It's trashscope season again - don't be fooled

Even if I don't pay attention to anything else, I'll always know that the holidays are around the corner when the trashscopes come out.

• What's a trashscope? It's a mass market telescope that over promises and under delivers.
• How to recognize one? If you walk into a store that normally doesn't sell telescopes and there's one on display it's probably junk. That includes big box stores, camera stores, educational stores, drug stores, and department stores.

But what can you get for that budding young stargazer? How will you know what to buy? Here's some guidance:

• Consider a good pair of binoculars and a companion book on stargazing. Your first telescope provides some guidance here. The right kind of binoculars will have a lot to offer including portability, ease of use, wide field of view, and they can be used for far more than just stargazing.
• If you have your heart set on seeing the rings of Saturn you'll need a telescope. But before you buy take some time to learn about telescopes. Read Avoiding the Christmas trash-Telescope Blues or check out this series of short videos over at the One Minute Astronomer on How to Choose a Telescope.
  

Why do people buy trashscopes? Basically it comes down to the fact that most people aren't familiar with telescopes. Things about telescopes that you might think are important aren't and get over sold. As a result people can be easily mislead. High magnification, large numbers of eyepieces, large and beautiful pictures of galaxies and planets on the box are the hallmarks of this deception.

When it comes to the familiar people are more apt to spot things that look too good to be true. Consider buying a car. If you were to walk into a store and saw a car that promised to carry 10 people, out accelerate a dragster, out maneuver a Ferrari, use less gas than a hybrid, and cost only a bit more than a bicycle - you wouldn't be fooled. So the way to get a scope that you will enjoy is to learn a few basics and to remember that a telescope is no different than any other hobby item. You get what you pay for.

Please take a few moments read the articles and check out the the videos above. And when you're done visit a telescope store or find a star party and talk to the people there.

If you are looking for an inexpensive starter scope, consider the modest Celestron First Scope. It costs less than a typical trashscope and will perform much better. And if you do get the astronomy bug, remember it's called the First Scope for a reason - there will be a second once you know what you want. And if you don't get the bug, it will provide hours of casual stargazing fun.

David Dunlap Observatory slated to reopen in the IYA2009!

The observatory that confirmed the first black hole will reopen this summer for public outreach programs!

Congratulations to the folks at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada!

For more read the RASC news item.

No word on any potential research.

Related Articles

• April - Last chance to see DDO Canada's largest telescope  
• David Dunlap Observatory Tour and Photos 
• Black Hole discoverer to be eaten by land developers

Easy "Red Eye" Exit Pupil Method

Astronomers talk about the "Exit Pupil" of their optical systems. Most commonly it's used with binoculars but it also applies to telescopes. It's used in two ways, (1) to find the best match between the lowest power of your system and your eye's pupils, and (2) in binoculars which have a fixed magnification to get the maximum light available into your eye.

The rule of thumb used is that the exit pupil should be 7 mm. In binoculars, a 7x50 (7 power x 50 mm lens) is considered a near perfect fit for star gazing because it matches the exit pupil. A 10x70 would also be an excellent fit, but an 8x25 wouldn't provide enough light.

For more on this see Visual Astronomy on The Effects of Exit Pupil.

My son recently completed a Science Fair project on night vision which looked at pupil size and age. To get enough data he needed a quick, easy, and reliable method of measuring pupil size in the dark. They couldn't take everyone to an eye doctor and the "slit" method was neither easy nor quick.

What he came up with was the "red eye" method. By taking a flash photo with a digital camera after about a minute of darkness you can then use software like Photoshop or GIMP to measure the diameter of the red eye in pixels. The only other thing you need is an object of known size to find the number of pixels per mm. For this he used a dime (18 mm) on a Popsicle stick.

The photo above shows a 7 year old with an amazing 9mm pupil!

Later, I'll provide more about pupil size and age.

