and the Troubles. I won't reveal his identity because first, I haven't asked him if I could blog what we talked about, and second, I don't want to cause any problem for him with people who may not know his stories. I get the impression that his experiences might be common to many here, but nevertheless I will refer to him as "Joe."
I came in on a conversation in progress wherein Joe was saying that since Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, has joined the political process in Northern Ireland they have become increasingly popular and powerful. The inevitable result, as Joe sees it, is that they will eventually win a majority in the parliament and be able to name the prime minister (if I understand correctly, that is of Northern Ireland). These are the Irish nationalists who have been fighting for centuries to remove the British power and influence from Ireland. The party that has been in power these many years are the (I think) unionist, that is loyalists to the Crown of England. They see that this change is likely to happen and say that this is a democracy, and if that is what the people want, then so be it. Joe figures this shift will happen in the next election in just a couple years.
If and when this shift takes place, Joe figures that the first thing they will do is to pass laws to remove the visual signs of British loyalty from the North, such as the Union Jack and images of the Queen. They would not be able to directly legislate the removal of the British, but they could call for a referendum of the whole of Ireland, both North and Republic. If 70% vote to support the nationalists, then Ireland would be out of the Union of Great Britain (if I understood correctly) and be a step away from being a united country again.
However, Joe said that if the nationalists do take power, then the underground resistance of the unionist forces will take the role of insurgent terrorists, filled by the IRA against the unionists these many years. Eventually, they will likely win either enough sympathy or enough political clout to once again take power. If not, then the Troubles will be back, just with roles reversed. To this point Joe said there isn't really peace in Ireland now - just a lack of open, large-scale violence.
As to the previous violence, Joe said several members of his mum's family were killed or wounded randomly by bombs and guns of the terrorists/insurgents/freedom fighters/doodoo heads (my words there, not his). She was hard set against the IRA as a result and essentially suppressed any intention of her children to get involved with the politics of violence. Nevertheless, Joe recounted three stories of times in his working career when that violence came to him. Once he was going out on a late-night trouble-shooting call for work, and when he got to the site he tripped over something. It turned out to be what we now hear referred to as an IED - improvised explosive devise! He had hit the trigger and pulled the top off the bomb, but it didn't explode. Another time he was driving through a certain place on his way home, and someone was standing in the road and flagged him down. He rolled down his window and suddenly found he had the someone's gun pressed to the side of his head! "Who are you? Where are you going?" the man demanded. "I'm just going home!" said Joe, and eventually he was allowed to proceed. In the third, he and some coworkers were out early on a job site looking it over before the project began to see where things needed to go and what needed to happen before the day's traffic began. Suddenly, they became aware that there were four lads standing around them with guns, again demanding to know who they were and what their business was. It turns out he and his coworkers had happened upon the local IRA office!
Joe had many other stories and insights that I won't relate here. This was the sort of conversation that changes one's understanding of a place and its people, and a good reason for people to travel abroad. I've known about the "situation" in Ireland all my life, but to hear this man describe these scenes of horror and violence in what we would consider an otherwise quiet, normal middle-class life personalizes it, humanizes it, makes it real and accessible in ways that I'm not sure are fully welcome. It means I have to care what happens here. It is the same sort of experience I had several times in Israel, and really the two situations are in many ways parallel.
O God of all the nations, O Prince of peace, O Spirit of communion,
Look with favor, mercy, and compassion on Your children here in the two Irelands.
Grant that they may lay aside, not ignore, but by choice lay aside
hatred, bitterness, thirst for vengeance and for power,
and all other hardness of heart that leads to separation and violence.
By the supernatural power of the cross and the empty grave of Christ,
may all who claim Christ seek and experience Your forgiveness and reconciliation,
so it will become the way of life and the mark of all Your children.
Convict the hearts of sinners. Protect the lives of the innocent.
Pour out Your peace that passes all understanding
in the places where understanding is so hard to find.
O bless Your children with peace.
And Lord, forgive me
for my complacency
for my indifference
for my prejudices
for my participation in the ways
that lead others away from You.
In Christ, through Christ, for Christ,
Amen.
I came in on a conversation in progress wherein Joe was saying that since Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, has joined the political process in Northern Ireland they have become increasingly popular and powerful. The inevitable result, as Joe sees it, is that they will eventually win a majority in the parliament and be able to name the prime minister (if I understand correctly, that is of Northern Ireland). These are the Irish nationalists who have been fighting for centuries to remove the British power and influence from Ireland. The party that has been in power these many years are the (I think) unionist, that is loyalists to the Crown of England. They see that this change is likely to happen and say that this is a democracy, and if that is what the people want, then so be it. Joe figures this shift will happen in the next election in just a couple years.
If and when this shift takes place, Joe figures that the first thing they will do is to pass laws to remove the visual signs of British loyalty from the North, such as the Union Jack and images of the Queen. They would not be able to directly legislate the removal of the British, but they could call for a referendum of the whole of Ireland, both North and Republic. If 70% vote to support the nationalists, then Ireland would be out of the Union of Great Britain (if I understood correctly) and be a step away from being a united country again.
However, Joe said that if the nationalists do take power, then the underground resistance of the unionist forces will take the role of insurgent terrorists, filled by the IRA against the unionists these many years. Eventually, they will likely win either enough sympathy or enough political clout to once again take power. If not, then the Troubles will be back, just with roles reversed. To this point Joe said there isn't really peace in Ireland now - just a lack of open, large-scale violence.
As to the previous violence, Joe said several members of his mum's family were killed or wounded randomly by bombs and guns of the terrorists/insurgents/freedom fighters/doodoo heads (my words there, not his). She was hard set against the IRA as a result and essentially suppressed any intention of her children to get involved with the politics of violence. Nevertheless, Joe recounted three stories of times in his working career when that violence came to him. Once he was going out on a late-night trouble-shooting call for work, and when he got to the site he tripped over something. It turned out to be what we now hear referred to as an IED - improvised explosive devise! He had hit the trigger and pulled the top off the bomb, but it didn't explode. Another time he was driving through a certain place on his way home, and someone was standing in the road and flagged him down. He rolled down his window and suddenly found he had the someone's gun pressed to the side of his head! "Who are you? Where are you going?" the man demanded. "I'm just going home!" said Joe, and eventually he was allowed to proceed. In the third, he and some coworkers were out early on a job site looking it over before the project began to see where things needed to go and what needed to happen before the day's traffic began. Suddenly, they became aware that there were four lads standing around them with guns, again demanding to know who they were and what their business was. It turns out he and his coworkers had happened upon the local IRA office!
