John Dobson, an Inventive Itinerant Guide to Stargazing, Dies at 98

[escher]

John Dobson, an Inventive Itinerant Guide to Stargazing, Dies at 98

 

[Leongsam]

I've tried star gazing. I even bought a $900 telescope many years ago. I lost interest simply because looking at the sky through a telescope is deadly boring.

My interest in astronomy and astro physics was rekindled with the advent of the internet and the NASA computer generated images. Although the footage is nothing more than graphic animation, it shows in far greater deal what is going on in the heavens.

 

[escher]

I've tried star gazing. I even bought a $900 telescope many years ago. I lost interest simply because looking at the sky through a telescope is deadly boring.

My interest in astronomy and astro physics was rekindled with the advent of the internet and the NASA computer generated images. Although the footage is nothing more than graphic animation, it shows in far greater deal what is going on in the heavens.

The tripod was fucking heavy and took about 25 minutes to set up when I got to any place. Dont even think of light tripods as those are worse then useless. The 3 inch refractor shook and vibrated away making the stars dance every time I slew that telescope. And even when steady, the rotation of Earth brought the mountains of the moon out of sight and the stars out of view very soon. And fucking stars just points of lights.

Masuktov was a lot better. A lot easier to set up and to use.

Which was way after the days I ground that reflector and did one on Dobsonian design. Which is why I retain a deep regard for John Dobson, a hippy and a brilliant man to the end of his days.

Lots of those fabulous deep sky photos came from light capture from lenses taking hours to get enough light to get images of nebulas and stuff.
Eye on lenses see dim points of light at best. You be very disappointed if you think you can see what you seen on photos.

I think I did say the best equipment for the night sky is human eyeball Mark 1 .

Like I said earlier

After monkeying about with reflector and then with 3" refractor and then Maksutov, I grown to accept for laid back person like me, my best equipment remains a Mk 1 eyeball, even if eyeball needed much work or lenses in lieu. I just could not trust the Lasik. If glasses bad, can always change glasses.

Of course, much work in search of good enough skies. But since I like going to wild areas for leisure, not too much problem for me.

A good Nikon 7x35 , which is also light and good for birds come in handy as well.

For fabulous stunning shots of deep space, I go to the Internet and forage there instead of relying on puny 6" like before.

 

[pkh23]

oh man

 

[escher]

John Dobson: Grandfather of Modern Amateur Astronomy

Another tribute to Dobson