Backyard Astronomy - Gazing Into The Past

Astronomy continues to be one of the more popular hobbies. One of the major reasons is because you can stargaze just about anywhere. Although country settings away from city lights are best, everyone can see the moon. And even though the closest star (after our sun), Alpha Centauri is over 4 light years away, can be seen easily with the naked eye.

While simple stargazing with the naked eye is great fun, using a telescope can be awe inspiring. The view of the heavens through even a small telescope is something that has to be experienced to be appreciated. Even though modern technology allows us to view the celestial realm with images on tv and through the internet, there is nothing quite like seeing it though a telescope.

Different Telescopes

There are basically three kinds of telescope. The refractor and reflector and catadioptric. The refractor telescope collects and bends light with a convex lense and eyepiece. This bending or refracting concentrates the light rays to a small focal point making things appear larger or brighter. The reflector telescope on the other hand, as its name suggests, reflects light from a convex mirror in the back of the telescope to another mirror in the front and finally to the eyepiece. The convex shape of the mirrors "scoop up" and concentrate the light to a focal point thereby magnifying an object. Caution: Objects in a telescope appear closer than they really are!

The third type, called Catadioptric, combines features from both reflecting and refracting telescopes.

Which one is best? For image quality and portability, my choice is the catadioptric. It's easily transported and has the best features of both the reflector and refractor telescopes. Because of the design, catadioptric telescopes are almost completely free of the coma found in reflectors and the chromatic aberration in refractors. Chromatic aberration is the distortion of color due to a lenses inability to bring various colors in the light into focus. Coma is the distortion of an object at the edge of your field of view.

Convenience is another factor to consider. If you have to transport your telescope as I do you'll appreciate the catadioptric's compact size, light weight and how easy it is to set up and take down.

Travel Through Time

We all know light travels at an unimaginable speed of 186,000 miles per second. Even our sun's light takes about 8 minutes to reach us once it's left the surface. Now think about our closest neighbor, Alpha Centauri. It's over 4 light years away so the light from its' surface began its' journey over 4 years ago. We are actually seeing it as it was more than 4 years in the past. In a very real sense we are looking back in time. Think back to what you were doing 4 years ago. Whatever it was, while you were doing it, light emanated from the surface of Alpha Centauri and came screaming along at 186,000 miles per second on the long journey toward earth, arriving here just a few minutes ago. Alpha Centauri is actually part of a star system. 3 separate stars, Alpha Centauri A and B form a binary while Alpha Centauri C is 13,000 Astronomical Units (AU) away. This is part of the reason it's easily seen with the naked eye, you are actually looking at 3 stars instead of 1.

Closer To Home

One need not look outside our own solar system to find amazing sites in the night sky. The moon may look smooth when seen with the naked eye but train a telescope on it and prepared to be wowed. The level of detail will depend on your telescope but the craters and jagged mountains are clearly visible. The best viewing, in my opinion is when the moon is in a crescent stage as the shadow created by the earth allows for much more detail to be seen. I saw the moon for the first time through a telescope years ago. I watched as it slowly drifted past my field of view and could almost feel its' movement. Of course I knew it moved along its' orbit around the earth but to actually see it moving was an incredible experience.

Saturn, probably the most fun to observe because of the rings, makes for spectacular stargazing. Depending on the time of year, the rings of Saturn are visible and to this observer, quite breathtaking. While I couldn't discern any colors or variations in the rings, they appear quite distinctly from the planet itself, something I'd seen only in books prior to that.

Stand on the shores of any ocean on earth and get a sense of the sheer enormity of it. Then realize that it's not even a drop in a bucket by comparison to the size of the sky it sits beneath. Looking up at the stars at night makes you realize just how massive everything really is. There is no number that can truly measure or even estimate its' size or dimensions. The only thing that can even remotely compare to the wonder of space is the imagination of those who view it.

Backyard Observatory Domes for Sale

A majority of the astronomers consider investing on their equipment such as telescope and connecting computer system etc. However, those who desire taking their profession to a level that is at its highest know the 'need' to invest into buying or hiring an excellent and efficient workplace too. Having an extremely suitable workplace is more important than having excellent equipment. Since weather changes are not predictable, owing a personal observatory dome ensures the observers that they have more chances/time to perform their work at the right time. Carrying their equipment and huge telescope to places is thus no more needed by the astronomers since backyard observatory domes for sale have resolved the issue to a great extent.

What is a Dome? Half spherical-shaped enclosures that are commonly known as backyard observatory domes consist of equipment used for the observance of both the earthly or other (unearthly) events. There are several vendors offering virtually indestructible, maintenance free and amazingly affordable observatory domes for sale. These backyard observatory domes provide the users shelter against the weather, winds, light windstorms, rain or even hail and also from the annoying voices or noise coming from their respective neighborhood. Sitting inside an observatory dome is thus an experience worth the nominal price you pay for purchasing a dome of your own.

What these domes houses are made of? Mostly, UV stabilized i.e. a very strong polyethylene plastic is used in observatory domes though other materials such as steel, aluminum and fiberglass are also used. Usually, there is an upper door that glides open. The shutter door on the lower side of these particular domes flips outwards instead. There are certain firms that have come up with several modified rather innovative designs and features thus making these backyard observatory domes amazingly affordable for everyone. Usually, the domes are not very heavy to lift or to move. They may be around 200 pounds in weight.

While getting ready for taking astrological pictures or images, setting up their respective equipment may require lot of effort and time for the astronomers. A larger telescope for instance may require more time to be lined up and aligned to the desired acceptable polar coordinates as compared to relevantly smaller equipment. Meantime, the weather conditions may have changed making the 'efforts' useless due to the precious time consumed in installing the equipment. This would simply leave the observer frustrated since he found it hard to connect the telescope or other equipment to the computer system and during the process the live through positions were changed. Therefore, it becomes terribly important that the process of building an observatory is made as simple as possible.

Desired features:

To tackle the above noted problems and several other issues, there should thus be a permanent and mobile 'arrangement' or a multipurpose solution.

• Any dome house must be capable of storing all the necessary equipment so the observers are no longer abandoning their precious telescopes or computers at a separate space or at their residences.

• Backyard domes for sale or field domes must provide the observers with maximum facilities within the limited space for recording of events on a moment's notice.

• Both types of available domes i.e. Pro dome and the Home Dome must also be made of specified materials to protect both. The observer and his equipment against weather and 'unwanted' intruders.

• Domes should also match the observers' desired astronomy specifications and the environmental requirements.

• They must also be easy to install with minimum effort and as rapidly as possible.