Joe had many other stories and insights that I won't relate here. This was the sort of conversation that changes one's understanding of a place and its people, and a good reason for people to travel abroad. I've known about the "situation" in Ireland all my life, but to hear this man describe these scenes of horror and violence in what we would consider an otherwise quiet, normal middle-class life personalizes it, humanizes it, makes it real and accessible in ways that I'm not sure are fully welcome. It means I have to care what happens here. It is the same sort of experience I had several times in Israel, and really the two situations are in many ways parallel.
O God of all the nations, O Prince of peace, O Spirit of communion,
Look with favor, mercy, and compassion on Your children here in the two Irelands.
Grant that they may lay aside, not ignore, but by choice lay aside
hatred, bitterness, thirst for vengeance and for power,
and all other hardness of heart that leads to separation and violence.
By the supernatural power of the cross and the empty grave of Christ,
may all who claim Christ seek and experience Your forgiveness and reconciliation,
so it will become the way of life and the mark of all Your children.
Convict the hearts of sinners. Protect the lives of the innocent.
Pour out Your peace that passes all understanding
in the places where understanding is so hard to find.
O bless Your children with peace.
And Lord, forgive me
for my complacency
for my indifference
for my prejudices
for my participation in the ways
that lead others away from You.
In Christ, through Christ, for Christ,
Amen.
More of the same
More pics at my gallery, this time from Wednesday's adventures driving up through Antrim and Co. Derry to Coleraine where some Douthetts are believed to have come from Aberdeen in the late 1600s or early 1700s. Then across some of the north coast. Fantastic scenery! Got lost on the way home in the last 10 miles - go figure. A good day with lots of driving. I'm getting better!
George is coming with us to Armagh this morning. This is the area the Joseph and Rosanne Douthett are said to have come from to America with family, including Benjamin, in tow. No records on this side to confirm it, so we'll go as tourists. Drove through the town of Armoy last night, near Coleraine. Is that what he said instead of Armagh? Guess we'll never know. For today, it's Armagh.
Off for breakfast -- egg, bangers, blood pudding, mushrooms, tomato, pancake, and more. Food's been great!
George is coming with us to Armagh this morning. This is the area the Joseph and Rosanne Douthett are said to have come from to America with family, including Benjamin, in tow. No records on this side to confirm it, so we'll go as tourists. Drove through the town of Armoy last night, near Coleraine. Is that what he said instead of Armagh? Guess we'll never know. For today, it's Armagh.
Off for breakfast -- egg, bangers, blood pudding, mushrooms, tomato, pancake, and more. Food's been great!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Pics from Ireland
Breakfast is ready and waiting, so I can't take time to write, but here are some 150,000 words' worth of pictures.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Emerald Isle
The bus ride up to NI was very pleasant. Comfortable seats, not at all crowded. Got a few zzzs on the way. In the meantime the scenery was lovely. As soon as I figure out how to get some pictures dl'd I'll post them.
Around Dublin the landscape is very green and pretty flat. Reminded me of Ohio, actually. Lots of fields broken up by hedgerows. Sheep, cattle, people driving on the wrong side, etc. Further to the north and into the Ulster the land remained green but got hillier. More like western Maryland and central PA. We had all been snoozing a bit, but Dad first noticed we were in the North, because there were Union Jacks flying and the signs were only in English, no Gaelic. Sheep, cattle, and reverse drivers also continued.
We were dropped off in Hillsborough, a lovely, quaint town with lots of wee shops and some pretty steep hills, oddly enough. (I think the name comes from the town founders, the Hill family, but whatever.) We were in front of the Parish Church, which looks old and well kept. Unfortunately, we had no idea where to meet the fellow from the car hire. Also unfortunately, my phone was not getting any signal at all. Dad's was, though, so we called. Apparently, we got off the bus sooner than they expected, but it was only a few miles difference, and the young man was soon there. I only happened to notice a car sitting across the street with a wee, green Enterprise sticker, or we might all be standing about there still. At any rate, we got loaded into the car and made our way up to the car hire office. Did all the paper work, got a map to get back, and then it was up to me.
Jacob and I were talking about his driving on the way into church yesterday. I referred to him as a novice to which he took some offense. I told him I just meant he was in training and not licensed yet. He allowed as how that was okay, though he still thought he was a little higher up the ladder.
I felt like a total beginner today! Everything is wrong about driving on the left! Wrong seat. Wrong side for the gear shift. Wrong way traffic coming the wrong way. Fortunately the pedals are "correct." Also, the signs are all weird - numbers in big red circles for speed limits. I'm glad I thought to ask if it was MPH or KmPH - in the North it's MPH.
Driving was a brand new experience this way. What I usually do without a second thought required my full attention and a lot of concentration. I felt like I was aiming more than steering. Only ran over one curb to the left and only made Dad and Clare yell once that I was too close on that side, so I guess I'm doing alright, but I'm taking big, deep breaths before I start and when I park. Oh, yeah, had to parallel park on the right side of the road, which is to say, against oncoming traffic, when we went for dinner. THAT was fun, let me tell you! Deep breath.... and one more..... okay.
The weather has been overcast from this morning and raining since this afternoon. Really strong wind this afternoon to go with it, although there was mostly sleeping through that. Temperature has been hovering around 18C, down to 17 tonight at dinner time. C x 9/5 +32 = F.
For dinner we went to a pub and restaurant called the Parson's Nose. Lovely bar with a few tables and coal fireplace downstairs. Several rooms with old woodwork and such for dinner upstairs. Dad and I had venison and leeks in a pie, with seasonal vegetables and "champ" - mashed potatoes with green onions. All very tasty! Clare had fish -- cod, I think -- on a bed of risotto with butternut squash. Looked yummy, too. All had a pint of Belfast Lager, which I found to be clean and flavorful, especially compared to American lagers. Speaking of which, Bud was on the menu. Really can't imagine why the land that gives us Guinness would even offer Bud, but it's a strange world.
Technologically, I am challenged here. I decided not to bring the 17" lappie. Got too much stuff as it is already. I am thankful that Dad brought his MacBook, though, on which I am writing this entry. My iPod doesn't pick up the wifi signal here at the guest house, so that's a bummer. As I mentioned, my global phone that I am renting for this trip especially also doesn't pick up any signal. Dad's identical phone works just fine. Hurrumph. Emailed Verizon about that to see what's up. So for now, it's a camera. I guess I'll just have to work through the DTs without my digital fix.
Tomorrow, we will meet George H. who lives not far from here. He and his wife Irene were in Butler a few years back looking for Douthett relatives and were directed to Dad at the store! He took them to several of the sites we went to see a couple weeks ago, like the Brownsdale cemetery and the old family farm. Now they get to return the favor. George has been doing some research here. He found a house that belonged to our Anderson family, from which they emigrated in about 1833 in Derryboy, down the road in Co. Down. So we'll have lunch with George, plan what we might see, go see what we might, then have a meal with Irene when she is off from work. Sounds like a great start to the Irish ground campaign. Hoping for better weather, but not counting on it. Looks like rain on and off for the next couple of days. It is what it is.