Related Articles

• Your first telescope ...
• Binocular Astronomy
• Avoiding the Christmas trash-Telescope Blues

Avoiding the Christmas trash-Telescope Blues

As Christmas approaches a lot of people consider giving telescopes to their favorite budding astronomer. Right now all kinds of stores are full of scopes for the run up to Christmas. Then they'll be gone for another year.

Please before you go out and buy one of these, read on. I'll point you to some tips and alternatives. Also, I take a look at some of the scopes I've seen around town.

Typical Trashscopes

The photos above are reprinted with permission. Credit from left to right Dr. Jerry Galloway and Ray Khan

While I know lots of astronomers who grew up with these low end scopes and stuck it out, I know a lot more people that gave up out of frustration.

I highly recommend reading Alan Dyer's Ten Tips for Buying a Telescope and Giving a Telescope as a Gift over at Visual Astronomy. Or get Terence Dickinson's Night Watch and read the chapter "Stargazing Equipment" and especially the part called "Trash-Scope Blues".

Another key to enjoying a telescope is to set the right expectation.  Lots of of telescope packages are adorned with large colourful photos of galaxies and nebula.  Don't expect to see quite the same thing yourself.  These photos were all taken over a long period of time with really large aperture telescopes meaning they collect far more light than your eye can in real time.   A telescope like the Hubble brings in about as much light as 100,000 beginner scopes!   But there are still lots of things that show up beautifully.

Here are my tips: 

If you've read the articles above, some of these tips will be familiar. Others will not.

• High power is a trick so don't be fooled. The promise of high power is deceptive for many reasons. Anything that gives more than about 150x is likely to be unusable. Magnification is a function of how the eyepiece works with the scope.
  
• Aperture trumps magnification. The diameter of the main lens or mirror is more important than its length. Simply put wide eyes means more light. Think of owls not mice. Also higher magnification powers needs larger apertures or they just dim out.
• Premium Eyepieces usually aren't. Quality eyepieces are expensive. Counterintuitively, low power eyepieces are more expensive than high power eyepieces of equal quality. Packages with more than two or three eyepieces should be suspect. Barlow lenses which double or triple magnification are almost always not useful on a beginner scope. Finally, just because the box says "Premium Eye Pieces" doesn't mean it's true.
• Solid mounts and controls are paramount. If the scope shakes, won't hold position, or can't focus, it will be frustrating, disappointing and unusable. Yoke mounts are usually headaches.
• Poor finder scopes are often problems on beginner scopes. Again, magnifying finders are just small scopes so more aperture is better. Think sausages, not pencils. Red dot finders are increasingly common and often better than entry level magnifying finders.
• Portability versus size. Where will you use it? How portable do you need it? If you have a bit more money, don't go aperture crazy. You still have to get the scope and tripod to your observing site. An over sized scope will not get used.
• Check out specialty telescope shops. Telescopes are not a one size fits all product. If you buy from a store that only stocks scopes around Christmas you aren't going to get much help and support. Frankly the people who work in telescope specialty shops use the equipment and can help you find what you need. They may even have one setup that you can try. Staff in the malls or box stores won't be able to answer any questions. I've seen the scopes setup in these other stores for display, you can't try them. Also, telescope stores sell used which can be a good way to get more for less.
• Return and trade-in policy. Check out the stores return policy before you buy. eBay, Kijiji, and Craig's list are full of scopes for sale after Christmas many of which are nonreturnable junk. Also, many telescope shops will take trade ins when you're ready to move up.
• Alternatives. You should also consider alternatives such as binoculars, see Your first telescope ...
  
• Saturn! One of the main reasons for getting a beginner telescope over binoculars is Saturn. Or rather it's rings. Unfortunately, for the next few months Saturn is not cooperating as the rings are nearly edge on as happens about every fifteen years. This will fix itself but you'll need to wait.
  

Remember that every telescope is going to be a compromise between budget, aperture, portability, and features. Trade-offs are inevitable. Better to have a good starter scope that works well than one that tries to do everything and fails.

Now to your budget.

