With astrophotography and astronomy. That’s a good thing, I guess?
With the snow returning yet again, I spent most of the weekend shoveling and playing with Hattie in it. Not to be outdone, Ms. Mabel, our rescue had to join in the fun. Yet for all the fun in the snow, the skies were cloudy, and the views of the sky were limited, leaving me feeling like I was not doing enough to push my new found astronomy hobby.
While watching one of my favorite YT channels, AstroBackyard, Saturday night once I got the television to myself, I felt stirred yet again to get back on this new hobby. The episode featured a friendly competition between two YouTubers who had only a “cheap” astrophotography kit to work with. And both of them chose this object (results were amazing, as always):
That's the Witch's Head Nebula, and after watching them talk about a lot of stuff I still have no idea about in respect to photography or even astronomy, I thought the images they captured and processed were cool. I know I'm not going to get there with my Droid and my tripod, so why not get some books to pretend to progress? So I went to bed that night and dreamed about heading out to the local book store the next day to begin to prepare for the "next step."
A bit of back story; I do try to support the local bookstores, but sadly, most have been closed since COVID. And to be honest, I haven't been to Barnes and Noble since last year January (I think?). So I suited up and headed there Sunday morning to give them a go. It's not as easy to use as Amazon, and I was certain the selection wasn't going to be as good, but at least I thought I'd be helping out a "local" business and supporting local folks who work the store.
And away I went in. I had no idea the store had been completely rearranged, and somehow conducive to social distancing, but it worked. There must have been 50 people in the store; lots of bored Wisconsin folks trying to find some fun amdist the cold, bad weather. Long story short, I grabbed some books, got some Starbucks coffee to go, and away I fled home for fear of getting into an extended conversation with a coworker I saw lurking there (masks/winter hats apparently come in handy for these incongnito store visits):
So what did I get? Well here they are:
The first one moving right to left is the The Backyard Astronomer's Guide. It's definitely text book in style and prose, but it's something I can thumb through as I progress. Not a page turner for me, personally, but a good reference book.
The next book, Deep Sky Wonder, is a pretty cool book. It features some ideas on timing and placement in the sky of those so called Messier Objects. It's pretty technical, but the pictures are wonderful:
More ideas to use in the future as I plan nights outside.
My favorite so far has to be the Turn Left at Orion, which is a wonderfully simple guide to the night sky.
I also noticed the binocular symbols, which got me thinking...
Finally, the last one is an easy introduction to some objects to start with via a simple telescope. I bought the book because the author is a YouTube content creator who gave up his finance/accounting job to pursue a hobby that he loves. Hmmm...I think I know that feeling as the age 45 comes barreling towards me this year, so I felt I had to throw him support.
Needless to say, I have some reading to do, but already the wheels are turning in the head for some ideas to improve the hobby. I must say, just getting to the book store for the first time in roughly a year, albeit a corporate book store, was highly, highly. highly refreshing. The coffee tasted so good on the drive home too....
So, that's where the weekend took me. I'm curious, in respect to the newfound hobby, any pointers for me out there? Am I becoming too obsessed? Am I wasting time with these books? Do you have a different book/books you'd recommend? Also, has anyone used binoculars for amateur astronomy? The idea is actually pretty appealing to me; it's something to research this week, for sure.
Thanks for reading; I promise, better weekend astronomy adventures are on the way!