Just watched a BBC weather video about the latest hurricane in the Atlantic, Igor, pronounced "EYE-gor"as in Marty Feldman's character from Young Frankenstein. I lolled.
Enough for now. Stay subscribed for pictures and more updates!
I'm here!
Landed in Ireland on time, but not well rested. USAirways was a mess at BWI. Weather and who knows what turned my 20-minute flight(!!!) to Philly into an hour and a half. I had a long hike to the international gates. The seats on the plane over were comfortable mostly, except too short in the wheelbase. So spent the night with restless legs. Uffta. The meals were small but tasty enough.i remember Lufthansa being much more comfortable and pleasant. Customs was a breeze.
The good part is we're in Ireland, baby! Just waiting on the bus to take us north.
The good part is we're in Ireland, baby! Just waiting on the bus to take us north.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
In the beginning
M42, the Orion Nebula, has a special place in my heart and my catalog of deep sky objects. Back in 2003 Dad got me a little telescpe for Christmas, the Meade ETX-60AT. This is very similar to the 90mm scope I got recently and brought to NMS, only 1/3 smaller and with full tracking and GOTO. It was a great first scope, and I still have it and use it.
Any way, I took it out one fine, clear winter's night not long after. By "out," I mean to the driveway in the back yard of our home in Dayton. By "in Dayton" I mean in the city under the orange skies. Nevertheless when I turned that little scope on M42 in Orion what I saw made me literally gasp! I had never seen anything in the natural world, apart from my wife and children, that was as beautiful as this! This large, bright, wispy, delicate cloud, with a hint of green color, lit up across the lightyears of night by those tiny, bright stars.... well, I just had no idea anything like this could exist in the night, to be seen by small me with my small scope on small earth. God must truly love us and want us to be happy!
I was hooked.
In New Mexico, it is incredibly beautiful. My sketch does it no justice. This was the last object I observed at NMS, which should be enough to fuel my astropassion for a some time to come. I'm still hooked.
Any way, I took it out one fine, clear winter's night not long after. By "out," I mean to the driveway in the back yard of our home in Dayton. By "in Dayton" I mean in the city under the orange skies. Nevertheless when I turned that little scope on M42 in Orion what I saw made me literally gasp! I had never seen anything in the natural world, apart from my wife and children, that was as beautiful as this! This large, bright, wispy, delicate cloud, with a hint of green color, lit up across the lightyears of night by those tiny, bright stars.... well, I just had no idea anything like this could exist in the night, to be seen by small me with my small scope on small earth. God must truly love us and want us to be happy!
I was hooked.
In New Mexico, it is incredibly beautiful. My sketch does it no justice. This was the last object I observed at NMS, which should be enough to fuel my astropassion for a some time to come. I'm still hooked.
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| My sketch of M42-Orion Nebula, seen in 25" Dob with 55 mm plossl e.p. Dobs flip and reverse images. I inverted the color and fiddled with the image a bit in PS-Elements3. |
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
More to come, Getting ready to go
I have many more things I want to blog about the New Mexico trip, which was really wonderful, but now it's time to pack for Ireland and Scotland. I've never gone anywhere for three weeks before, and I guess technically, I'm going on three sub-trips, so I'm still not going anywhere for three weeks, but you know what I mean. Never been away from home for three weeks. I swing back and forth between "Oh, I don't have to take much" and "OMG, how will I be able to fit everything I need?" As usual, the truth probably exists in the middle somewhere.
Just want to give a quick shout-out to WGIII, my Dad, who has been super helpful in preparing for all this and has ended up doing a fair bit of the reservations and such that I intended to do. So just for that he deserves thanks and praise. But also, and more so, for all his support all my life long, in my ministry, and for getting me started on the roads of astronomy, family history, and faith in Christ. I am really glad we're getting to make this trip together.
Okay. Posts may be more sporadic over this stretch of the trip, as I have no idea what the internet situation will be in the various stages. I'm guessing good in Ireland, good luck in Cullen, Scotland, good again in brief stops in Glasgow, and what-are you crazy? in Iona. So posts may come in clumps. Will do my best to keep you informed, though, if you do your best to stay subscribed.
Here's to flying internationally on 9/12 and not the day before.
Just want to give a quick shout-out to WGIII, my Dad, who has been super helpful in preparing for all this and has ended up doing a fair bit of the reservations and such that I intended to do. So just for that he deserves thanks and praise. But also, and more so, for all his support all my life long, in my ministry, and for getting me started on the roads of astronomy, family history, and faith in Christ. I am really glad we're getting to make this trip together.
Okay. Posts may be more sporadic over this stretch of the trip, as I have no idea what the internet situation will be in the various stages. I'm guessing good in Ireland, good luck in Cullen, Scotland, good again in brief stops in Glasgow, and what-are you crazy? in Iona. So posts may come in clumps. Will do my best to keep you informed, though, if you do your best to stay subscribed.
Here's to flying internationally on 9/12 and not the day before.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
More pictures
I have posted some more pictures at my gallery, "New Mexico Skies." There you can see previously posted pics of the grounds, followed by various pictures of telescopes I have used here, me with said telescopes, sketches of things I've seen through said telescopes, and a couple dinners I fixed. Why the dinners? Just to show off. They were delicious, thanks for asking!
My plan is to load some of the pictures of sketches here with photos of the same objects so you can marvel at my skills. Or not. The point of sketching at the eyepiece for me is not so much to reproduce what God has made much better, but to take the time to look, really observe, meditate upon, even, said divine handiwork. After a couple of nights of seeing so many objects that I can hardly remember them all, a slower, more thoughtful pace was a welcome change. So you'll have to stay subscribed to get all my insights.
Time for one more dinner. Have to get rid of ground beef, chicken, spaghetti and sauce, a potato, half an onion, leftover zucchini, and a peach. MMmmmmmight not happen. I'll let you know. Watch for pictures.
My plan is to load some of the pictures of sketches here with photos of the same objects so you can marvel at my skills. Or not. The point of sketching at the eyepiece for me is not so much to reproduce what God has made much better, but to take the time to look, really observe, meditate upon, even, said divine handiwork. After a couple of nights of seeing so many objects that I can hardly remember them all, a slower, more thoughtful pace was a welcome change. So you'll have to stay subscribed to get all my insights.
Time for one more dinner. Have to get rid of ground beef, chicken, spaghetti and sauce, a potato, half an onion, leftover zucchini, and a peach. MMmmmmmight not happen. I'll let you know. Watch for pictures.
JMI Reverse Binoculars
Here are my inexpert comments and experiences of the JMI 6" Reverse Binoculars, which I used on 05Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM.
