An Average Night Under The Stars

What does an average viewing session look like for me? What equipment do I use? How do I sketch? Where do I go, what are my skies like?

From March 2017 to March 2020, every single clear Friday Night was spent volunteering at the Cline Observatory. In Fall 2017 and Fall 2018, that also included Mondays and Fridays, during the two occasions I took the Observational Astronomy class (a training course for being an Observatory host; I like to call it a "formal education in amateur astronomy," as silly as that sounds.) Whenever it wasn't clear, I'd generally be in a sour mood all week, and during long wet spells where the Observatory would be closed for months at a time just due to bad luck, I would be in a really dark place mentally.

The Observatory of course didn't just represent an opportunity to get out under the stars, but it was also basically my only social life. The friendships I've made with my fellow observatory volunteers are very special. And there's often lots of guests to talk to who want to know about the various space objects we find with the telescopes, some of whom are regulars and many of whom are completely new.

My Apertura DT6 at home, the night I got it.

With the global pandemic of CoViD-19 in March 2020, the Cline Observatory closed. For the sake of my mental health, I declared that I would still go out once in the weekend with my telescope any clear chance I get. At that time I had three telescopes: the Bushnell Voyager 100x4.5, the deplorable Celestron AstroMaster 114eq, and the Celestron FirstScope 76. I also had a PowerSeeker accessory kit which I'd got the same year my parents got me the AstroMaster. 

After a month or so, I got a serious upgrade--an Apertura DT6, a 6" f/8 dobsonian. I decided I would keep an astronomy log (which I'd done in the Observational Astronomy classes before), and that changed everything. Since then I've observed almost every chance I could get, and in most of those cases I've kept a log of what I've seen. Since then I've got a few updates to my equipment. Here's how an average night goes.

See, I can't actually observe from my home. I used to, before I was going to the Cline Observatory, and all I had was the AstroMaster. I'd go to my back deck and observe there. In the years since then some of the trees and decorative bushes have grown even larger, and there's not quite enough room on the back deck to put a Dob. So I put the scopes in my SUV and drive.

So every single time I want to observe, I have to drive out to a nearby field (which I've nicknamed the "star field."). This takes maybe a 2 minute drive, and since I keep my telescopes in my car, this isn't much of an inconvenience.

First time with the Omni XLT150. I usually have the Dob.

My "star field" is approximately Bortle-5 or Bortle-6 on the 1-9 scale of how bad light pollution is. My vision seems to be worse than others for picking out dim things so it might be closer to Bortle-5. I can just barely see the milky way under the best conditions as a ghostly bifurcated band between Sagittarius and Cygnus. There are no streetlights, but I am occasionally interrupted by cars driving along the nearby road, unfortunately. In the southern, western and northern sky, about 10-15 degrees is blocked out by trees (though there's a fairly bright light dome in the west and northeast directions anyway). The eastern sky gets down to 5 degrees.

I take out a TV-Table (a collapsible wooden table), and a folding chair and set them up roughly where I want to observe. I take out my accessory box and eyepiece box. Then I take a black plastic bag and set it down flat where I want to set up.

A page from my log, inverted colors.

Then the Dobsonian base comes out off of the wayback passenger seat, and the telescope tube comes out of the trunk and is fit on the base. Springs go on. Get the seat where I want it. I carry a tiny red LED keychain (it's usually in my pocket at all times, even as I write this) which I hold with my teeth when sketching. I should probably get a headlamp. Never touch my red LED keychain, for your own sake.

I usually have some specific idea of what I want to look at, whether it's just the planets that are up at the time, or new Deep Sky Objects, or old friends which are just now coming up. I record them in my log. Look through the eyepiece for a good long time to appreciate it, only then do I start glancing between the eyepiece and the paper to sketch. Nebulae tend to be easy to sketch because they're mostly just blobs, while getting open star clusters right takes a good long time and I've never quite been happy with an open cluster sketch. 

 

Depending upon my mood, I'll either challenge myself and look for new objects, or find old favorites.

Let's take a look at what's in my accessory boxes.

•  PowerSeeker accessory kit box, which is not being used with its original eyepieces.
  
• 20mm Kellner Eyepiece. This is only used with the FirstScope, as an upgrade to the 20mm Huygens it comes with. I keep the Huygens in the Firstscope primarily as a dust cap.
  
• 6mm Kellner Eyepiece. Useful for planetary viewing in any scope, but it was bought for the FirstScope.
  
• 10mm Kellner Eyepiece. From the original kit.
  
• 15mm Goldline Eyepiece. The kit originally came with a 15mm Kellner, but I sold it when I sold the AstroMaster, as I had lost the 20mm Kellner that the AstroMaster was supposed to have.
  
• #80A Light Blue Filter. This is often very useful for observing Jupiter & Saturn. Highly recommend a blue filter. Came with the accessory kit.
  
• #25 Dark Red Filter. Came with the kit. Very rarely useful. I've used it for daytime lunar viewing and it makes a slight contrast difference.
  
