Saw on another post that ificouldhietokolob and Void K. Packer ground mirrors.

I never got a chance to do that. Bought an Edmund 3" Conqueror in the early 70s. Bought a Meade DS-10 in 1990, used it for many years.

Any other telescope builders/users?

My buddy built his own telescope so I didn't need to. We often went out into open fields southwest of Calgary at 3 am to look at the stars. There is nothing like looking at Saturn or the Andromeda galaxy with your own eyes for the first time!

This friend that built the telescope was married to an astrophysicist. She had time on the Hubble telescope to complete her Ph.D. at UVic. You cannot directly control the Hubble. You give the coordinates to those that do control the Hubble and request them to take photos for you on your behalf. She ended up with photos of 100 galaxies and discovered patterns in their respective x,y, and z orientations.

It is always refreshing to be around like-minded people!

I spent a few years in North Dakota, about 150 miles south of Winnipeg. Sat outside for hours during cold winter nights (-30 and colder) in the back yard, saw all of the Messier objects and many other NGC objects. Hated the Northern Lights because they ruined my deep sky viewing. 1994 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impact into Jupiter was a viewing experience my children will never forget.

This thread reminded me of the Hale-Bopp comet discovery. I think it is funny. Especially the part about the telegram.

"Bopp did not own a telescope. He was out with friends near Stanfield, Arizona observing star clusters and galaxies when he chanced across the comet while at the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He realized he might have spotted something new when, like Hale, he checked his star maps to determine if any other deep-sky objects were known to be near M70, and found that there were none. He alerted the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams through a Western Union telegram. Brian G. Marsden, who had run the bureau since 1968, laughed, "Nobody sends telegrams anymore. I mean, by the time that telegram got here, Alan Hale had already e-mailed us three times with updated coordinates."[8]

"The following morning, it was confirmed that this was a new comet, and it was given the designation C/1995 O1. The discovery was announced in International Astronomical Union circular 6187.[6][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp

I'd forgotten about that telegram comment. Thanks for bringing that one back.

Just curious, how did your astronomy interest go over with LDS members? As I got deeper into it, seemed I had much less in common with most in my ward.

I've always had trouble relating to people at church. Therefore, I avoided all scientific discussion. With people who I was friendly with I discussed scouting, firearms, and deep doctrines of the church. I avoided controversy and arguments.

I imagined trying to discuss the topic of entropy with anyone from the church. It would have been like trying to teach a dog physics. I would never waste my time. It seems like all of the intellectual types have fled the church.

As for my parents and siblings, I have tried to dumb things down for them. They understand me. They don't agree, but we agree to disagree most of the time.

My experiences were similar. Many things I wouldn't even try to discuss.

My interest in cosmology and astronomy was also fueled by my desire to use science to prove that mormonism was right. I was taught by my stake leadership that science would eventually prove mormonism and I was very interested in that because I wanted validation, and this is something most TBMs want.

The more I learned about cosmology the more I realized that mormonism was not right. The evidence for the big bang and the age of the earth is overwhelming. I also found the lack of evidence for biblical events also striking. There was no flood. Ever. How many times as mormons did we hear about the great flood and that it was baptism (by total immersion) for the earth? It seems laughable now but when I was in the cult the flood was presented like it was an actual fact.

One day I woke up and realized that the whole church was a lie. Still it was many years before I truly left the cult.

Looking back it was reason and science that drove the initial wedge that cracked me out of our cult and I'm glad for that.

For me, among the sciences, it was the study of physical anthropology that ruined Mormonism once and for all.

As I held a replica skull of the Tuang baby in my hands, I could not get over how the dentition resembled that of my little children. I marveled at it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taung_Child

It still took me an astonishing nine more years for my Mormon life to completely unravel!

Yeah, I took an Environmental Geology class in college, as well as Astronomy. Both of those classes put the final nail in the coffin for the church as far as I was concerned.

mikemitchell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just curious, how did your astronomy interest go
> over with LDS members? As I got deeper into it,
> seemed I had much less in common with most in my
> ward.

I have a very nice image I took of the Andromeda Galaxy printed big (20"x24"), framed, and hanging on my wall at home.

First time my visiting TBM mom saw it, she complimented me on the photo, and asked what it was...