This instrument ... or these binoculars... (singular or plural?)... make for an interesting night of observing! The odd thing is they are aimed over your shoulders, so you look down into the eyepieces. This doesn't really take long to get used to, though. Also, you "steer" the rig with handle bars, which is kind of fun.
The instrument was mounted for me but not aligned. The alignment process is not difficult but is best performed with two people. Since the instrument is a basically pair of Newtonian reflectors, they sometimes need to be collimated (aligning all the mirrors). This was the case this night, but unlike my experiences of trying to collimate my own Newts, this was relatively painless and aided greatly by being done by pushing a couple buttons. Focusing is also relatively easy and need only be done once for the night -- assuming there is only one observer, that is. At any rate, focusing is also done by push-button, and so is changing the distance between the eyepieces. Push buttons make it fun. Yeah, I'm easily amused.
I was expecting a pretty strong 3-D effect, but that didn't really play out. There was a sense of it a few times, like with the Lagoon Nebula and some other larger targets, but generally the views were not unlike a regular telescope.
The quality of the views optically was probably not equal to the CPC 11 from the previous night, but good nevertheless -- generally bright and clear. Objects started going out of focus or getting streaky toward the edges. This wasn't really a problem, but more finicky viewers might take offense. I'm not sure if that is a function of the instrument or the eyepieces or the combination of the two, to be honest. There is only one set of eyepieces (20 mm), which meant not having to refocus all the time, which would be a pain. I would have liked to have had more magnification for some targets, but the 20 mms provided a good experience with generally enough magnification and enough field of view for most objects.
The two great benefits of the binoculars that I found were that eye fatigue was greatly reduced and that images were better than a single 6" scope could provide. Since you don't have to close one eye or split your vision between two different views, my eyes didn't get tired at all, and I had none of those episodes when I just have to look away at something else for a while that usually set upon me. Also, after looking at a few objects with one eye, then the other, then both, I was amazed how very much better the binocular image was! The brain does a wonderful job using both sets of data to improve the single image. This made using the binoculars well worth the experience.
The computer with the digital setting circles took a bit of getting used to, but proved to be very useful ultimately. It's a Sky Commander. The mount is alt-az (that is altitude and azimuth, which is sort of like aiming a cannon -- swing it around, tilt it up or down), and there is no motor drive, so it's like a Dobsonian with two tubes. The computer has a wide variety of catalogs, most of which I've never heard of. I used the Messier mostly with occasional NGC entries. The NDS catalog took me a while to figure out -- Named Deep Sky! Ah! Then it was very useful.
The mount was quite solid, and wind gusts didn't upset things much or for long. The handle bars were kind of loose at first, which introduced too much play in locating objects, but once I figured out how to tighten them it was much better. There was still some play, though, and the azimuth movement was not particularly smooth. Without a tracking drive, that made constantly recentering the object (which must be done without a tracking drive) a bit more annoying than it needed to be. This might be a matter of some fine adjustment that one would do on a permanently mounted instrument, whereas this one gets put away when not in use.
Despite the difficulties, I had a good and satisfying night out, enjoying many objects (see "A List, Part 2, or Another List"). I don't know that I'm sold out on big binocs yet, but there are definitely some advantages:
What's up next? The Big Dob -- 25" of light-grabbing goodness! Stay subscribed!
This instrument ... or these binoculars... (singular or plural?)... make for an interesting night of observing! The odd thing is they are aimed over your shoulders, so you look down into the eyepieces. This doesn't really take long to get used to, though. Also, you "steer" the rig with handle bars, which is kind of fun.
The instrument was mounted for me but not aligned. The alignment process is not difficult but is best performed with two people. Since the instrument is a basically pair of Newtonian reflectors, they sometimes need to be collimated (aligning all the mirrors). This was the case this night, but unlike my experiences of trying to collimate my own Newts, this was relatively painless and aided greatly by being done by pushing a couple buttons. Focusing is also relatively easy and need only be done once for the night -- assuming there is only one observer, that is. At any rate, focusing is also done by push-button, and so is changing the distance between the eyepieces. Push buttons make it fun. Yeah, I'm easily amused.
I was expecting a pretty strong 3-D effect, but that didn't really play out. There was a sense of it a few times, like with the Lagoon Nebula and some other larger targets, but generally the views were not unlike a regular telescope.
The quality of the views optically was probably not equal to the CPC 11 from the previous night, but good nevertheless -- generally bright and clear. Objects started going out of focus or getting streaky toward the edges. This wasn't really a problem, but more finicky viewers might take offense. I'm not sure if that is a function of the instrument or the eyepieces or the combination of the two, to be honest. There is only one set of eyepieces (20 mm), which meant not having to refocus all the time, which would be a pain. I would have liked to have had more magnification for some targets, but the 20 mms provided a good experience with generally enough magnification and enough field of view for most objects.
The two great benefits of the binoculars that I found were that eye fatigue was greatly reduced and that images were better than a single 6" scope could provide. Since you don't have to close one eye or split your vision between two different views, my eyes didn't get tired at all, and I had none of those episodes when I just have to look away at something else for a while that usually set upon me. Also, after looking at a few objects with one eye, then the other, then both, I was amazed how very much better the binocular image was! The brain does a wonderful job using both sets of data to improve the single image. This made using the binoculars well worth the experience.
The computer with the digital setting circles took a bit of getting used to, but proved to be very useful ultimately. It's a Sky Commander. The mount is alt-az (that is altitude and azimuth, which is sort of like aiming a cannon -- swing it around, tilt it up or down), and there is no motor drive, so it's like a Dobsonian with two tubes. The computer has a wide variety of catalogs, most of which I've never heard of. I used the Messier mostly with occasional NGC entries. The NDS catalog took me a while to figure out -- Named Deep Sky! Ah! Then it was very useful.
The mount was quite solid, and wind gusts didn't upset things much or for long. The handle bars were kind of loose at first, which introduced too much play in locating objects, but once I figured out how to tighten them it was much better. There was still some play, though, and the azimuth movement was not particularly smooth. Without a tracking drive, that made constantly recentering the object (which must be done without a tracking drive) a bit more annoying than it needed to be. This might be a matter of some fine adjustment that one would do on a permanently mounted instrument, whereas this one gets put away when not in use.
Despite the difficulties, I had a good and satisfying night out, enjoying many objects (see "A List, Part 2, or Another List"). I don't know that I'm sold out on big binocs yet, but there are definitely some advantages:
- Better views per inch of aperture
- No eye fatigue
- Although there is still some awkward standing for middle-low objects if you don't have an observing stool, there is much less neck-craining.
What's up next? The Big Dob -- 25" of light-grabbing goodness! Stay subscribed!
Not an early night....