• $100 look for binoculars - don't even think about a scope
• $200 you should be able to get a good basic scope
• $400+ you should be able to get a computerized or "Go To" scope
• More ... considering adding aperture, features, or accessories
  

What's about town (Toronto)

There are only a few stores in Toronto where I would even consider buying astronomy equipment. Last year there were three. Khan Scope and Efston both still serve this market and have good equipment. Unfortunately Kendricks has left the retail telescope market but still makes fine equipment. My personal preference is Khan Scope.

However, I did spot some scopes in other stores and thought I would comment on them.

The Educational Store

There is a well known chain that sells educational toys and books. It's a great store, but not for telescopes. They had two scopes at around the $100 price point with the less expensive named brand model being the better of the two. Personally I wouldn't touch either.

A Canadian made refractor scope.  This is perhaps the single worst telescope I have personally ever seen. It's specs include:60 mm aperture, 700 mm focal length, 3 eyepieces (K 20, H 12.5, K 9), 3x Barlow, rotating "turret" eyepiece holder, yoke mount tripod, 5 x 20 finder.

The aperture is too small, eyepieces very basic giving 35x, 56x, 77x, Barlow lens is almost useless giving 105x, 168x and 233x, the plastic turret looks like it came from a microscope and is gimmicky, the finder is under apetured for its power, the mount very flimsy looking. Inside the dew hood there was an inner hood around the main lens that looked like it may have reduced the aperture further.  I've seen plenty of these scopes advertised on on e-Bay and Craig's list and sometimes at far above ths price.

A named brand's entry refractor. It's specs include: 70 mm aperture, 700mm focal length, two eyepieces (MA 25 and 9 with standard barrels), yoke mount tripod , red dot finder, PC planetarium software.

The aperture is the bare minimum, the eyepieces are basic and give 28x and 77x, but it has a yoke mount.

The Box Store

The big box store had a scope that on the surface looked more promising at just below the $200 price point.

A named brand's GOTO refractor. It's specs include: 90 mm aperture, 800 mm focal length, 5 eyepieces (MA 25, 20, 17, 12, 6), computer guided GOTO mount, red dot finder.

The aperture is better, but the claim of "Premium eyepieces" was probably inspired by Bertrand Russell. Five eyepieces in a low price package practically screams poor quality. Also, there is no way to test the automatic mount mechanics before you buy.

I did notice this same entry GOTO at a couple of the local telescope specialty stores last year but not this year. I've also seen a couple in for repair - not a good sign. Overall it seems like a lot for the money and I'd be wary that it's too good to be true.

The Specialty Store

Ray Khan took the time to show me three interesting beginner offerings all within the budget price points I mentioned.

• Meade 7x50mm Travelview binoculars. These are a good size, with a nice field of view, are small enough for children, and can be mounted on a camera tripod. They have excellent light gathering being nearly right on the rule of thumb of 7mm for every 1x magnification.

• A 70mm refractor from Celestron with a 900mm focal length. It has a solid mount and smooth mechanics and uses a red dot finder. It also shows correct images which is a plus for beginners. Two eyepieces at 20 and 10 mm. I believe the eyepieces are called "Super"an improved version of the MA lenses. Coated optics to improve your view. And PC planetarium software.

• An 80mm computerized GOTO refractor from Meade with a 400mm focal length. It comes with 26 and 9.7 mm Plössl eyepieces and built in switchable 2x Barlow. It includes PC planetarium software. A "backpack edition" is available.

My Scopes

If you're curious, I have two telescopes: a 200mm aperture with 800mm focal length Newtonian reflector; an 80mm aperture with 400mm Refractor; and several binoculars.  Neither scope is GOTO.  Both have EQ mounts and I swap the eyepieces and finder scopes between them.   Here they are:

First image courtesy of Ian Kelso

And I had one of those trashscopes when I was a boy.  Both it and its finder scope were frustrating, over powered, under apertured.  The  wobbly yoke mount finally broke. It put me off for years.

