My Love for Astronomy
My Love for Astronomy
By Mitch Luman, Director of Science Experiences
I can’t remember a time when I was not interested in astronomy. I have always been captivated by the stars, which is a good thing if you make your living working in a planetarium! I am constantly surprised, however, to discover how few of my colleagues in the planetarium business do not use a telescope on a regular basis. Sure they know how to look through a telescope, how to share the highlights of the night sky and they have a tremendous amount of knowledge of stars and planets, but as far as spending quality time with a telescope for sheer pleasure, I seem to be an outlier.
This is not to say that I am alone in my hobby. All around the world, thousands of amateur astronomers ply the night skies every clear night. The vast majority of these enthusiasts practice this endeavor not for research or knowledge, but just for fun. I spend my days in a planetarium, but I occupy more than a few nights a year as a practicing amateur astronomer. My catchphrase is: I have a telescope, and I know how to use it.
I received my first telescope—a two inch refractor—when I was in 5th grade, as a present from my grandfather. It was a small affair, typical of what you could purchase then and today. The Moon and the planets were frequent targets.
I received my next telescope as a Christmas present several years later while I was in 7th grade, a 3 inch refractor. It probably set my parents back more than they were comfortable paying, but served me well through college and beyond. With this new telescope I was able to explore fainter objects, such as star clusters, bright galaxies and bright nebula from my backyard.
College introduced me to the world of professional astronomy. Although I was not an astronomy major, membership in my university’s astronomy club allowed access to a college observatory and an introduction to even larger telescopes, opening up a world overhead that I had previously only known about from books.
A planetarium job after college took me to the prairies of Nebraska, where I enjoyed privileges at yet another college’s observatory. More opportunities to see with my own eyes more objects and a growing list of celestial wonders.
When I moved to Evansville in 1985 I hitched my wagon to the Evansville Astronomical Society. There I met similar-minded people, who shared the thrill of using telescopes as much as I did. For several years I was a prolific user of the telescopes at their Wahnsielder Observatory in Lynnville, Indiana.
In the late 1990’s an astronomical society member invited myself and few local astronomy enthusiasts to his farm in rural Illinois to observe with our personal telescopes. I brought along the 3-inch refractor that I received as a Christmas present two decades earlier. One of the people who showed up was the owner of a telescope the likes of which I had never seen before. It was huge. Telescopes are akin to buckets that capture light. The larger the lens or mirror, the more light they capture and convey to they eye. Through this scaling, a larger number of objects previously too faint may be seen. This monster was a 20-inch telescope that not only dwarfed my own instrument, but outperformed it in every practical way. After taking a look at three or four objects through my lesser 3-inch, I spent the remainder of the night climbing up a tall ladder for long looks through the formidable 20-inch.
Years later I eventually acquired that telescope when its owner moved up to a different instrument. The ensuing years using this instrument have provided me with some of the most memorable and exhilarating astronomical experiences I have ever had. Using this telescope I have seen quasars, distant galaxies whose light has traveled billions of light years before it reached my eye. I have viewed ghostly clusters of galaxies that seem frozen as a dance in some far-away corner of the universe. I have discerned colors in nebula that though smaller scopes merely appear a dusky grey. My telescope has afforded me with the best view of Mars I’ve ever had, the faint planet Pluto, the moons of Neptune and a planetary nebula and a Wolf-Rayet star cloaked in gas that was a dead ringer for a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in space.
These telescopes have all had a role in my journey in amateur astronomy. It has been a journey that has thrilled, enlightened, informed and assisted me in becoming a more appreciative citizen of the universe in which we all live.
“To discover about how you can learn more about the fascinating hobby of astronomy, see this article written by Isabella Caprario entitled Astronomy: Tips for Exploring the Wonders of Outer Space from Home.
https://porch.com/advice/astronomy-tips-exploring-wonders-outer-space-home