Monday ended up not being an early night, for those who were wondering. Neither was Tuesday. Went to bed about 6:00 a.m. on .. well, Tuesday, and 6:30 on Wednesday (I think that's today). So, that's the way it goes when you want to see the night sky. Ain't gonna see it during regular business hours!
Monday, SpikeTV was running a marathon of all six Star Wars movies. They had been running them in blocks over the weekend, so I had seen most of the prequels. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was on about dinner time, so I watched it. Unfortunately, Spike is commercial-bloated, so the movie wasn't over until 11:00. Well, since I didn't have anything rented it was no big deal. I went out with my little 90 mm scope and binoculars and sketch pad after the movie. The sky was spectacular, as it has been since I got here (first night clouding over not withstanding). Since I had viewed so very many targets the night before, I was content to just look at the sky.
I wanted to capture something of the majesty of the Milky Way, and so attempted a sketch. It's pretty rough, and I may try to clean it up later, but here it is, for what it's worth.
As you can see it is blocky for one thing and mostly dark for another. That is one of the contradictions of this thing. In this section of sky, any way, the Milky Way is defined more by the dark dust lane that blocks our view of the galactic core than by the light of that core. (Oh, if you are trying to figure out where this is, the middle star at top is Altair in Aquila and Cygnus is on the right edge.) Now, it seems to me that if that dust lane weren't there, the center of the galaxy would be so bright that it would blot out much of the rest of the sky like the Moon does and our interest in and knowledge of the universe might be greatly reduced. We need that dark stripe to see the other faint (almost typed "faith" -- force of habit) objects that are so inspiring. Hmm... Maybe typing "faith" would have been just as appropriate. Hmm.... Bet that will preach....
As it happened, there was also a minor meteor shower peaking that night, so after doing the sketch, I stretched out on a picnic table and just watched. Now, any time you go out and can see a fair number of stars, if wait long enough you will see shooting stars. They happen all the time. If you happen to be in a place like this, you don't have to wait long to see one. So whether I was actually seeing a shower or not, I can't say. There were more than I have seen the other nights, but the other nights I've been looking through telescopes. That's like looking at the sky through a drinking straw. You only see a tiny bit of sky at a time. This night, looking up constantly, there were meteors aplenty! The shower was supposed to be radiating from Perseus, in the northeast sky at the time I was looking. Many more of the meteors I saw were radiating from Pegasus. As far as I know there wasn't a shower scheduled there, and Pegasus was at the zenith -- straight up -- so that is probably why they seemed to be coming from there. It was beautiful to see.
But you know, at my age you can only lie on a picnic table in the cold for so long before even the glory of the night sky can't compete with not lying on a picnic table. I came to the library and worked on email and facebook, and before you could say Zubenelgenubi, it was 5:00.
Okay, next, my experience of the JMI reverse binoculars. Stay subscribed!
Monday, SpikeTV was running a marathon of all six Star Wars movies. They had been running them in blocks over the weekend, so I had seen most of the prequels. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was on about dinner time, so I watched it. Unfortunately, Spike is commercial-bloated, so the movie wasn't over until 11:00. Well, since I didn't have anything rented it was no big deal. I went out with my little 90 mm scope and binoculars and sketch pad after the movie. The sky was spectacular, as it has been since I got here (first night clouding over not withstanding). Since I had viewed so very many targets the night before, I was content to just look at the sky.
I wanted to capture something of the majesty of the Milky Way, and so attempted a sketch. It's pretty rough, and I may try to clean it up later, but here it is, for what it's worth.
As it happened, there was also a minor meteor shower peaking that night, so after doing the sketch, I stretched out on a picnic table and just watched. Now, any time you go out and can see a fair number of stars, if wait long enough you will see shooting stars. They happen all the time. If you happen to be in a place like this, you don't have to wait long to see one. So whether I was actually seeing a shower or not, I can't say. There were more than I have seen the other nights, but the other nights I've been looking through telescopes. That's like looking at the sky through a drinking straw. You only see a tiny bit of sky at a time. This night, looking up constantly, there were meteors aplenty! The shower was supposed to be radiating from Perseus, in the northeast sky at the time I was looking. Many more of the meteors I saw were radiating from Pegasus. As far as I know there wasn't a shower scheduled there, and Pegasus was at the zenith -- straight up -- so that is probably why they seemed to be coming from there. It was beautiful to see.
But you know, at my age you can only lie on a picnic table in the cold for so long before even the glory of the night sky can't compete with not lying on a picnic table. I came to the library and worked on email and facebook, and before you could say Zubenelgenubi, it was 5:00.
Okay, next, my experience of the JMI reverse binoculars. Stay subscribed!
Monday, September 6, 2010
An interesting approach...
Here is a picture I took of the moon at about 5:00 this morning as it was rising. I held my Canon A560 up to one eyepiece of the JMI 6" binocs, using a +1 setting on exposure, I think. I enhanced the contrast and brightness and fixed a few hot pixels in Photoshop. The real thing looked better than this, but it's about dinner time, and I'm hungry, and this is as good as it gets right now.
Just so you know, I don't have any big equipment rented for tonight, so it may be an early evening. We'll see. Stay subscribed to find out what happens.
A List, Part 2, or Another List
Here is the list, again in no particular order and generally without comment, of objects I observed and did not study on 05Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies, using the JMI 6-inch binoculars. For objects repeated from List, Part 1, I will dispense with identifications of the name or type of object.
- M51
- M101
- M103
- Double Cluster
- M31
- M32
- M110
- M33
- M36
- M37
- M38
- M45
- M42-43
- M81-82
- M13
- M4
- M6
- M7
- M8
- M20
- M16
- M17
- M18
- M22
- M27
- M57
- M55
- M54
- Eps Lyr
- Albireo
- Neptune
- Uranus
- Jupiter
- Mirfak and surrounding stars in Perseus
- M77 - Galaxy
- NGC 936 - Galaxy
- Blanco 1 Open Cluster
- Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy (sorta saw it)
- NGC 1316 - Fornax A Galaxy
- NGC 1317 - Galaxy
- NGC 1326 - Galaxy
- NGC 1499 - California Nebula (I think I saw it)
- M35 - Open cluster
- NGC 2158 - Open cluster
- M78 - Nebula
- Hyades - Open cluster
- NGC 1977-1981 - Open cluster and nebula
- NGC 2392 - Eskimo Neb (planetary)
- NGC 2247 - Cone Neb (saw the associated cluster, any way)
- NGC 2244 - Rosette Neb (same as Cone - saw the cluster)
- M40 - Double star
- Xi Ursa Majori - Double star (Alcor and Mizar, which is itself a double!)
