28th January 2011, Friday

Contact | An Astronomer's dream movie.

If I did not discuss about this movie I just watched, something would always be missing in this journal. I am stunned and goosebumped by this amazing movie. Calling it “Any astronomer’s dream movie” is most appropriate. Definite must watch for any aspiring astronomer. The best of Science Fiction and beauty of human imagination. I am astounded.






The movie begins with space view of the earth, It zooms out slowly and with a nice view of sunrise from space. Further zooming out continues and moon passes by, then mars, then comes the asteroid belt, then Jupiter and its satellites, then comes beautiful Saturn and its rings, zooming out continues to show M16 pillars of creation, milky way galaxy and further. The start itself was so perfect. The little girl sending signals and receiving response from initially unknown locations creates the feeling of true exploration and pleasure of discovery, the feeling that every astronomer cherishes within himself. Elly is heard telling “i’m gonna need a bigger antenna”. That was something. Everyone wants bigger aperture bigger antennae, again a feature of a true astronomer.

Contact, Astronomer's dream come true.

Later in the movie they also show the beautiful sound of a pulsar, awesome. So truly amazing that was. Wish I could hear the true sound of a pulsar. Or if they’ve shown the real pulsar sound in the movie, hats off to you movie guys. But whatever was heard in the movie was extraordinary. The sound, sounds so surreal.

Later, Elly sits on her car with tens of huge antennae in her background moving together in identical motion like a bunch of sardines in water, that’s a view. The alien signal is received and whole process of decoding it was well laid out in the movie. Elly’s travel through wormholes in space, passage of 18 hours which appeared like a fraction of a second on earth. Elly’s expression on seeing that beautiful view of the galaxy, meteors blazing through the skies on the imaginary planet, such view you don’t see very often, and all very well designed, flawless and majestic views. Later, the most discussed stuff in science may be, wormholes and the Einstein Rosen bridge were mentioned. Everything in the movie seems so happening. That’s what you would want to see. One of the best Science Fiction movies ever. Wait! I have double thoughts in calling it a science fiction, today’s science fiction might be tomorrow’s reality. Still you say we can’t see the future. Yes we can. Human imagination is one of the best things which we possess.  

After watching the movie I am stunned. It made me feel, when will we leave our stupid and wasteful worldly affairs and start appreciating the universe which has been thrown to us. Mere presence of it is like the utmost pleasure you can get. Go out in the open in night and try this, If you really understand what i am trying to say. I doubt everyone will. Go out on the terrace, close your eyes for few seconds, Look up and open your eyes. Feel like you were just born now, imagine this sky you had never seen before, wind passing by, stars shining into your eye, why does it happen, it’s a gift, something exclusive for us to enjoy and cherish, only if you realize its presence.

I would like to end by this random line. A very strong line, very well said in the movie contact “The Universe, is a pretty big place. Its bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamt of. . .  So if it’s just us, .. .. .. Seems like an awful waste of space”.

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet.

Last time I had an observing session I felt the need of a good observing sheet, complete will all the fields and tables, with appropriate space for sketches and notes. Forms which look clean and contain data capture areas exhaustively. I searched the internet and found many sheets but none of them were “simple, exact, exhaustive and clean”. So I decided to make one myself, combining the good points of all the sheets I had seen. The one from Jay’s Astronomy Blog was by far the best; I tried to improvise on it.

I made sure all data fields are considered. I tried to subdivide various divisible fields such as Location (latitude, Longitude, Altitude), Subject (Name, ID, Magnitude, Distance, RA, Dec, Alt, Az, Constellation), Eyepiece (mm, Type, Magnification) etc, in an effort to ease out data gathering process. The following documents are a result:

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet Template (color)

Astronomical Observation Record Sheet Template

Please feel free to download and use these documents, it’s not only for myself but for you too, if you wish to use it. If you feel some changes are required go ahead and make one of your own and share, or suggest me those changes by leaving a comment. It’s my promise I will make the changes and make the newer document available within two days. Lets pray fort clear skies and awesome sessions ahead. Cheers!

DOWNLOAD LINK:

Color: Astronomical Observation Record (Color)

Blank: Astronomical Observation Record (Plain)

Go to the link and choose 'Download Original' from 'File' in upper left side of the screen.

1. 21-01-2011, Friday, 21:30 to 01:30hrs

Aim:
1. To observe the moon.
2. Observe Jupiter and its moons.
3. See some star clusters.