I do have one other very special telescope which you can read about in Mang interviewed in Etobicoke Guardian and Mang gets a space telescope!

A few words on telescope types.

Telescopes come in several types. Basically there are refractors which use lenses to focus the light, and reflectors which use a large mirror to focus the light. For practical reasons, smaller aperture scopes are typically refractors while large ones are reflectors. There are also a number of other types which use compound optics and mirrors. Most of these have hyphenated names. A more detailed description can be found at Visual Astronomy, here.

Another thing is that most astronomical telescopes don't show correct images. The image is reversed and this can take a bit of getting used to for a beginner trying to move the scope. This is also a true of most magnifying finder scopes (Red dot finders don't suffer from this).

A few words about eyepieces.

A lot like camera lenses make the camera, eyepieces are the business end of your telescope.

If you are looking to decode the alphabet soup shorthand above (e.g. K20) it describes the design and size of these basic eyepieces. The letters refer to the design: H for Huygens (a 17th century design), K is for Kellner (a 19th century design and the first modern achromatic eyepiece with a common focus for all colours). MA are an improved Kellner design as are "Supers". The number is size in mm with the larger number being lower power. Other higher quality types are named after their designers like Plössl and Nagler or by their companies like Ethos.

Most telescope use standardized interchangeable eyepieces with 1.25" barrels (some use 2"). This means you can easily get different and better eyepieces and keep them for your next scope. Avoid anything else.

To calculate your magnification divide the focal length of the scope by the eyepiece size (e.g. 700mm / 12 mm = 58x power).

For comparison purposes, see the photos of 4 eyepieces. I've contrasted two sizes of basic eyepieces with a higher quality version. I included weight because it indirectly gives an idea of quality.

Below are side views showing (left to right) Plössl, Super, Ultra Wide, and Huygens. 
 

Below are top views of the same 4 eyepieces.

Some more details on the same four eyepieces:

Eyepiece	Size (mm)	Weight (g)	barrel (in.)
H5 (junk)	5	20	0.965
UltraWide	4.75	80	1.25
Super	25	50	1.25
Plössl	25	100	1.25

High quality Barlow lenses also exist. They are often more useful on short focal length scopes as they effectively double (or triple) the focal length.

For more information on eyepieces see Wikipedia, here.

A few words on mounts.

Again their are a few basic types that fall into two categories. Those that can track the stars without rotating the field which are necessary for astro-photography. And those that can't which are typically called Altitude-Azimuth or AZ mounts.

Equatorial or EQ mounts are the traditional design for tracking. AZ mounts can still track with computers but will need a wedge adapter for astro-photography.

There may be a desire for a beginner to eventually get into astro-photography. This is one of those trade offs I mentioned and probably should be your next scope.

I've already dismissed yoke mounts which are cheap AZ mounts.

See Wikipedia on telescope mounts, here.

Mang interviewed in Etobicoke Guardian

Image courtesy of Ian Kelso

This week the Etobicoke Guardian has an article on page 3 titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Dying Star ...". It can be found online as Amateur astronomer gets access to space telescope about my winning one of the My Own Space Telescope proposals to use MOST: Canada's First Space Telescope.

See also: Mang gets a space telescope!

Thanks to Tamara Shephard and Ian Kelso of the Guardian.

Hot Jupiter Trojans! MOST finds exoasteroids?

When putting together Mang gets a space telescope! I found an abstract of a paper at The Science of Most. I haven't read the full paper yet, but if I read this correctly the MOST team may have found a Trojan asteroid swarm accompanying HD 209458b an exoplanet orbiting a sun like star about 150 light years away.

This is especially impressive given that the actual telescope in MOST is smaller than many amateur scopes!

The paper can be found here Searching for asteroids around another star.

I may be missing something but, I've never heard of an exoasteroid discovery before. It never even occurred to me that it they could be detected with current telescopes.

Now why is this not very big news?

Given the conservative title of the article and a quick peek at it, I gather that the results are preliminary but promising. It sounds like they are still sorting out some details like trying to eliminate possible noise.