- NGC 4088, 4085, 4026 - Galaxies
- NGC 5846, 5850, 5838, 5813 - Galaxies
- Grus Quintet - NGC 7590, 7599, 7582, 7552, 7531 - Galaxies
- NGC 6960, 6995 - Veil Neb (2 parts)
- Zeta Lyae - Double star
- Alpha Geminorum - Castor - Double star
- M11 - Wild Duck Cluster (open)
- M24 - Star cloud
- NGC 6712 - Glob
- B86, NGC 6520 - Dark nebula and open cluster
- Jupiter's moon Europa reappearing from behind the planet at 11:25 p.m.(!!!)
- Jupiter's moon Io disappearing behind the planet at 1:43 a.m. (!!!)
- Zodiacal light (!!!)
- The moon - 13% illumination, waning crescent
CPC 11
Here are my inexpert comments on the scope I used on 04Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies.
The Celestron CPC 11 Schmidt-Cassegrain is a wonderful telescope! Mounted on a concrete pier, it is rock solid. It was a breezy and gusty night when I was using it, and while the wind played with it a bit, the scope recovered very quickly.
The computer controller was easy to learn and easy to use. I am used to the Meade version, which is similar, so it took a little unlearning there, but it wasn't long before I felt very comfortable with the controls. The scope is permanently mounted, but Lynn led me through the alignment process, which was also very easy. Once aligned, the GOTO function was spot on most of the night. It started to miss a little bit late, but with the addition of another alignment star, which was also very easy, it regained its earlier spot-on-ness. The tracking was also excellent. I suspect it would be very adequate to basic astrophotography, although I can't really speak to that. For my purposes, though, it was perfect. There was no slippage in either RA or Dec, so objects stayed centered with no outside help. This is a remarkable difference for someone who doesn't have a tracking scope, let me tell you! Also, the tracking was essentially silent. No humming or clicking or anything to let you know it was doing its job.
Again, I am no expert on optics, but the views were bright, clear, and sharp, once I learned how to focus a Schmidt-Cass. It has a knob for moving the primary mirror and a two-speed focuser for the eyepiece. I'm used to one knob. Anyway, images were in focus pretty much across the entire field of view, right to the edges.
====Geek Break! ====================================
The optical performance was equally good as far as I could tell at all magnifications.
All in all the CPC 11 made for a great night of observing! The only complaint I have is that I don't have one.
The Celestron CPC 11 Schmidt-Cassegrain is a wonderful telescope! Mounted on a concrete pier, it is rock solid. It was a breezy and gusty night when I was using it, and while the wind played with it a bit, the scope recovered very quickly.
The computer controller was easy to learn and easy to use. I am used to the Meade version, which is similar, so it took a little unlearning there, but it wasn't long before I felt very comfortable with the controls. The scope is permanently mounted, but Lynn led me through the alignment process, which was also very easy. Once aligned, the GOTO function was spot on most of the night. It started to miss a little bit late, but with the addition of another alignment star, which was also very easy, it regained its earlier spot-on-ness. The tracking was also excellent. I suspect it would be very adequate to basic astrophotography, although I can't really speak to that. For my purposes, though, it was perfect. There was no slippage in either RA or Dec, so objects stayed centered with no outside help. This is a remarkable difference for someone who doesn't have a tracking scope, let me tell you! Also, the tracking was essentially silent. No humming or clicking or anything to let you know it was doing its job.
Again, I am no expert on optics, but the views were bright, clear, and sharp, once I learned how to focus a Schmidt-Cass. It has a knob for moving the primary mirror and a two-speed focuser for the eyepiece. I'm used to one knob. Anyway, images were in focus pretty much across the entire field of view, right to the edges.
====Geek Break! ====================================
The CPC 11 is an f/10, for those who know what that is. For those who don't, that means the focal length (basically, how far it is from is from where light first enters the scope to the eyepiece) is ten times the aperture (the diameter of the primary mirror or lens). So, if I did the math right, the 11" aperture is basically 280 mm, and the focal length is then 2800 mm. To find the magnification of a particular eyepiece, divide the scope focal length by the eyepiece focal length. I was using the following eyepieces, provided by NMS, with respective magnifications.====End Geek Break! ====================================
- 40 mm = 70 X
- 38 mm = 73.7 X
- 30 mm = 93.3 X
- 20 mm = 140 X
- 15 mm = 186.7 X
The optical performance was equally good as far as I could tell at all magnifications.
All in all the CPC 11 made for a great night of observing! The only complaint I have is that I don't have one.
A List, Part 1
Here, in no particular order and without comment, is a list of objects I observed (although generally didn't study at length) at New Mexico Skies, using the Celestron CPC 11" Schmidt-Cass on 04Sept2010:
- M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy
- M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy
- M81 and M82 - Bode's Galaxies (aka Nebulae)
- M8 - Lagoon Neb
- M20 - Trifid Neb
- M55 - Globular cluster
- M22 - Globular cluster
- M70, M69, M54, M28 - various small globular clusters
- M26 - Open cluster
- M7 - Open cluster
- M6 - Butterfly Cluster (open)
- M17 - Swan Neb
- M16 - Eagle Neb
- Jupiter
- Neptune
- Uranus
- M31 - Great Andromeda Galaxy
- M32 - Dwarf satellite galaxy of Andromeda
- M110 - Dwarf satellite galaxy of Andromeda
- M33 - Triangulum Galaxy
- M13 - Hercules Cluster (glob)
- M92 - Glob
- M27 - Dumbbell Neb (planetary)
- M76 - Little Dumbbell Neb (planetary)
- M103 - Open cluster
- M36 - "
- M37 - "
- M38 - "
- M45 - Pleiades (open)
- M42-43 - Orion Neb
- M1 Crab Neb (supernova remnant)
- M57 Ring Neb (planetary)
- Epsilon Lyrae - Double double star
- Albireo - Double star
- Alpha Capricorni - Double star
- Beta Capricorni - Double
- NGC 7662 - Blue Snowball Neb (planetary)
- NGC 884 and 869 - Double Cluster (open and open)
- NGC 1097 - Galaxy
- NGC 6960 - Veil Neb (supernova remnant?)
- NGC 7635 - Bubble Neb (planetary -- didn't really see anything there)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Day 2 Odds and Ends
I stayed up late on Thursday night, my first night here at NMS, watching the many more than four channels on the satellite tv, and by so doing, trying to get on a nocturnal schedule. It seems to have worked, as I didn't get up until 1:00 pm. When I finally did rise, it was a beautiful day! A bit chilly, but I can go with that. We are at 8600 feet. (Remind me to tell you about the drive up here sometime.)
After some food and coffee, I took a stroll down through the domes to see them in daylight. It's really cool, so I took lots of pics. You can find them at my me.com gallery "New Mexico Skies", along with others I've taken since.