This was my first proper observing session,the day being a Friday, i had ample time to observe and stay awake late nights. This session turned out to be very good, i saw the Orion Nebula for the first time, and it was unintentional, it came in my FOV when i was trying to find another star cluster in the Orion. It felt thrilling, I guess thats what astronomers used to do long back, discover new things in the night sky when trying to search something else. This thought gave me a surreal feeling. So thats what astronomical pleasure is about.


The nebula had three stars almost in the center arranged like a 'therefore' symbol with apex pointing in somewhat eastward direction at about 23:45 hrs. These three stars if surrounded by a circle, had a sector of about 40 degree angle in the lower part which appeared dark, the other parts of the surroundings were dimly lighted and appeared to emit diffused light. There were 3-4 bright stars in the scope view.


I tried some astro sketching for the first time, forgive the bad handwriting :( and ugly sketch but that was the best i could do, considering it was very dark, and my first time, i plan to learn Astronomical sketching and hope to improve. I will write a section on how to astro sketch, when i have learnt it myself.


Here's the Orion Nebula sketch,

1. Orion Nebula M42  amateur sketch
Eyepiece: 10mm
Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ
21-01-2011, 23:45, Bangalore, India

Other sketches made:

2. Some star cluster near M42.

Eyepiece: 10mm

Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

21-01-2011, 23:20, Bangalore, India

3. Another star cluster in Orion.

Eyepiece: 10mm

Scope: Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

21-01-2011, 23:14, Bangalore, India

Conclusion:
1. First time view of Orion Nebula.
2. Need to learn Astro sketching.
3. Have to make a Astronomical Log sheet(form). <>
4. Saw jupiter and its moons.
5. Saw Moon with Crater copernicus, one day short of full moon.

Betelgeuse to explode.

I was watching BBC Stargazing live recently and happened to hear some amazing stuff. Professor Brian Cox says "The most interesting star, the star that could be shocking in our sky" referring to Betelgeuse. "Its an enormous star and about to explode", "May be one of the most amazing astronomical events of our lifetime", "It would shine like a second sun in the sky". Now thats truly amazing. For those of you who do not know Professor Brian Cox,

Dr. Brian Edward “B. E.” Cox OBE, M.Phil., PhD. (born 3 March 1968) is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. He is also working on the R&D project of the FP420 experiment in an international collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres (1,380 ft) from the interaction points of the main experiments.

He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC. He also had some fame in the 1980s as the keyboard player in the rock band Dare and in the early 1990s with the Irish pop band D:Ream.


See him speak on BBC stargazing live, here:

If this explosion happens and the star shines like a second sun in the sky, How long will it shine? Will there be any side effects of this explosion on earth? Any harmful radiation which we might encounter? How will we know? We have started seeing its rapid shrinking only recently, considering that its 640 light years away, HAS IT EXPLODED ALREADY? After Betelgeuse is gone, Orion wont resemble the hunter anymore, what name do we give to this constellation then?


More related links here:
Will the earth have 2 suns by 2012 ?
Famous star is shrinking, National Geographic.

Basics: 2. Finding objects in the sky.

Now that we know about The Celestial Coordinate System we can proceed further in our knowledge building process by learning how to locate stars and planets in the night sky. Basically the stars do not change their positions in the sky. So i feel, as we see the night sky more and more we will get trained automatically to know objects and their positions in the sky. But this will take time, and we need to help now. I found two methods to locate sky objects. Both of them are simple and precise. Lets start discussing about each of them.


__________________________________________________________________________________


First Method: The Planisphere. 
Answers.com defines planisphere as "A polar projection of half or more of the celestial sphere on a chart equipped with an adjustable overlay to show the stars visible at a particular time and place." 


The planisphere is made up of two flat disks, one on top of the other. The top disk, the horizon, has an oval opening. This open area allows you to see the portion of the sky chosen on the planisphere for a specific time, month, date and latitude. 
The horizon of a planisphere is made for one particular latitude. However, a horizon can also have multiple latitude lines. Planispheres can also have changeable, multiple horizons for different latitudes. Different planispheres are made for different latitudes.(From ehow). 

We can make our own planisphere out of paper. If you simply Google 'Printable Planisphere' you will get various links which provide printable pdf's of planisphere's at different latitudes. Here are a few valid links for the finding 'printable planisphere':

Planisphere for Canada

Planisphere 15° North

Planisphere with instructions

Planisphere for California

Planisphere for Michigan

PLANISPHERE for all Latitudes. from this page

View this video to see how to make a planisphere from the prints.

Also, if you want to learn how to plot and construct a star chart and a planisphere of you own you can use this useful link.

Here's few images showing how i made my planisphere.

