Last night at Mt Pinos was less than expected with cloudy conditions coming and going and not predicted by the clear sky clock. Nevertheless, I could see 13.4 magnitude planetaries in Draco, and some pleasing views of the usual summer time objects and a rather detailed view of the Helix nebula. All of which involve what attracted most of us into astronomy: the fascination of discovery.
Now, it was a typical summer time night on a Saturday up at Pinos and yes that means the usual suspects were up there: the lookie lu's in force in battalion strength. Additionally, a commanding presence of imagers were up on the back of the parking lot doing whatever it is they do. Generally, I've come to learn that means bitching about their equipment not working or more likely, not knowing how to use it. And when the equipment does work and they actually know how to use it, a good number of them retreat into their RVs and booze it up while leaving their equipment set on "auto". In particular, one individual couldn't figure out how to use his stuff, and turned on a pair of head-mounted LED red lights and were about as bright as the typical 4x4 driving in at mid-night. That in turn attracted the rest of the imagers, buzzing around him and offering advice on computer programs, PHd guiding, and the like. It went on for hours. I'm trying to observe DSO's and these guys are firing up their laptops and their lights with complete disregard for their fellow amateurs.
Frankly, that brings up a bigger issue: the reason behind imaging. I mean why do it in the first place? Granted, I see some very nice images posted on the AM. But you can also look at the astronomy picture of the day or view images remotely without the expense of buying your own equipment. And some amateurs do image remotely while at home. But viewing an object in real time and observing many of them instead of imaging the same object again and again--M13 and M31 were big favorites among the imagers last night--begging the question of how many times do you need to image the exact same object? It seems like imagers fixate on one object per evening, sit in front of a laptop staring at it, then bitch about it, go back in their RVs to eat and drink, come back out, if they remember to do so, and then bitch some more until they finally leave. What's the point of it?
Now, it was a typical summer time night on a Saturday up at Pinos and yes that means the usual suspects were up there: the lookie lu's in force in battalion strength. Additionally, a commanding presence of imagers were up on the back of the parking lot doing whatever it is they do. Generally, I've come to learn that means bitching about their equipment not working or more likely, not knowing how to use it. And when the equipment does work and they actually know how to use it, a good number of them retreat into their RVs and booze it up while leaving their equipment set on "auto". In particular, one individual couldn't figure out how to use his stuff, and turned on a pair of head-mounted LED red lights and were about as bright as the typical 4x4 driving in at mid-night. That in turn attracted the rest of the imagers, buzzing around him and offering advice on computer programs, PHd guiding, and the like. It went on for hours. I'm trying to observe DSO's and these guys are firing up their laptops and their lights with complete disregard for their fellow amateurs.
Frankly, that brings up a bigger issue: the reason behind imaging. I mean why do it in the first place? Granted, I see some very nice images posted on the AM. But you can also look at the astronomy picture of the day or view images remotely without the expense of buying your own equipment. And some amateurs do image remotely while at home. But viewing an object in real time and observing many of them instead of imaging the same object again and again--M13 and M31 were big favorites among the imagers last night--begging the question of how many times do you need to image the exact same object? It seems like imagers fixate on one object per evening, sit in front of a laptop staring at it, then bitch about it, go back in their RVs to eat and drink, come back out, if they remember to do so, and then bitch some more until they finally leave. What's the point of it?
