Uncle Rod's Astro Blog

What? No Messier Project this time?! Well, muchachos, who wants “the same” every month? Month after month? I thought we’d take a semi-break for this installment and talk about a book that’s not only one of my favorites, but one I don’t believe I’ve mentioned in all the years the little old blog from Chaos Manor South has been on the air. As you might have gleaned from the title, that book is Turn Left at Orion.

Before we get started, though, my thanks to all who have enquired about Miss Dorothy. She is much improved, back home after a month in the hospital and in rehab, and is getting around with a walker. She can do many things herself now, safely. She’s even been out for lunch to the famous Heroes Sports Bar and Grill with her friends. Dorothy still has a road ahead of her, but her improvement allowed me to think about the AstroBlog and even offer up a short(er) one this month.

Anyhoo, Brother Guy Consolmagno’s (SJ) and Don Davis’ Turn Left at Orion, first published in 1989, has sold over 100,000 copies since it appeared, quite an accomplishment for an amateur astronomy book (let me tell you). However, I don’t hear it talked about quite as much as I used to. Maybe that’s because when it first came out, novice amateur astronomers began their travels across the sky the same way we always had, by star-hopping. Now, of course, many begin with computerized goto. Finding your way to targets is, as you might have guessed, a major part of Turn Left.

I’m not saying one way of navigating the sky is better than the other. If you like to star hop, star hop. It was—for me—a matter of pride to learn the sky in detail. However, if you’re more interested in seeing than hunting, I can’t fault you for that. By all means go goto, I did a long time ago. Many professional astronomers, I note, do not have more than a casual knowledge of the layout of the heavens. Luckily, finding things is not all there is to Turn Left at Orion.

Finally, introduction-wise, why did it take me so long to get around to talking about Turn Left? I didn’t have a copy for the longest time. In fact, I believe the book went missing when I moved into (old) Chaos Manor South all those long years ago. I meant to replace it, but never got around to it. Occasionally, I’d think, “You know, that star hopping book was mucho fun. Wish I still had it. I should buy another copy.” But I didn’t. Until last year. A used copy was being sold by a nice feller at last year’s Deep South Star Gaze for the princely sum of five bucks. You can bet I snapped it up.

What is the book about? What’s it good for? Guy sums it up elegantly in the introduction. After relating how much trouble he had with star atlases and other astronomy books, and how he didn’t begin enjoying the stars until his friend Don helped him find some good objects, he concludes, “[I]t occurred to me that all the books in the world weren’t as good as having a friend next to you to point out what to look for and how to find it.” That’s what Turn Left at Orion is, that friend at your elbow guiding you to wonders.

Following the introduction and some preparatory material on directions in the sky and other basics, as well as some valuable words (and sketches) concerning what deep sky objects will actually look like in a small telescope, we come to the meat of the book: A journey across the sky to hundreds of beautiful objects arranged in seasonal order. The book is in no way revolutionary or even innovative in its instructions for star hopping. It doesn't need or want to be. Turn Left just explains the process simply and clearly—like some kind person did for you early in your astronomy career. 

Where would I begin with Turn Left at Orion? Even with spring here, the winter objects still dominate the early evening sky—and early evening is when you can expect old Unk to be in the backyard with a telescope in these latter days. We’ve already been through a selection of winter wonders in the last couple of Messier AstroBlogs, though, so, yeah, let’s turn east to the coming of the galaxies. Why did I say "semi" break from the Messier Project? You cannot visit this area and not look at two special Messier objects.

Go out as soon as it’s dark—damn this DST—look northeast, and what knocks your socks off? The Great Bear and her Dipper dominate that part of the sky in early spring. There are countless faint galaxies scattered across the Bowl and, indeed, sprinkled through the whole constellation, but if you want eye-candy think “M81 and M82.” That’s just what Unk did the night I hauled my 6-inch SkyWatcher Newtonian and the Turn Left into Chaos Manor South’s backyard.