I fixed three meals yesterday. Due to my now altered schedule, they were at unusual hours, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner, nevertheless. They don't fix food here, so you have to bring your own groceries. I bought food for the week at a Super Walmart in Alamagordo for $50, which is about half what I expected. I found that I really don't know how to shop for one, so it was a challenge. And no, it's not just macky cheese and hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. I had a good dinner -- pork cubed steaks and baked potato. Don't tell Molly, but I did the day's dishes before going out to play for the evening. Also before going out, I did the evening prayer service from the Book of Common Worship. It was an odd juxtaposition, because most of the prayers and praise spoke of Christ as the welcome Light who will dispel the darkness and protect us from the night, while I was eager to get out into the night's darkness where it could show me the glory of God. Sometimes we forget that God also dwells in the darkness.
I took my recently purchased, secondhand Meade ETX 90mm scope out to observe. The sky immediately looked less impressive than the previous night. It turns out the humidity was very high, lots of water vapor in the air, which cuts down the transparency of the atmosphere. It was still better than a good night at home, and I was still just struck by the beauty and expanse of sky here. The scope was fine, but so small compared to what was all around me. Plus, I found myself looking at things I always look at, wracked by indecision in the face of such vast possibilities. I was starting to stress about it all and go kind of negative, so I turned my thoughts to prayer for guidance. At once I had a sense that said, "Don't be adversarial about it! Just be open to what comes." So that's what I did.
Some stuff I saw with the ETX 90
DEW!! Well, no wonder things weren't as magnificent as I was expecting. I decided that was probably it for the ETX for the night. I could take it inside somewhere and let it warm up and dry off and try again, but to be honest, that was going to be more work than it was worth. So I just sat and looked for a long time. I used one of my guide books to relearn where stuff was that I hadn't seen for a while or could never see at home. Then, as I was getting pretty chilled, I packed up the scope, went home, put on more pants, got the binocs, and went back out. After all, it was only 12:30!
Oddly enough, it was actually much more satisfying to be looking with binocs than the 90mm. Don't know why. I guess some of the things just look better at lower magnification (like M31 in this case). Maybe it was that I could sit or lie down or stand or do whatever was comfortable instead of bending over to look in the eyepiece of the scope, which hurts the back and strains the legs and gets wobbly sometimes. Ultimately, I saw many more objects and stayed out until 3:30. That's when the moon rose. It was just a sliver of waning crescent, but it diluted the sky from end to end. Amazing how bright it was!
There were a great many shooting stars over the course of the night, too. Most were hard to catch, of course, and I caught them out of the corner of my eye. By the time I turned to look they were gone. (I did see one through my binocs, though! Just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time and -- ZIP! Sweeeet.)
Any way, it occurred to me that there are many things out here that are just on the edge of perception:
Tonight, I get to play with the Celestron CPC(!!) 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, one of the smaller big scopes you can rent here. It's the same design as my 90mm but about three times bigger. There was a big storm that took about three hours to go past this afternoon, but when I came in to the library here, it was pretty well cleared off, so I am hopeful for a good night. Now it's time to get this published and get some dinner.
Go check those pictures, and stay subscribed!
After some food and coffee, I took a stroll down through the domes to see them in daylight. It's really cool, so I took lots of pics. You can find them at my me.com gallery "New Mexico Skies", along with others I've taken since.
I fixed three meals yesterday. Due to my now altered schedule, they were at unusual hours, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner, nevertheless. They don't fix food here, so you have to bring your own groceries. I bought food for the week at a Super Walmart in Alamagordo for $50, which is about half what I expected. I found that I really don't know how to shop for one, so it was a challenge. And no, it's not just macky cheese and hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. I had a good dinner -- pork cubed steaks and baked potato. Don't tell Molly, but I did the day's dishes before going out to play for the evening. Also before going out, I did the evening prayer service from the Book of Common Worship. It was an odd juxtaposition, because most of the prayers and praise spoke of Christ as the welcome Light who will dispel the darkness and protect us from the night, while I was eager to get out into the night's darkness where it could show me the glory of God. Sometimes we forget that God also dwells in the darkness.
I took my recently purchased, secondhand Meade ETX 90mm scope out to observe. The sky immediately looked less impressive than the previous night. It turns out the humidity was very high, lots of water vapor in the air, which cuts down the transparency of the atmosphere. It was still better than a good night at home, and I was still just struck by the beauty and expanse of sky here. The scope was fine, but so small compared to what was all around me. Plus, I found myself looking at things I always look at, wracked by indecision in the face of such vast possibilities. I was starting to stress about it all and go kind of negative, so I turned my thoughts to prayer for guidance. At once I had a sense that said, "Don't be adversarial about it! Just be open to what comes." So that's what I did.
Some stuff I saw with the ETX 90
- M7, open cluster in Scorpius, just above the tail whip
- M6, open cluster called the Butterfly, right next to M7
- M23, another smaller open cluster in Sagittarius, in a rich part of the Milky Way
- M20, the Trifid Nebula, a reflection nebula of gas, lit up by hot stars (not from Hollywood)
- M8, the Lagoon Nebula, another reflection nebula with an open cluster
- M22, the globular cluster I mentioned in my last post - big and bright with no bright core
- Jupiter, hard to get a clear focus because of the humidity
- M32, a satellite galaxy to the great Andromeda Galaxy
- M31, Andromeda
- M110, the other "easily" seen satellite galaxy to M31
- (By the way, out here almost all of these are naked eye objects -- that is, you can find them with no instruments at all! That doesn't happen at home. Only M32 and M110 were not at least a little bit visible with the naked eye. Pretty sweet, even with the lower transparency!)
DEW!! Well, no wonder things weren't as magnificent as I was expecting. I decided that was probably it for the ETX for the night. I could take it inside somewhere and let it warm up and dry off and try again, but to be honest, that was going to be more work than it was worth. So I just sat and looked for a long time. I used one of my guide books to relearn where stuff was that I hadn't seen for a while or could never see at home. Then, as I was getting pretty chilled, I packed up the scope, went home, put on more pants, got the binocs, and went back out. After all, it was only 12:30!
Oddly enough, it was actually much more satisfying to be looking with binocs than the 90mm. Don't know why. I guess some of the things just look better at lower magnification (like M31 in this case). Maybe it was that I could sit or lie down or stand or do whatever was comfortable instead of bending over to look in the eyepiece of the scope, which hurts the back and strains the legs and gets wobbly sometimes. Ultimately, I saw many more objects and stayed out until 3:30. That's when the moon rose. It was just a sliver of waning crescent, but it diluted the sky from end to end. Amazing how bright it was!
There were a great many shooting stars over the course of the night, too. Most were hard to catch, of course, and I caught them out of the corner of my eye. By the time I turned to look they were gone. (I did see one through my binocs, though! Just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time and -- ZIP! Sweeeet.)