"It's the Andromeda Galaxy, mom. About 2.5 million light years from here. Which means the light my camera collected from it had been traveling for 2.5 million years before it hit my camera."

"Oh, that can't be right," she replied. "The universe is only about 6,000 years old..."

Sigh.

My experiences were similar. Viewing galaxies 60 million light years away from my backyard didn't go too well in conversations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2018 10:24AM by mikemitchell.

Ah, an Edmund Scientific 3" reflector! Got one for my birthday (or I saved up money from my paper route, can't remember) in about 1968; somewhere there's a photo of me with the glass from two welding helmets taped over the end of the tube for a solar eclipse (didn't work well, so I used the old "paper over the eyepiece trick"). Also recall watching a lunar eclipse one night with my Dad and him saying "Look, you can see the moon rotating." I, being a smart-ass kid who followed all things Gemini/Apollo, quickly snapped: "The moon doesn't rotate!"

I finally threw the thing away about 10 years ago because it had been in an outdoor shed deteriorating--bummer; wish I still had the Edmund catalogs from the late '60's--they were filled with all kinds of cool psychedelic stuff and big 6" reflector telescopes, etc. I've been checking ebay lately to see if I can a couple to geek out over.

Ah, to be 12 years old again.....

First time I ever saw Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings was with that Edmund 3".

Edmund catalog beat church magazines hands down.
http://www.philharrington.net/EdmundAstro1968a.pdf

I came across the Project Apollo Archive last week. It's been released for a few years now already, but I had no idea. There are some pretty cool photos if you haven't seen them yet.

You guys/ladies may enjoy these.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/

Wow!!! Considering how long these photographs have been around, one has to admire that in those low tech days they were able to fake the ones supposedly taken in "space" and on the "moon"!!!!

Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen some of those photos before.

Chicken N. Backpacks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I, being a smart-ass kid who followed all things
> Gemini/Apollo, quickly snapped: "The moon doesn't
> rotate!"

Just FYI, CnB, it does...

It's just that it's rotation on its axis almost exactly matches its orbital speed around the earth, so that it presents the same side to us (with a little bit of wobbly variation) all the time. It's "tidal-locked."
It wasn't always that way :)

https://www.space.com/24871-does-the-moon-rotate.html

I would have purchased that old 3" reflector from you! No matter how bad it was...nice story!

Chicken N. Backpacks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, an Edmund Scientific 3" reflector!
>
> I finally threw the thing away about 10 years
> ago because it had been in an outdoor shed
> deteriorating--bummer; wish I still had the Edmund
> catalogs from the late '60's--they were filled
> with all kinds of cool psychedelic stuff and big
> 6" reflector telescopes, etc. I've been checking
> ebay lately to see if I can a couple to geek out
> over.
>
> Ah, to be 12 years old again.....

There's a 1966 Edmunds catalogue currently listed on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1966-EDMUND-SCIENTIFIC-Co-CATALOG-661-w-Letter-and-Brochure-NICE-k1/302636811475?hash=item46768f44d3:g:KFQAAOSwDkVaggmG

I bought a 6" Edmondson reflector in Denver back in 1972, still have it.

It worked great in the winter in western Colorado near Delta, but the cold was too much to real enjoy.

Now I live in Western Washington, too many tall trees around, the only clear sky is straight up. Over the last 30 years the light pollution and the number of cloudy days makes star gazing less than fun.

I should but it on ebay, but if someone is interested, say so and maybe we'll be able to communicate more directly.

If you are thinking about selling it on ebay, you might want to post it at https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/

If I lived closer to you and had the cash, I would want to get it.

Seconded. I buy/sell/trade all sorts of astronomy goodies on cloudynights. And if you put it up there, maybe I might get it!

:)

As a p/s, my only astronomy class I ever took was taught by Dr. Clyde Tombaugh.

He brought to class for all of us to admire the glass plates he used when he discovered Pluto. Too bad Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore.

I love astronomy. Would love to have pursued it as a career but I lack math skills so I write about it.

Below are two of the best videos that I watched this week. Albeit over three separate intervals. It's like drinking from a water hose at times.

Materiality of a Vacuum:

https://youtu.be/BBXDrNn6pUg?t=10

New ideas about dark matter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdaQWj5ykso