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Star Parties: Astronomy Buffs Mix Science and Socializing
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15169 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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4 / 1989 |
1,470 Words |
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Kay Marie Porterfield
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Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the
angels.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Evangeline, 1847
Star parties! Not gatherings with hors d'oeuvres, Paul Newman, and small talk. Rather, clear nights, telescopes, and amateur astronomers are what celestial clubs are all about. Whether composed of a handful of Denverites meeting near the local missile site or hundreds of Texans who flock to Fort Davis, Texas, for an annual weeklong rally, stargazing associations are shining with popularity.
Why astronomy? "We human beings have always seemed to be naturally curious about the funny lights over our heads in the night sky ever since we were kids," says Leif Robinson, editor of Sky & Telescope. Today, an estimated four hundred thousand amateur astronomers in the United States and Canada echo his sentiments.
Long before the advent of telescopes, the Mayans of Central America regarded the planet Venus as a god, and built their temples to mark its movements. Monolithic stone alignments erected in Britain and northern Europe two thousand years before the birth of Christ traced the rising and setting of the sun and moon and the paths of the bright stars. The ancient Athenians oriented the Parthenon with the rising Pleiades, a galactic star cluster named after seven mythological nymphs.
With technological advances, stargazing popularity has waxed. "The space age has generated a great deal of interest in the hobby," says Robinson. "Unmanned probes have piqued interest because of the fascinating pictures they've sent back. Then there's the sheer technical challenge of building optical equipment from scratch. You've got to be an engineer and an optical designer to do that," he explains.
Picking up signals from space with solid-state radio receivers and coupling computers to telescopes (astrocomputing) are relatively new astronomical wrinkles that are attracting techno-buffs in record numbers. "We've seen steady growth in astronomy over the past twenty-five years," says Robinson. "We're going to see a big jump in interest over the next decade because of astrocomputing. The hardest thing for a beginner to do is to find something in the sky. It takes time, dedication, and study. The new CATs (computer-assisted telescope) point themselves." For a price, approximately twenty-five hundred dollars, the night skies can become an open book to the least scientifically inclined beginner.
Astronomy clubs currently offer would-be celestial buffs the same help for free. "A lot of people are just quiet dabblers who look at the stars from their backyard or who buy a cheap telescope and then give up in frustration when they can't find anything in the sky," says Dave Trott, who has a background in physics and became "hooked" on the stars in 1980 when he bought a small telescope and saw Saturn's rings. "It's a great hobby for families. Connecting with a local group is a good way to get started even before you invest in a telescope." The mix at a typical star party of an astronomy club meeting ranges from starry-eyed youngsters to dedicated observers bent on discovering a new star.
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