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Second Method: Computer Method.
This method uses computer softwares for locating objects in the sky. Various softwares are available which have the capability to show sky objects if correct location and time is set. Here's a list of good softwares available for astronomy:


1. Sky 6 (comes free with Celestron Telescopes)
2. Redshift. 
3. Starry Night (comes free with Orion Telescopes)
4. Cartes Du Ciel
5.  Google Earth. (Easy and free)
6. Stellarium. (Free)

All these softwares are pretty easy to use and give detailed maps of the sky with RA and DEC or ALT AZ coordinates. Seeing those coordinates you can easily aim at the sky and point the telescope if your telescope has setting circles or appropriate markings. Here are a few screenshots of Sky 6, Redshift and Google Earth.

The simplest and most easily available software is Google Earth. Here is a video which demonstrates the usage of Google earth for astronomy. It includes the following steps:


1. Choose your location on Google Earth in 'Earth mode'.
2. Switch to sky mode. The current time (your computer time) view of the sky is shown.
3. By checking the check boxes for various objects in the left side of the window objects can be hidden or viewed.
For more see this video:







MOBILE METHOD:
Google Sky for Android: This is an amazing app for the android. It makes finding objects in the sky very easy and fast. This app is a boon for astronomers. Warning - Using this app from the beginning may handicap you certain astronomical skills, so get to know the sky on your own before using and getting addicted to this highly addictive application. See how it works here:

Basics: 1. The Celestial Coordinate Systems.

"A basic requirement for studying the heavens is determining where in the sky things are". Having a coordinate system for the sky will help us specify any position just like we do on earth by specifying Latitude and Longitude. It is very nicely visualized in this video:

The above video shows how to visualize the CELESTIAL SPHERE and the coordinates. For astronomy various coordinate systems exist. The coordinate systems differ only in their choice of the fundamental plane, which divides the sky into two equal hemispheres along a great circle. For example, the fundamental plane of the geographic system is the Earth's equator. Each coordinate system is named for its choice of fundamental plane. The following table shows a list of them:

Coordinate system	Fundamental plane	Poles	Coordinates
Horizontal (Alt Az)	Celestial Equator	Celestial Poles	Altitude -Azimuth
Equatorial	Ecliptic	Ecliptic_pole	Declination – Right Ascension
Galactic	Galactic Plane	Galactic Poles	--
Super Galactic	Supergalactic Plane	--	--

The Horizontal and Equatorial System are sufficient for our use now and if required we will discuss about Galactic and Super galactic system. For now we will shrink our scope to Horizontal and Equatorial System only. The following video helps in visualizing the celestial coordinates.

The Horizontal Coordinate System: The Horizontal coordinate system uses the observer's local horizon as the Fundamental Plane. This conveniently divides the sky into the upper hemisphere that you can see, and the lower hemisphere that you can't (because the Earth is in the way). The pole of the upper hemisphere is called the Zenith. The pole of the lower hemisphere is called the nadir. The angle of an object above or below the horizon is called the Altitude (Alt for short). The angle of an object around the horizon (measured from the North point, toward the East) is called the Azimuth. The Horizontal Coordinate System is sometimes also called the Alt/Az Coordinate System. The Horizontal Coordinate System is fixed to the Earth, not the Stars. Therefore, the Altitude and Azimuth of an object changes with time, as the object appears to drift across the sky. In addition, because the Horizontal system is defined by your local horizon, the same object viewed from different locations on Earth at the same time will have different values of Altitude and Azimuth.Horizontal coordinates are very useful for determining the Rise and Set times of an object in the sky. When an object has Altitude=0 degrees, it is either Rising (if its Azimuth is < 180 degrees) or Setting (if its Azimuth is > 180 degrees).

The Alt Az or Horizontal System

                                

The Equatorial Coordinate System: The Equatorial coordinate system is probably the most widely used celestial coordinate system. It is also the most closely related to the Geographic coordinate system, because they use the same fundamental plane, and the same poles. The projection of the Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere is called the Celestial Equator. Similarly, projecting the geographic Poles onto the celestial sphere defines the North and South Celestial Poles.

However, there is an important difference between the equatorial and geographic coordinate systems: the geographic system is fixed to the Earth; it rotates as the Earth does. The Equatorial system is fixed to the stars, so it appears to rotate across the sky with the stars, but of course it is really the Earth rotating under the fixed sky. The latitudinal (latitude-like) angle of the Equatorial system is called Declination (Dec for short). It measures the angle of an object above or below the Celestial Equator. The longitudinal angle is called the Right Ascension (RA for short). It measures the angle of an object East of the Vernal Equinox. Unlike longitude, Right Ascension is usually measured in hours instead of degrees, because the apparent rotation of the Equatorial coordinate system is closely related to Sidereal Time and Hour Angle. Since a full rotation of the sky takes 24 hours to complete, there are (360 degrees / 24 hours) = 15 degrees in one Hour of Right Ascension.

