Hello, fellow novice astronomers, night photographers, and friends!
On one of my first nights out with my new (and first!) telescope a few short months ago, an Orion StarBlast 4.5, a neighbor walked by as I was gazing lovingly at the Moon. I looked up and quipped, "Some people get a midlife crisis; me, I get a hobby." She thought about that a moment and answered, "Sewing is a hobby. The COSMOS... is...something bigger."
Bigger is right! My new "hobby" encompasses the entire universe! How did I ever miss it? Why did I never really look up before? I guess the point is, I'm looking up now. I spent months researching what scope to buy, and opted for one I could actually carry in and out of the apartment without breaking something, on myself or the scope. The Starblast is just about right, though when my partner, Gina, first looked through it at tiny Saturn, she remarked, "You're gonna need a bigger scope." That will come, in time, but for now, I'm positively giddy watching every phase of the Moon up close and personal, and WOW, seeing 4 of Jupiter's Moons, tiny points of light poised like a mobile in perfect symmetry around bright Jupiter. I gasped aloud the first time I saw that.
The other half of this glorious new pastime of mine is night photography. I hesitate to call it "astrophotgraphy," because that implies fancy equipment and deep-space nebulae and such. My version is just sticking my Olympus point-and-shoot digital camera up to the eyepiece of my telescope and shooting some pretty amazing still shots and video--I mean, they look like NASA pics of my youth! I'm also beginning to shoot "star trails" with my old 35mm Pentax K1000, when I'm lucky enough to be in a very dark location. And I've been using my 135mm telephoto and very slow film to experiment with shots of the Moon, as well as landscape lit by moonlight.
If any or all of these topics interest you, please stay tuned! I've got lots of recent photos to share, and videos, and would love to exchange info on anything from how to find that gosh-darned Comet Hartley 2 to what length of telephoto lens gets the best Moon shots.
I'm no scientist and will likely never hold forth about ascension and declination. No, I'm in it for the poetry of it, the sheer beauty and magnificence of the night sky. I hope you'll join me!