Still if it isn't conclusive yet, the game is definitely afoot.

Update: A quick check indicates that exosolar asteroids are new. Just not as new as I'd originally thought. Still, they've never made big mainstream news the way exoplanets have.

Mang gets a space telescope!

Last year the team responsible for Canada's very successful space telescope, MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars), opened the door to the public to propose stars to be studied (see My Own Space Telescope).

MOST packs a lot of power in a very small package. It has the ability to detect the tiniest variations in the light of other stars and track them over long periods of time. It has been used for astroseismology and to detect planets and maybe even asteroids[1] orbiting other stars (see The Science of Most)! There is even a "singing star" called Eta Bootis.

• Last year the 433rd Cubs built a scale model of Most (see Making Most).
• Almost unbelievably MOST has been caught on camera !

Today the Science team announced two successful proposals (see Amateur Astronomers Win Time on Canada’s MOST Space Telescope ). These were Gordon Sarty a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) and myself! Congratulations Gordon!

I picked Betelgeuse (see this NASA Images page on Betelgeuse for more information). It's a celebrity. As one of the largest, brightest and best known stars in our sky, it holds a lot of fascination. All of our Cubs and Scouts know it!

Here are some Betelgeuse facts:

• Betelgeuse is a monster, a Red Supergiant. If Betelgeuse were here, we'd be inside it!
• It pulsates semi-regularly, swelling up and down vast distances (think of the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) over a 5-6 year period.
• It was the first star outside our solar system to have its disk photographed.
• It has had truly massive spots on its face.
• Despite the vast size of Betelgeuse, it weighs less than 30 times our own Sun and has been described as a red hot vacuum (1/10,000th of an atmosphere on average).
  
• Unlike our own Sun, it's chromosphere extends many times the diamater of its photosphere. Think of the orbit of Neptune!
  
• It will likely die in a supernova explosion. Possibly in the relatively near future. It's too far away (> 400 LY) and pointed the wrong way to hurt us. But when it does explode, it will likely be brighter than the Moon and possibly visible in the day.
• The now closed McLaughlin Planetarium had a scale model of a number of stars at the base of the stairs going to the theatre dome. The Sun was pea sized about 1/3". Betelgeuse (or a segment of it) was on the floor and over 15' in diameter!
• Our little Sun would not be visible from Betelgeuse!
  
• It would be easy to believe Betelgeuse is the largest star in our galaxy. It isn't. It's just the best known big star!
  

I'm sure Betelgeuse holds many secrets, what can we find out about them?

• Could it have exoplanets and could we detect them?
• What is the nature of its variability and massive spots?
• Might we get a better idea of its mass, age and when it might explode?
• What might we learn anything of about our own Sun and it's possible fate?

There are lots of reasons to study Betelgeuse and perhaps MOST can answer some of these questions. I'm excited to see if we can find out the answers. I'm sure the Cubs and Scouts will be too.

Update: If I read this correctly they may have found a Trojan asteroid swarm around HD 209458b see Searching for asteroids around another star. Why is this not very big news?

Other Related: Astronomical distances are .... (well) astronomical

MOST caught on camera!

MOST is a very small package (less than 1 square metre) orbiting constantly near the boundary of night and day (800 km up). Unlike the International Space Station and larger satellites, you'll never see it by eye. And you'll find precious little about it on satellite tracking sites like Heavens Above.

But MOST is not so small that it cannot be seen - if you have the right equipment.

It turns out that a Toronto RASC member, Eric Briggs, photographed MOST passing overhead. He used a special computer controlled telescope about the same power as the large one I take to our camps but with faster optics (f2).

He posted this amazing video on You Tube:



Update: Some IE users are having trouble seeing the embedded video. If you can't see it above, try this link.

MOST is very hard to see early on. It appears almost as a ghost in the center of the video as the scope tracks by stars. Best to look about 4-5 minutes in.

h/t to Dr. Jaymie Matthews for this

Binocular Astronomy

One of the best things a budding astronomer can do is not buy a telescope!

