The Museum of Natural History has a planetarium! And a 20" telescope in their observatory! The Monseignor has said that I can spend 1 day a month outside my crypt helping them in the planetarium!
Michael: A 20 inch mirror can capture lots of photons. And given a night of clear skies and stable air, you can see ever so many stupendously beautiful astronomical objects. Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and its Galilean satellites, globular clusters, the Andromeda galaxy. What's fabulous about direct observation is that those photons are uniquely yours. Many years ago I visited the student observatory at Palomar College. Over several months I made weekly visits for their public viewing nights. They had a 14" telescope which brought fabulous views, so I can imagine how much better viewing you'll have with a 20" telescope. On many nights there were so few visitors that I had the telescope to myself for 30 minutes or more. All this extra viewing time allowed me to "train my eye" which improved the quality of my viewing experience--I could see more detail, more color and more depth. I highly recommend spending time getting to know this telescope. Dennis
Michael: A 20 inch mirror can capture lots of photons. And given a night of clear skies and stable air, you can see ever so many stupendously beautiful astronomical objects. Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and its Galilean satellites, globular clusters, the Andromeda galaxy. What's fabulous about direct observation is that those photons are uniquely yours.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago I visited the student observatory at Palomar College. Over several months I made weekly visits for their public viewing nights. They had a 14" telescope which brought fabulous views, so I can imagine how much better viewing you'll have with a 20" telescope. On many nights there were so few visitors that I had the telescope to myself for 30 minutes or more. All this extra viewing time allowed me to "train my eye" which improved the quality of my viewing experience--I could see more detail, more color and more depth.
I highly recommend spending time getting to know this telescope.
Dennis