Any way, it occurred to me that there are many things out here that are just on the edge of perception:
- shooting stars
- M objects
- whatever was rustling around in the shrubbery behind me
- lightning
- the guy on the big scope down there
- the passing of time
- the motion of the worlds and stars
- God's purpose and plan, and my place in it.
Tonight, I get to play with the Celestron CPC(!!) 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, one of the smaller big scopes you can rent here. It's the same design as my 90mm but about three times bigger. There was a big storm that took about three hours to go past this afternoon, but when I came in to the library here, it was pretty well cleared off, so I am hopeful for a good night. Now it's time to get this published and get some dinner.
Go check those pictures, and stay subscribed!
Friday, September 3, 2010
My God! It's full of stars!
I'm writing this from the library of New Mexico Skies, the astronomy retreat I've been imagining for over a year now, in Mayhill, NM. Last night I stayed in Baltimore with my dear friend from seminary (and since), Rev. Dr. Kenneth Kovacs, who was kind enough to let me crash at his place and then take me to BWI airport this morning. Twelve hours later and by way of Houston, El Paso, and the Walmart in Alamogordo, I arrived here.
I'm staying in a cabin that is a converted RV. It's small, but really very nice and quite adequate to my needs. Well, after I got settled in, had a bite to eat, and flipped through the tv channels (it's satellite, so they get more than 4!), I decided I'd check out the night sky.
Oh. My. God!
It is just spectacular! I don't even know where to begin to describe it. (Mr. Woods, my expository writing teacher from high school would not be pleased.) The Milky Way arches gloriously over head, every bit fulfilling it's name. Not only are the star fields in it vastly brighter than the best nights at home, but the dark clouds of gas and dust the block the deepest and brightest parts of the galaxy from our view are clear and distinct. And that was facing north, toward the faint part! I got to a place where I could see to the south, toward Sagittarius. Oh. My. God! I've just never seen anything like it. I had my binoculars with me, and looked at M22, a globular star cluster, and it just popped out in the sky, not as an obscure fuzzy blob, but crisp and clear and giving the impression that it's actually a 3-D object.
I meandered toward the observing field, looking up almost the whole way. I probably swallowed a few bugs because my mouth was just hanging open. I was laughing and almost weeping as I went along. The observing area is about the size of a football field with about a dozen and a half observatory domes. Most of these are enabled for remote use through the internet, but some house equipment for local use.
Let me stop for a minute and say that the weather forecast for tonight was clear early, then clouds and wind and storms. As I meandered I noticed a dark patch creeping across the Milky Way that wasn't there before. Yes, it was a cloud. Now the thing that made me laugh about this, well, the two things, are that it always gets cloudy when I threaten to observe, but more to the point this time, the cloud was black! Clouds are never black back home at night. They are gray or orange or pink. This one was black. You know what that means? NO LIGHTS SHINING UP ON THE CLOUDS FROM UNDERNEATH!
Okay, so any way, I sat down and gawked some more that the sky. The most amazing thing I saw was the Andromeda Galaxy. This is the most distant object that can be seen with the naked eye, at something like 2.3 million lightyears. I've seen it at home before, naked eye even, and with my binocs. Tonight with those same binocs it was jaw-dropping. It's HUGE! The halo extends forever, almost a full field of view, which is like 5 degrees, which is like 10 times the apparent width of a full moon! The core was bright and clear, and if I didn't know better, I'd say I could almost make out some spiral structure -- with my binoculars! I can't do that with my 8" telescope at home.
By this time the clouds had made it almost halfway across the sky. Eventually, they covered everything. So my first night observing came to an abrupt end, but I am still satisfied. This sky must be like the one under which Abraham stood when God said, "Count the stars if you can -- I promise you will have that many descendants!" I am always drawn into God's presence and compelled to give God praise when I am under the night sky, and I tell you, God is good!
Can't wait to see what happens the rest of the week. It's supposed to be good weather. Soli Deo gloria!
Stay subscribed!
I'm staying in a cabin that is a converted RV. It's small, but really very nice and quite adequate to my needs. Well, after I got settled in, had a bite to eat, and flipped through the tv channels (it's satellite, so they get more than 4!), I decided I'd check out the night sky.
Oh. My. God!
It is just spectacular! I don't even know where to begin to describe it. (Mr. Woods, my expository writing teacher from high school would not be pleased.) The Milky Way arches gloriously over head, every bit fulfilling it's name. Not only are the star fields in it vastly brighter than the best nights at home, but the dark clouds of gas and dust the block the deepest and brightest parts of the galaxy from our view are clear and distinct. And that was facing north, toward the faint part! I got to a place where I could see to the south, toward Sagittarius. Oh. My. God! I've just never seen anything like it. I had my binoculars with me, and looked at M22, a globular star cluster, and it just popped out in the sky, not as an obscure fuzzy blob, but crisp and clear and giving the impression that it's actually a 3-D object.
I meandered toward the observing field, looking up almost the whole way. I probably swallowed a few bugs because my mouth was just hanging open. I was laughing and almost weeping as I went along. The observing area is about the size of a football field with about a dozen and a half observatory domes. Most of these are enabled for remote use through the internet, but some house equipment for local use.
Let me stop for a minute and say that the weather forecast for tonight was clear early, then clouds and wind and storms. As I meandered I noticed a dark patch creeping across the Milky Way that wasn't there before. Yes, it was a cloud. Now the thing that made me laugh about this, well, the two things, are that it always gets cloudy when I threaten to observe, but more to the point this time, the cloud was black! Clouds are never black back home at night. They are gray or orange or pink. This one was black. You know what that means? NO LIGHTS SHINING UP ON THE CLOUDS FROM UNDERNEATH!
Okay, so any way, I sat down and gawked some more that the sky. The most amazing thing I saw was the Andromeda Galaxy. This is the most distant object that can be seen with the naked eye, at something like 2.3 million lightyears. I've seen it at home before, naked eye even, and with my binocs. Tonight with those same binocs it was jaw-dropping. It's HUGE! The halo extends forever, almost a full field of view, which is like 5 degrees, which is like 10 times the apparent width of a full moon! The core was bright and clear, and if I didn't know better, I'd say I could almost make out some spiral structure -- with my binoculars! I can't do that with my 8" telescope at home.
By this time the clouds had made it almost halfway across the sky. Eventually, they covered everything. So my first night observing came to an abrupt end, but I am still satisfied. This sky must be like the one under which Abraham stood when God said, "Count the stars if you can -- I promise you will have that many descendants!" I am always drawn into God's presence and compelled to give God praise when I am under the night sky, and I tell you, God is good!
Can't wait to see what happens the rest of the week. It's supposed to be good weather. Soli Deo gloria!
Stay subscribed!
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