Instead, buy two!! Quite simply, a good set of binoculars is a better way to start off. For more information on why this is true, see "Your first telescope".

Update: There is a caveat I should mention, handheld binoculars will be unlikely to give you a good view of Saturn's rings. I'll write more about beginner telecsopes before Christmas.

Choosing Binoculars

If you are looking for binoculars that you can use to look at the stars, I recommend you read Binoculars for Astronomy over at The Universe Today. Tammy Plotner, a professional astronomer and frequent writer on binocular astronomy, covers size, weight, portability, magnification, size of the objective lens (large end), and exit pupil (small end), tripod adapters, and what types are suited to children versus adults.

Because they are so versatile, many astronomers have several pairs. For example, I have have a compact 8x21, mid-size 10x50, and a large 11x70. The first pair doesn't really gather enough light but makes up for it in portability. The last pair is near the limit of being hand holdable. Anything larger are considered giants.

Giant binoculars require tripods (some have seats) and are used by comet hunters amongst others. They come in sizes like 15x80, 25x100, 30x90, 25x125.

Some astronomers so enjoy using both eyes they get binocular eyepiece mounts for normal telescopes.

One of the most advanced telescopes in the world, called the large binocular telescope uses two scopes with 8.4 meter diameter mirrors!

Things to see with binoculars

Below I've summarized some of Tammy's articles and given viewing dates assuming evening viewing around 9pm.

• Get Sirius! (March 2008) - describes how to use Sirius to find the open clusters M41, M47, and M50 [January-April]. I wrote on this article before, here.
  
• What to Look at With Binoculars - describes how to find the open clusters M44 (The Beehive), and M67 [December-June]; the globular cluster M3 [June-September]; the open cluster Melotte 111 [February-August]; the galaxies M65, M66, NGC 3628 [February-July]; and M105, and M96 [June-July].

Tammy has a series of articles called "What's Up" at the Universe Today as well she has written a book " The Night Sky Companion 2008-2009". The What's Up articles cover what can be seen with binoculars, scopes, and the naked eye on specific dates and may require staying up late or rising early. Many of these take into account the brightness of the moon, as well as the position of planets and asteroids that will vary from year to year.

Update:

I forgot to include a few objects on my list:

• M45 (Seven Sisters), the famous open cluster in Taurus [October-April]
• M42 and M43, in the sword of Orion Nebula [November-April]
• The Double-Double, a multiple star, in Lyra [May-December]
• Alberio, a multi-coloured double star in Cygnus [May-December]
  

Also, the May/June 2008 issue of "Sky News Canada" has an article titled "Welcome To The Binocular Universe" ... "These double-barrelled optical wonders will enhance your exploration of the night sky." written by Gary Seronik.

Update: David Hofland of the North-East Alabama Astronomical League sent me a copy of his NEAAL article describing how to make a liquid filled stabilizer for binoculars using PVC, contact cement, and bungees. Granted it looks a bit odd, but it should have some advantages over a camera tripod when looking way up. I've reprinted it here with permission.

Feedback

I'd love to hear from anyone with ideas about good targets for hand held binoculars. I'd also like to hear from people with binocular experience south of the equator. Please comment or respond via the guestbook or email form on the sidebar. Thanks.

Astronomy Sale ....

Khan's Scopes on Dufferin (east side, south of Yorkdale) have a twice yearly tent sale. The spring installment is this Saturday. If you're in the area, it's worth checking out. Their web site is here.

If you see Ray, tell him George :), David, Mang says hi.

April - Last chance to see DDO Canada's largest telescope

I just received confirmation that the David Dunlap Observatory is shutting down tour operations. I expect this is the first step in the shutdown relating to the sale of the property.

There is a brief window of opportunity for any groups remaining to see it and I wanted to get the word out.

Any Scouting (and Guiding) groups from wishing to see the largest telescope in Canada have one last chance to visit. The staff can accommodate all age ranges from Beavers through to Rovers. But you must act fast to secure a spot.

