Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: MCT The Meade ETX-80BB Backpack Observatory Telescope fits into a backpack.

It has been a pleasure writing this column for The Integrator, sharing the unique opportunities that Clarkson has provided. I wanted to share the excitement I felt when I first went to the Clarkson Observatory and saw the rings of Saturn. I have rambled on about pretty much whatever I found interesting in the sky each week.

So for my last article, I want to pass on the knowledge base that I have acquired, and show how easy it is to do your own "This Week in the Sky."

Often I used my own personal planometer (think of it like a color wheel for the stars), which I'm sure most of you have seen before. In fact, many of you probably already own one. Combine that with a red-tinted telescope, and you can really explore most of the sky for yourself, just as Tycho Brahe and others did before the use of the telescope.

Get yourself a pair of binoculars, and maybe a simple star guide (any one will do). In doing so, you've already trumped Galileo Galilei and his fellow astronomers. Galileo's first telescope, with which he made some of his most important discoveries, had a magnification of three times. His most powerful telescope had a magnification of thirty-two times. Simple binoculars have a magnification between seven and twenty times.

Lower priced telescopes can give you the same magnification as a pair of good binoculars, but the next real big step comes with the higher quality telescopes. If you combine these with some rudimentary knowledge of the sky, then you can see the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, or entire galaxies.

Add some internet resources to this knowledge and you've open the sky even further. First, to ensure you go out when the night will be clear, go to www.cleardarksky.com and find your area. Check out a weather report, and then check Sky & Telescope's "This Week's Sky at a Glance" (www.skyandtelescope.com) and you're ready for anything.

I also use a program called Stig's Sky Calendar, (www.skycalendar.com) which provides pin-point accuracy for celestial movement. Combine this with Heavens Above (http://www.heavens-above.com/) and you've got full knowledge of satellites and space stations.

If you wanted to go even farther, the Clarkson Stargazers have automated telescopes, a CCD camera (if you want to learn, you can get excellent photos with this), and other resources that you can use to explore the sky. There is also equipment for radio telescope observation, and solar filters for solar observation.

I hope that you've had fun reading this column. I know that I've had fun writing it.

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