Uncle Rod's Astro Blog

 

I know, Muchachos, I know, thisun was ostensibly going to be about me getting my 6-inch refractor, Big Ethel, and my Losmandy GEM into the backyard. My intentions were good, but between stormy late-winter weather and your dilapidated old Uncle being under the weather for a while, that didn’t happen. I still intend to get Ethel and the mount back up and running, and I definitely want to try the SeeStar smartscopes’ new equatorial mode, but that will wait for clear skies—whenever we get those. I am feeling much better this week, though, so that is something, I reckon.

Anyhow, what’s that title about, you ask? “Armchair astronomer”?! Ol’ Unk’ was once purty hardcore observing-wise. His observing runs, particularly during the vaunted Herschel Project, routinely went on till three or four in the a.m. or not infrequently till dawn itself. He was often known to snicker, “Astro-wimps!” at the sight of observers leaving the field at midnight or one. Has that changed?

You betcha. I won’t bother you with my litany of aches and pains, nor more complaining about growing older, nor (again) recounting the close-to-fatal accident I had in ’19. I’ll just say, I’m in my 70s now, and have had to slow down in a lot of areas not just to include astronomy. Why? Well, I have a more difficult—much more difficult—time hauling gear around, even into the backyard. I have a lingering (and mostly irrational) fear of falling in the dark. And a late night for me is now ten or eleven.

That don’t mean I don’t get out with telescopes, though. The coming of the smartscope is, as you know if you’re a regular reader, been a boon for your aged hillbilly of a correspondent. I still do visual observing, too, usually with modest telescopes like Miss Tanya or one of my smaller refractors. I did get the 10-inch, Zelda, out over the summer, however, and, as above, I’ll have the 6-inch refractor up and running again soon (I hope).

Almost all my observing is from the backyard now, yes, though I did get to the Deep South Star Gaze autumn before last and would like to go back again. I still teach astronomy, and helping my students do their outdoor labs with telescopes ensures I’m under the evening sky once in a while. I continue to write for Sky & Telescope, mostly Test Reports, which also requires my little self to be under a starry sky.

Night by night and day by day, though? I won’t lie to y’all. I am purty much that astronomer we Active Amateurs laughed about through our 30s and 40 and 50s and even into our 60s: THE ARMCHAIR ASTRONOMER. That is, much of my contact with the Great Out There day by day and even night by night is now in the form of books. I snuggle down on the couch, open a tome about my astronomical obsession and let my mind wander the Universe. What are the ones I most often turn to when I go voyaging?

Galaxies, Timothy Ferris (1982)

This large-format coffee table book from 1982 has been very important to me. What is it? Oh, there’s some text on the subject of galaxies, natch, but mostly it’s just big—BIG—13” x 14” color photos of island universes. I still like to look at it, but in the early 90s, it was a lifeline. I was in the midst of the dissolution of a truly misbegotten marriage, and Galaxies allowed me to fly free for a while.

How does it stand up today? It holds up well. Sure, the images from top ground-based observatories of the day began to look a little second-class with the coming of the HST, and amateur imagers have now exceeded some of what’s in the book. However, many of the astrophotos here are still amazing, and the large format makes the best breathtaking. I don’t think Galaxies is still in print, but it is readily available from Amazon.

Burnham’s Celestial Handbook: Robert Burnham Jr. (1978)

Everybody who’s even begun to earn their stripes as a deep sky observer knows about this one. There are “better” field guides to the universe beyond the solar system today, like Night Sky Observer’s Guide. But none are written in the thoughtful, poetic style of Bob Burnham. When talking about a constellation—the book is arranged by constellations—we may, for example, take a side-trip with Bob and talk about ancient coins for a while. It worked all those decades ago when the book was initially released in looseleaf installments, and it works today.

I don’t go to Burnham’s for eye candy. There is none in its pulp pages. When I snuggle down in that armchair and read this now, it’s for Bob’s writing. And for the nostalgia. All those long-ago days when I sat with these three volumes and a steno pad and made lists of “need-to-sees” for the coming of night.

Skywatching: David Levy (1994)

You’d a-thought that by the time we got to the freaking 1990s, your old Uncle Rod would have been way past a beginner’s book on astronomy/amateur astronomy like Skywatching. Nope. Mainly because this one, published by The Nature Company (who’ve been gone for nearly three decades now), is profusely illustrated as were most of their books. It’s just fun to look at those pictures of everything from telescopes to deep sky objects. That’s not the only reason, though. The authoritative text by David is to be relied upon. When my increasingly forgetful self can’t remember some astronomy something, I can turn to Sky Watching.

What really draws me back to this one on evenings when it’s cold or cloudy or I just don’t feel like even dragging a small telescope into the yard, though? Dorothy and I received this as a wedding gift upon our marriage in 1994. Looking through it takes me back to the wonderful times when the amazing Miss D. and I were newlyweds.

All about Telescopes/How to Use Your Telescope: Sam Brown (1967)

Yeah, I probably know a fair amount about telescopes this far down the line, but I still like to browse Sam Brown’s magnum opus published by the old Edmund Scientific Company (still around, but nothing like they were in the glory years). Why? While Sam knows his stuff, it’s those wonderful old 60s-style illustrations. They are nostalgia itself.

Yes, All About Telescopes is now available as a free pdf download from archive.org thanks to the people who now own Edmund. But you can still get a print version, and that is just what you should do. As for me? The thunder is booming; think I’ll take a stroll through this wonderful book—or maybe just the excerpt How to Use Your Telescope that was included with my Palomar Junior.

Norton’s Star Atlas: Arthur P. Norton (15^th Edition, 1964)

While wonderful for cloudy night browsing, you probably wouldn’t want to use this as an accompaniment to even binocular observing. It’s just not deep enough. It has stars down to magnitude 6, the Messiers, and a selection of deep sky objects from the NGC (but with Herschel numbers!), 500 deep sky objects in all. Course, when I was a little nipper with a little telescope this took me—I thought—way deep into the Universe. The nostalgia factor? I still cringe at how many lawns I had to mow to pay for this one in 1966. Yeah, I cringe, but it’s a good cringe.

Norton’s was updated some years ago for the current epoch, the charts redrawn, and the text rewritten. Not surprisingly, it’s just not the same and I ain’t interested in it.

Stars: Herbert Zim (1965)

You can read all about this here, so suffice to say this book by Herbert Zim, a “Little Golden Guide,” is what made me an amateur astronomer, game over, end of story, zip up your fly. What draws me back is the nostalgia brought on most of all by Jame’s Gordon’s wonderful little illustrations (up above).

And that’s kinda it for a rainy Monday when I have to make my way to the university to teach astronomy to the next generation. I hope the storms rolling over us aren’t a foretaste of what April is to be in Possum Swamp. I really do want to get that big glass into the night, and I am a-gonna do that—scout’s honor!