The following dates are available April 21, 23, 25, 27,28, and 29th. No tours will be run after April 30th.

Group size is not important at this point. It can be 10 people to 70 people and can include family and friends. The fee is $5 per person. The minimum deposit is being waived.

If you know of groups that could be interested, please pass the word.

♫

To arrange a tour contact the DDO by email tours@astro.utoronto.ca or see http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/DDO/public/tourschedule_scouts.html

The 433rd Cubs recently visited the DDO and had a great time.

Thanks, Mang

Making MOST

As part of our Space Exploration Badge we built a full scale model of a satellite! Here are some pictures of our model.

Canada and Canadians have a history of innovation and success in space exploration. From Alouette 1 to the Canadarm and Canadarm2 used aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. By 2006, Canada had over 33 payloads in orbit. One of these is a tiny observatory called Microvariability & Oscillations of STars (MOST) that is making a big splash in the field of astronomy.

Most is a micro-satellite, about the size of a large suitcase, that was launched by Canada on an Russian rocket in 2003. Launched on a modest (for space exploration) budget, MOST has been called the Humble Space Telescope in reference to its much larger and more expensive predecessor the Hubble.

MOST orbits the earth from pole to pole in perpetual darkness and can keep its cameras focused on stars for almost two months! Because it can pick up small variations in light from the stars it observes, MOST can be used to study planets orbiting other stars and variations in the star's atmosphere (a bit like studying earthquakes). MOST hopes to answer questions about how the Sun may evolve and even how stars contributed to the formation of solar systems.

Expected to operate for about one year, it's still going. In fact, the science team has opened up to the public to propose observing targets through the My Own Space Telescope project!

MOST is unusual for a space telescope in that it uses an unusual lens design. The Fabry microlens array spreads light from target stars over a large number of pixels to achieve high resolutions.

The 433rd has contributed too. Mitchell's dad is part of the operations team, Mang has proposed a couple of targets. Here's a chart showing the parts of the sky MOST can see and some of the official candidate and selected targets.

The chart shows the sky mapped out against the coordinates used by astronomers. The x-axis is the Right Ascension (in hours) and the y-axis is the Declination (in degrees).

There are three zones that are important to MOST. The CVZ (Continuous Viewing Zone) is where MOST can keep itself focused for up to about 60 days at a time! There are two SS (Sun Sensor) zones. Targets within the SS zones represent the extreme range of the telescope and can be focused on for shorter time periods. If you are really interested in a star in the SS zones, one trick is to pick a second star and switch between the two. These are called "switch targets".

These targets are all taken from the official web site for MOST. One thing that may be of interest is that some of the candidate stars were chosen before the operational parameters of MOST were well understood. If you look, you will see candidates well outside the SS zones.

This particular chart shows two stars that I proposed for observation. One is a switch target. Can you figure out what they are? And why I picked them?

Another surprise for me was that I could actually get Excel to produce a chart like this!

More information on MOST can be found at

• Wikipedia
• The Canadian Space Agency, and Most @ the CSA.
  

Article on Binocular Astronomy

A while back I wrote that your first telescope should be a good pair of binoculars. This morning I came across an article on things to look at with those binoculars using Sirius as a reference star. You can find the article at Universe Today. From Sirius you should be able to find two or three Messier Objects even in the city.

Cubs working on their astronomy badge should recall that Sirius is easy to find. It's the very bright star, trailing Orion slightly to the south and east. From Etobicoke we can see down to magnitude 4 on a good night.

And if you want to look at more, there's always the wonders in Orion!

Help Save the David Dunlap Observatory!

The David Dunlop Observtory (DDO) in Richmond Hill is being sold off by the University of Toronto. The claim is that the DDO is no longer needed and that light pollution has destroyed it's usefulness. The DDO is the largest telescope in Canada and has been making useful observations outside of the visible light spectrum for years. The DDO site is also used by the RASC and other amateur astronomers.
The site is of historical and environmental interest and several groups are actively trying to block the sale of the site to developers.
The photos right were taken during the 433rd's last visited the DDO in 2004.