• Dark Green Moon Filter. I almost never use this one.
  
• Miscellaneous blue box.
• Slow Motion Knobs for the CG-4 mount used with the Omni XLT150.
•  A pencil in case I forgot to bring one for writing and drawing in my log.
• Two screwdrivers for collimating or putting the slow motions on the CG-4 mount.
  
• Hex key for collimating the Bushnell Voyager.
• 5mm eyepiece (Kellner? Plossl? Unsure of design.) from Bushnell Voyager, in an individual case.
• I had put the SR4mm in the blue box in its individual case but now I use that eyepiece as a dust cap for the Omni XLT-150.
• GSO Apochromatic 2.5x Barlow (in box).
• Collimating Eyepiece (in box).
• Galileoscope galilean eyepiece adapter for Barlow lens.
  

I have taken out the Omni XLT 150 on three occasions, so I don't consider it to be an example of an average night. I don't use it because of its dusty primary mirror, which I need to clean.

The 6" Dob is a joy to use most of the time. Its finderscope has problems (it dews up easily and I lost the dust cap for it, and it's not a RACI finder so it's difficult on my neck and back.) and like any dob it struggles with objects in Dobson's Hole. I usually tour one area of the sky at a time. This is not limited by the difficulty of moving the telescope, it's limited by moving my chair and table and all the accessories on the table. So for example in July, I'll stay around Sagittarius, Jupiter, and Saturn, then I'll move the table and address the Summer Triangle or rising Moon, and when I'm done there I'll move the chair and table so I can look at stuff in the Northern sky.

Jupiter & Saturn, or the Moon, are usually the first objects to look at, since they're bright and easy even when the sky is very light. Though sometimes I'll skip the sunset hour and go out later, but this means my night vision isn't adapting smoothly into the darkness, and my telescope hasn't had as much time as it needs to acclimate (although storing it in the car which remains close to ambient temperature really helps with that). After that, I'll go for some deep sky objects.

A recent page from my log.

I often take out my FirstScope and the Galileoscope, though often when that's the case it is instead of taking out the Dob. The FirstScope is easy to use, though when I've got it set up on the table and I'm sitting in a chair, I still have to move my chair around to point at different objects--but it's better than moving the chair and table. If I want to observe without fooling around with chairs and tables at all, I'll take out just the Galileoscope and its photo tripod, or put the FirstScope on the hood of my car. Both can be used in a standing position. On one occasion my Mom had taken out the table and chair so she could move some boxes in the SUV and forgot to tell me, so I went out to observe without table & chair. Instead of going back for it (which I might have done, but it wasn't a terrific night anyway), I just pulled out the Galileoscope and tripod and observed the Moon & Jupiter for a while before going home.

It can be very peaceful at night, but the fearful part of my brain is occasionally alerted by Strange Noises which occur. Sometimes my peaceful mood is spoiled enough that I begin to wrap up my observing and pack up.

My Dob & Galileoscope at the park.

On a couple occasions (and hopefully more occasions in the future), I go to a park near my grandma's house, a 30 minute drive from my home, and one Bortle Level darker. The difference is stunning. So many more stars can be seen in the eye and the telescope. I rediscovered the constellation Delphinus, which I'd forgotten existed right below the Summer Triangle, when I visited the park. It's not a true dark park (the one time years ago I visited a dark park, the sky was cloudy!) but it is darker than my observing site.

Observing in the morning is always peaceful. There's no better way to start your day off right than to wake up at 3:50 or earlier, go out to observe for a few hours until sunrise, and then pack up your dewy instruments and drive home to take a nap. It gives you a glipse at some phenomena which you might not otherwise get to see.

• The sky is getting lighter, which does constrain your viewing time.
• birds begin chirping. :)
• The Moon, if seen, will be waning, taking on the wrong shape! Never ceases to disturb me slightly to see the Moon looking "backwards."
• Gives you sneak peek of objects which won't be out at night for another few months.
• Gives you a chance to see solar system objects when you otherwise might not be able to. (Venus when it is the Morning Star, or Mars long before it reaches opposition.)

The first time I saw Jupiter & Saturn with my Dob was April 14th, at around 5:30 AM. The seeing was crisp, the sky clear of clouds and very transparent, the Moon was near third quarter and next to Jupiter & Saturn. Despite Jupiter & Saturn being fairly low in the sky, I stared at them for a long time and picked out some lovely detail. By the time I packed up, I wrote in my log that it was the first day during the pandemic that I felt like I started my day off right. (One must not forget to log subjective thoughts in your observing book as well as objective ones, if you wish to create a meaningful memento)

Observing astronomical objects with a telescope alone is actually a very calming experience. I love sidewalk astronomy, star parties, and public observatories. I love to share my observing, which is one reason I like to keep logs. But I really never appreciated until recently just how pleasant and calming observing alone can be.

Though I do miss interacting with the public, and I do hope we'll be able to go back to the observatory.