Thank You very much running on genny right now Zeta through down a hammer on us last night.I want to show you the cabinet I cleared out to which I put my 1/48 and 1/72 into the new smaller cabinet.
Astronomy. I just packed away my Celestron 130 EQ 5-1/4 inch Newtonian reflector with equatorial mount. I have been using a National Geographic 70 mm (2-3/4 inch) refractor that I bought used and abused. After three years it was held together with rubber bands. So, I bought an Explore Scientific 102-mm (4-inch) refractor for my backyard go-to scope. The weather turned clear and cold and I have been out to view Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon. Before the rains came, when I first got it, I checked out Venus, which can be seen as late as 7:15 AM now. Tonight, I will be up way past my bedtime to view the Pleiades. For myself, though, observing is just like shopping for coins: fun to do, basic to the hobby, but not my passion. My interests are in the history of astronomy and the development of theory, how we know what we know. I just had an article published by the American Astronomical Society History of Astronomy Division. https://aas.org/posts/news/2020/10/month-astronomical-history-october-2020 The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (Wikipedia here) that arrays stellar evolution took a centuries after Galileo to work out. It was assumed that all of the stars were more-or-less randomly distributed and that near and far stars were alike blue, yellow, and red. The assumption was that brighter stars were closer. Two stars that looked close together just appeared that way from our perspective and were not in orbit. In some ways, it is like numismatics in that it was commonly assumed that coins were invented to facilitate commerce because that's how we "always" used them. Also, astronomy is like numismatics in that there is plenty of room for hobbyists to collaborate with professionals. “Photography of the heavens is one area of astronomy in which amateurs have made, and continue to make, significant contributions.” (Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos by Alan Hirshfeld, page 273) I don't do photography, myself. I have taken some snapshots with a cellphone attached to the telescope. Mostly, I like the math and science.
A couple summers ago I decided I would spend the warmer days trying to find the Andromeda galaxy through my binoculars. I figured this would take me all summer, not being even an amateur astronomer, but I looked forward to the hunt. I bought a small star chart, grabbed my compass and binoculars, and headed out on night number one just to get used to getting myself situated. Well, wouldn't you know it, five minutes into my search across the sky, I found the Andromeda galaxy. I'll never forget that feeling of looking at it through binoculars, seeing it "in person" for the first time...it took my breath away to be seeing something as it was 2-1/2 million years ago, and imagining the odds of something being in that galaxy somewhere, looking back.
I am very familiar with this. A business friend of mine, we shared an office early in both of our careers, was Lithuanian of Jewish heritage. He would not discuss it much, but his family was from right over the German border, also. He never related how his family got out.
I had most of those Matchboxes growing up. We had a Dime Store in our town, and I would take 50 cents, spend 39 cents on a matchbox, and the remainder on penny candy and 2cents in tax. Collected a bunch, and played with so much that they lost a lot of their paint. LOL, then they were blown up with firecrackers or burned up with kerosene or gasoline attacks. Yeah, my buddies and I were also avid pyromaniacs.
Pretty much the same for me. Made up my mind to search for it no matter what and there it was. I have seen the Beehive Cluster and Ptolemy's Nebula the same way, as naked eye objects first, then verified with binoculars, then in the telescope. But they were there all along if I had only made the effort with an open mind.
I realize now that I was lucky when I first got interested in Astronomy. It was the mid-1970s, and we'd just moved to a suburban area outside Lynchburg, Va. It wasn't really a dark-sky site, but we didn't have streetlights, and we didn't have strip malls and car lots flooded with lights 24/7. Spotting the Milky Way was easy; spotting M31 (the Andromeda galaxy) is about as easy, if you know where to look. I could see down to sixth magnitude with just my eyes (and eyeglasses). On one memorable night, I convinced myself I could make out thirteen Pleiades. Where I live today, there's a streetlight on the corner, a large mall across the highway, and a bunch of car lots and shopping centers. On a very clear night, I can make out fourth-magnitude stars near the zenith. Naked-eye work just isn't very rewarding, astrophotography even less so.
Plenty of amateur astronomers here, including myself. Is there a relationship between these hobbies? I’m thinking in the direction of: “people who liked coins liked astronomy as well”. Or is it pure coincidence?
Also, I'm a co-admin on a new astronomy forum. https://theskysearchers.com, launched in 2019 and now becoming pretty popular. I invite anyone to join if they wish...
Think that the two hobbies appeal to people who work well alone, as much as we enjoy others. Both reward observation, of course, but also detailed organization and planning. Both hobbies bring amateurs and professionals together, given some friction. I think there is less friction in astronomy. (When the AAS was being formed one of the board members wanted to exclude amateurs, but that was not a popular proposal.). Here in numismatics, we collectors are not always appreciated by museum folks. I am there under my own name. I also goto Cloudy Nights, but I prefer The Sky Searchers because it is a smaller community, more personable, I think.
...In my town, we mostly only got as far as the firecrackers. Except, empty 'em out, and you've got some Capital. ...And mostly, we just did little plastic army men.
My friends and I used to paint rubber cement on the sidewalk and light it on fire. Also on Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. Did the same thing with our Star Trek figures, after we made them fall of cliffs and stuff like that. The one trueism about the original trek shows is that the guy in the red shirt in each landing party always died.
Yeah! We had a cliff / ravine with a stream running through it. Gasoline, kerosene, anything liquid flammable, hairspray flamethrowers, nothing survived. LOL. Amazing what a couple gallons of gas running down a stream would light up after a few minutes...