The Equatorial System

                                    

The following video is helpful in understanding the celestial coordinate system and the apparent motion of stars in the sky because of movement of the earth.

Google Earth is a very useful tool to see sky maps at a particular time and also see their position by seeing the coordinates. As shown in the video, choose your location on ground by selecting 'earth' view first. Then switch to sky. Google earth will see the current time of your computer and show you the objects visible in your sky at that particular time. Its awesome. You don't need to buy any professional software like 'Sky' or 'Starry Night' or 'Redshift' etc. Google earth alone is very sufficient for basics. Watch the video for how to use Google earth as an astronomical tool.

Flowchart | Complete telescope buying guide

 TELESCOPE BUYING GUIDE


A picture is worth a thousand words indeed. Check out the latest telescope choosing flowchart.

How to choose a Telescope flowchart

Having problems in viewing ? See high resolution image HERE

Here is a flowchart which i have made after 2-3 months of research going through websites of various manufacturers like Celestron, Meade, Skywatcher, Orion, Bushnell, Canon, Zhumell and others. A thorough comparison was made considering the specifications of each scope. While Celestron firstscope has other alternatives too like the Skywatcher HERITAGE 76 or HERITAGE P130 the Celestron firstscope has been chosen in the particular subcategory of the flowchart as it suits that category best. Also various features of a certain scope are more likeable than the others. The choice placing Celestron Astromaster 130EQ instead of similar others like the Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ was made  after careful analysis. I also went through a lot of reviews reading various customer feedbacks on a certain product and it was considered while making selections. So if you have the questions like "Which telescope should i buy?" or "How to choose first telescope?" or "Celestron or Meade?" "Binocular or telescope?", i feel they will be answered by this flowchart.

And read related text HERE

Things to do till you decide and get a Telescope (min 2 months)

Yes, do not decide and buy a telescope in haste. Take more time as you will understand it better. Be involved in browsing through products and making comparisons, reading reviews etc and keep adding stars to your list of telescopes. At the same time you need to go through a lot of reading, browsing and learning too.


I cannot suggest what are the perfect things to do before you start astronomy but i can describe the stuff i did (and it worked). All you need to do is, to do things which expand your knowledge base in astronomy. Without a strong foundation of knowledge one cannot expect to progress in any area.


Sounds boring ? Astronomy and boring ? Of course you can make the most interesting things boring if you don't know the right way to do it. Lets do it my way. I did not find it boring so it might work for you too. To make astronomy work for you, you have to break the barrier.


You might not want to end up like this as shown in BBC Stargazing Live:




So, We need to understand the basic stuff first. These basics will be covered one by one in the following posts.

How you should choose your first telescope.

There are a lot of things to consider before buying your first telescope. Many may vary person to person. But few parameters can be considered common to all. We will look at these parameters and try to develop a method to buy your first telescope. Some of these parameters are:

1. Are you a geeky\technical\scientific\probing person: If this condition is true then you are one of those people who will make the most out of your telescope. As you venture into astronomy you will like to keep logs and track objects in the night sky taking data and keeping a record. You expect more out of your telescope than just point and watch. for such types i would advise an Equatorial mount.(Types of mounts). An equatorial mount is more complex to set up. It offers more challenge than the altazimuth or the dobsonian. Fixing the mount, Counterweight bar, weights, balancing and stabilizing the mount will be few things which you will enjoy. If you read the disadvantages of Equatorial mount at this link, one of the disadvantages is you need to 'polar align' it and 'Less intuitive for beginning amateurs' both these points are ruled out. In fact what is stated as a disadvantage appears as advantage as these things provide more things to learn and greater challenge inusage initially. You can keep a time based log while tracking an object in the sky keeping track of its RA and DEC values at all times. Yes do not forget to write coordinates of your observation position. You can use google earth for it. Point it to your position and note down Latitude, longitude and elevation. Google earth will prove to be a good tool in astronomy, we'll see how as we progress.

Telescope Mounts, The Alt-azimuth (left) and the Equatorial (right).

However, if this parameter (You being a technical guy/gal) is not true the definitely you should go for the alt azimuth as it is simpler to point and assemble. Also no need of polar alignment, and also it is cheaper than the equatorial. No counter weights so easy to carry and more portable. However you are loosing the ability to track objects correctly and loosing some data too if you plan tracking objects.