So, off to the Dipper. While the authors say you don’t need to know the constellations to use the book, that’s not really true; you need to at least be able to identify brighter stars, and prominent constellations and asterisms. That said, the book’s instructions for getting to M81 and M82 are time-honored simplicity itself,

Find the four stars that make up the bowl of the Big Dipper. Draw a line running diagonally across the bowl from Phecda (the one at the handle end that’s not part of the handle) to Dubhe, the star at the opposite side of the bowl. Step from Phecda to Dubhe and one step again along that line.

We are given some advice as to what to look for in the finder as we move across this somewhat star-barren area, but I’ve never worried about that. I did what I always have done, jumped from Dubhe the same distance it is from Phecda, and put my eye to the eyepiece.

Suzie's M81

So, what did ol’ Unk see on this so-so evening on the first day of spring? One look in the 20mm Orion Expanse eyepiece (the 6-inch f/5 has a 1.25-inch focuser) showed I was on the correct field, with M82, the famous Cigar Galaxy, almost centered (just luck, y’all). A little slewing around, and I got its companion, M81, Bode’s galaxy, in the field with it.  

We will revisit the two on a Messier Project night, but I was happy with the view. M82 showed a prominent dark lane crossing its disk, and M81 was, well, OK. While my S50 Smartscope, Suzie, easily brings back its glorious spiral shape from my suburban backyard, I have never seen a hint of that from compromised skies—with any telescope. You get an elongated disk with a brighter core. On nights of superior quality, I have occasionally seen subtle mottling, maybe a hint of the arms. Or maybe mostly averted imagination.

The best view I’ve ever had of M82 was from the uber-dark skies of the Prude Ranch during the Texas Star Party. My old 12-inch, Betsy, would show the arms in their glory there, but even then they wouldn’t exactly put your eye out.

What do our authors think of the pair? I commend them for not being too cautious. Some books of this sort are afraid of raising a novice observer’s hopes too high when it comes to deep sky objects in a small telescope. I think Guy and Don give us the “just right” here and elsewhere in the book,

"M81, the more rounded one, is not perfectly round, but rather elongated…it’s slightly brighter in the center. M82, the thin one, is lumpy and irregular in shape. On a really good night larger telescopes (6” to 8” or larger) can show a dark lane of dust.”

I have seen M82’s dust lanes from downtown Possum Swamp with my 4-inch Palomar Junior, but again, I think our authors strike a good balance. Not too sanguine about what you’ll see, but not too cautious, either.

And so it goes for the rest of the book:  Guy and Don take us to an object, tell us how it looks (in a smaller instrument), and tell us something about it (as was known in the late 1980s in my first edition). They don’t just stick to the Messier list or the deep sky, either. Their beat includes the Solar System, and we also visit interesting stars and even some NGC objects. Turn Left at Orion is still in print and readily available. 

In other words, this book is a winner whether you’re a beginner or an experienced observer who just wants to visit some Good Ones, especially with a smaller scope—goto or manual. Yes, the book forms a good list for use with a goto scope. However, I enjoy it most the old-fashioned way since getting there—the trip—is often at least half the fun.

Any criticisms? Turn Left at Orion is devoid of astrophotos. I don’t believe there is a single one. I'm sure that is by design, since the authors don’t want to give a novice the wrong idea about how a deep sky object should look in an eyepiece. There are plenty of eyepiece drawings, and while not masterful or elaborate, they are good enough to show Joe or Jane Newastronomer what they should see.

“Hmm…dew’s really falling now.  Reckon I am going to carry the SkyWatcher back inside. I want to check on Miss D, feed the felines, and maybe even crack open a cold 807 or three.” We didn’t go far tonight, but we did go far enough to bring forth my memories of the 1980s and simple telescopes and a classic of a book I used on nights when the stars were still new and fresh for me.

Next Time: Back on the Messier Road we go. I need to clean up a few Winter objects, but we’ll also get started on spring (if the spring storms let us).