Here are some links to some of the groups:

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www.observatorypark.ca

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Toronto Chapter

The Royal Astronomical Society Toronto Centre, has spearheaded a working group, to save the DDO. See their website for details, updates and at further developments.

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Save the DDO FaceBook Group-Join the Facebook Group!

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Save the DDO!
Mathew Calamanici is a concerned Richmond Hill resident who is making a concerted Effort to save the observatory.

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Richmond Hill Naturalists - Save the Observatory

A group of naturalists who are concerned about the environmental impact of destroying the Carolinian Forest that surrounds the Observatory.

Helen Sawyer Hogg, a Professional astronomer at the DDO for many years, was a founding member of this group.

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The North York Astronomical Association

The organizers of the annual Mount Forest, Ontario, STARFEST astronomy convention are supporting the RASC effort.

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Queens Park Rally. (Toronto)

Where: Queens Park Grounds, Toronto
When: January 16^th 2008, 12 noon.

An organized rally is being held at Queens Park (University Avenue in Toronto) in a further effort to bring more attention to the efforts of many concerned citizens.

This rally has been organized by Tom Karmo , in conjunction with the Richmond Hill Naturalists and other concerned citizens.

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Thanks to Ray Khan for these links.

Your first telescope ...

I frequently hear from people wanting to get a telescope as a Christmas or a birthday present for someone who is just getting interested in astronomy. Even if they want one, resist. The best advice of experts is don't start with a telescope.

Update: If you really want to start with a telescope you should read Avoiding the Christmas trash-Telescope Blues.

Most inexpensive telescopes are very poor instruments that will be difficult to use and lead to frustration. Poor quality eye pieces, useless finder scopes, terrible tripod mounts, and advertised high magnifications that are unusable. Terrence Dickinson, a respected astronomy author coined the term "Trash Scope Blues" for these disappointments.

Different types of telescopes suit different purposes, requiring the buyer to consider trade-offs. Leave these decisions until you're more certain of what you need.

So what to get your budding astronomer? A good pair of binoculars, and a beginners' book on astronomy!

• Dickinson's, "Night Watch" (4th ed.) is a good beginners book that I recommend. It contains lots of useful information, including discussions of telescopes for when you're ready to move up.
  
• Binoculars for astronomy need to be able to gather a lot of light, so 8x50's are better than 8x25's (the 8 is the magnification and the 50 is the diameter of the lens in mm). You may want to read Tips for Store-Testing Binoculars. A rule of thumb is that the second number should be 6 to 7 times the first, hence 7x50's or 8x50's are good for astronomy. Of course, the larger the optics the heavier the instrument. While I have an excellent pair of 11x70's, they are simply too big for children unless mounted on a tripod. Also, look for binoculars that can take a standard (camera) tripod adapter.
  

Another good thing, is a Planisphere or star wheel. In a future post about the astronomy badge, I'll include some do-it-yourself templates for a simple one.

And if you really want to investigate telescopes, there are three two specialty stores in the Toronto area: Khan's and Efston Science are located near Yorkdale. Kendrick's is located near Dundas and Keele. no longer selling telescopes but still make good accessories.

Updates:

1. For a great example of where binoculars are better, consider our look at Comet Holmes. Also, I missed opportunities to see two magnificent comets, Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp, in part because I had no telescope at the time and didn't consider binoculars.
2. A useful chart on binocular size can be found here.
3. If you're looking for a simple free starter planisphere, look here.
4. If you are considering a telescope instead of binoculars you may want to read a good article about the different types of telescopes. It covers reflectors, refractors, and compound designs. I'd also suggest talking to serious amateur astronomers about the pros and cons of each. BTW. Binoculars are refractors.

Update and important CAVEAT: If you want to see the rings of Saturn then hand held binoculars will not cut it. You probably need at least 20x magnification and that means a telescope!