2. Whats your budget\ Where are you located ? Budget is big factor when you consider buying a telescope. Fix a budget range and browse products on websites which lie in your range. Make a list of those products for analysis later.
Now about where you are located. This might not seem like an issue to you if you are in the United States or UK or other bigger nations but quite a problem if you are in less developed countries. I am in one. And i have ordered two telescopes till now from ebay. One of them did not get shipped, and as of today i am waiting for the other one to get shipped as three days have passed since i purchased. Also your budget will give you an inferior scope compared to what you could have got if you were in the US. Disappointing. So make sure you have searched thoroughly for authorized dealers of Celestron, Meade, Orion etc in your country, or ebay for a good deal.


3. Future plans for upgrades: If you wish to upgrade to a higher power scope in future then i would suggest a refractor scope. As it will serve as finder scope for you future high power scope.

Low power high FOV refractor as finderscope

4. Portability: If you live in high density city with Light Pollution you might wish to go out on weekends for a good view. If this is the case opt for a more portable scope.


5, Binoculars ? Many people suggest to buy a good binocular first before buying a telescope. Because a binocular gives you a wider view of the sky and its easy to locate objects. This is a good suggestion as a binocular can be good companion always with a good telescope. So why not buy a binocular first. However if you have done sufficient preparation and know enough about the objects in the sky, no harm in buying a telescope first too, make sure you have the resources ready in your head before you get a telescope or else even the best scope won't be half as useful.


6. Bigger aperture is better: Yes more light gathering capacity, better is the view and magnification. In the list you made in step 2 mark one star in front of all the scopes that have high apertures. Usually more than 4" is considered good. Refractors get very costly as their aperture increases, but they render sharper images giving more detail. So apertures above or equal to 90mm in refractors can be considered good.


7. The first telescope should come with basic accessories.


Good Starter Scopes List:
1. Orion XT8 Classic Dobsonian
2. Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ
3. Celestron Astromaster 90 EQ
4. Meade DS-2130AT-TC
5. Meade 90AZ-ADR

The Orion XT8 is a very large aperture on dobsonian mount. Very simple to operate and gives you large power at you disposal. However the dobsonian mount is another variant of the altazimuth mount. So tracking and data collection won't be possible, also the XT8 is very bulky. Moving it from backyard to house will also be troublesome. 
Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ is a good scope but has less aperture compared to Orion XT8.




LATEST and UNIQUE one of its kind.
FLOWCHART TO HELP YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT SCOPE, a picture is worth a thousand words.

How i chose my first telescope

From what i remember, i started off browsing products lists of various telescope manufacturers like Meade, Celestron, Orion etc. It was helpful as i got to know about all of their products. I had studied about the three types of telescopes before i.e. The Refractor, Reflector and Cassegrain.

The Refractor Telescope

Its called the refractor telescope because it achieves magnification by refraction. This was what was earlier known as the 'spyglass' and was invented by Hans Lippershey, to whom the credit of inventing the telescope is awarded. These are the oldest type of telescopes, used by Galileo and others, till Sir Issac Newton invented the newtonian reflector. Well a lot can be written about the construction and working of refractor here but it is out of the scope of this journal. I studied them for information and better understanding and concluded that they have these advantages and disadvantages, well summarized at this link: Advantages and disadvantages of refracting telescope.

So refractors are rugged, more weather proof, easy to maintain and give more steady and sharper images. But, i was a buyer of limited resources. If i could i would have bought the best schimdt cassegarin telescope worth many grands. This brought me to consider the next type of telescopes, the reflectors.

The Reflecting Telescope 

Yes, it achieves magnification by reflecting, and for reflection we need a mirror. So it has a concave mirror (primary mirror) in one end which collects the light and focues on a secondary mirror which reflects it to the eyepiece. I studied about them too and made the following conclusions, summarized at this link: Advantages and disadvantages of reflecting telescope.

So reflectors are without chromatic aberration, and are cheaper than refractors of the same size and can be made bigger. 

Considering the above aspects a reflector was a more suited choice for me. Notice that i have not even considered Schimdt Cassegrain Type here beacuse the cheapest of them are unaffordably costly for me in India right now.

Celestron Powerseeker 70 EQ - The Telescope i chose, but then...

Now the search began for a telescope on ebay. Due to the limited budget and shipping and availability constraints i settled for a 'Celestron Powerseeker 70 EQ', price 7142/- INR. Free shipping. Yes it is a refractor, but you need to read the second sentence of this paragraph again. Yes, i had chosen and ordered my telescope, who new something else was in store for me. Find out in the next post.