The above photograph is a 45 sec (negative) exposure of the M13 globular cluster taken by an amateur-class TIFR telescope. If this photo piques your interest, read on…
TIFR has a 14-inch optical telescope with a CCD camera in the Mumbai campus. Since it is located on the sea shore and near the famous South Mumbai skyline, viewing conditions can be quite poor. But amateur astronomy is not about getting Hubble quality images! Positioning your telescope at different parts of the sky; observing the moon, Jupiter and bright stars itself can be a very interesting experience!
The TIFR rooftop setup is quite advanced because it can teach you all the fundamentals of modern astronomical observation. The telescope can be automatically positioned to any part of the sky (it has a motor that will take you to the correct right ascension/declination). The telescope will also track a star as it sets over the night sky (necessary if you want to take a long exposure photograph with a CCD camera of a faint object). You can also analyze the spectrum of the light sources by attaching a spectrometer (we have an AvaSpec which is itself a very interesting instrument. See for instance here)
My exposure (pun intended) to the TIFR telescope (A Celestron CGE series 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain mated with SBIG ST-402 CCD Camera and an AvaSpec spectrometer) was by way of a short group project we did to calculate the apparent magnitude of the faintest stars visible in the M13 globular cluster. Using IRAF/DS9 software I got introduced to the extremely interesting world of astronomical photo-reduction. The joy of examining a star cluster on the DS9 software and then doing some photometry on them using IRAF is quite indescribable!
You can install IRAF/DS9 on Windows! (You don’t need Linux. You can install in Cygwin). Download the Cygwin version of DS9 and IRAF. (Tip: Please install DS9 explicitly from the link provided. The DS9 bundled with IRAF seems to hang). You need to have x-windows working on your Cygwin. Even if you don’t have a telescope of your own, you can analyze lots of images available for free download over the internet (from the Hubble Telescope for instance).
Using a decent amateur telescope with a CCD or working with IRAF (fits) images available on the Internet, anyone can pursue a serious hobby in astronomy. Come, revel in the wonders of distant stars and galaxies.
Abstract: What happens when scientists and engineers suddenly have access to an x-ray source that is one million times more intense than anything they have used before? The answer is A REVOLUTION, much like that which resulted from the introduction of lasers and high speed computers. Herman Winick will discuss how such intense beams of short wavelength light, or x-rays, are produced by high energy electron accelerators at SLAC and 50 other laboratories around the world, and the profound impact that they are having on many areas of basic and applied research. Particular examples include the use of these x-rays to unravel the mysteries of protein function (leading to new drugs to combat disease) and understand the nature of toxic contaminants in soil and water (leading to remediation strategies).
Book Recommendation: Seeing in the Dark
Seeing in the Dark : How Amateur Astronomers Are Discovering the Wonders of the Universe (Paperback) by Timothy Ferris
Amazon Link. This book is available in India.
Sidharth Kshatriya’s Rating: 5/5
My interest in amateur astronomy has been reawakened after a short and intensely fascinating group project I did for my experimental methods course at TIFR (blog entry). I was reminded of a lovely book by Timothy Ferris (see title above) I read a while back.
Seeing in the Dark is about the worldwide community of amateur astronomers that enjoy the universe for the universe’s sake and not necessarily to win prizes or publish papers. These amateur astronomers build their own telescopes, hire viewing time on open access professional telescopes and travel the world to visit good observational sites. You can almost feel the sense of awe and wonder as Timothy Ferris describes the planets, stars and galaxies observed by these amateur astronomers. The human stories behind these individuals situated way back on planet Earth are also engaging and inspiring.
Seeing in the Dark represents a passionate argument for the pursuit of amateur science. Too often, we think that science is too advanced for a hobbyist to make a contribution. Thats true except for a few areas like astronomy where amateurs continue to make strong contributions. Other areas of science have become so specialized that you need expensive labs and years of research to observe something novel and new. But the Timothy Ferris’ book still taught me something important applicable to all of science and not just astronomy: You don’t necessarily need to do science you can also enjoy science. If you have a bachelors/masters degree in Physics/Engineering you can pick any field of research that interests you. If you are sufficiently motivated, a few months of self teaching will allow you to follow the latest developments in any field. Similarly, its not necessary to do experiments at the cutting edge of science, you can do many sophisticated physics experiments at home (e.g. diffraction) with a little interest and investment!
Seeing in the Dark was a great book. Its easy reading but still taught me a lot. I would recommend it whole heartedly. Enjoy science for science’s sake: revel in the mysteries, wonders and surprises of your universe. That was my most important takeaway from the book.