A change in observing habit

There is a transformation that has occured in how I have approached the hobby. For the last 15-16 years, I have been doing visual astronomy with small scopes (8" or less). The challenge of finding, patiently observing, recording and sketching galaxies and other DSO has been rewarding in more ways than one. It has taught me patience, technical proficiency (e.g. star hopping) and an enjoyment in all things very subtle, as most of these objects rightfully are. Well...fast forward to these recent months: I have finally got a decent digital camera, guide scope system, great guding eq. mount with GOTO, etc. I have been bitten by the bug of astrophotography. I feel things have changed: I find myself entranced by the pretty images I am capturing and processing and astrophography has sort of taken a life, passion and momemtum of its own. While this is an exciting learning time, I realize that gradually I am observing less real time, and consequently am becoming more careless to the subtle beauty the night sky offers.
Why waste time with dim fuzzies when you can CCD these things in their full color splendor? Indeed, I have met many people at dark sites that never even bother to enjoy their scopes visually. Instead, they spend their whole time with their dizzying array of technical equipment, eyes glued to the computer monitor or a guidescope star. One night, someone said to me, "I never even look through the eyepice anymore, I just CCD everything". It's kind of sad to hear that in a way. Kind of like being a hunter, collecting animal trophies to hang in the den.

So my question is as amateur astronomers, how has your enjoyment of the night sky changed? Are you one of these that itch to rush out with all your astrophotography equip? How do you strike a balance between visual enjoyment and astrophotography?

Ivan

Ivan, ever since around 1970 all I’ve done is what you stated you used to do. That is, nearly exclusively visual. I’ve done a little wide field photography with a barn door drive, but that’s about it. All of my scopes are homemade, no drives, just star charts and star hopping. I’ve always wanted to do photography, but I’ve never been willing to spring the cash I would need for a good astrophoto setup. Maybe what your saying is that I should thank myself for not going that way? Maybe so. For instance, I found that observing and sketching Mars last summer and fall with a new homemade scope was extremely rewarding.

OTOH, those that go whole hog into imaging probably do it as much because they love playing with technology as they do astronomy. It’s as if astronomy gives them the “excuse” (not that one is needed) to play around with the hardware and software that they need to come up with their images. I for one am really glad that they do – what one now sees coming out of the amateur ranks is often nothing short of stunning!

So wherever you land, like a strictly visual dinosaur like me, or those who go the technical route, or those that are somewhere in between, don’t feel guilty. Just enjoy it. Diversity is good, no?

I belong to the dinosaurs. One resaon is the fact that I have so few available hours under the stars available. Weather conditions are bad, continuous daylight form May to August etc. Therefore I feel that I have to use the observing hours for the delight of direct observing.
I enjoy, however, other people's work. Top left on my screen now is a photo of Jupiter taken with a TMB 8". I will never have the economy to get such a scope, but I have access of an enormous amount of material to enjoy for free.

Dear imagers, I have a suggestion. After playing with the technology for some time, why not add some science to it. I know about a few persons who make very accurate double star measurements with a telescope/webcam combo. I'm sure imaging can also be used by variable star observers and why not try imaging stellar spectra? Meanwhile I will take my telescope under the dark sky using my eye as a detector. Just for fun and personal satisfaction.

Interesting question, Ivan.

I get a kick out of seeing some of the beautiful images posted by astro-imagers. Some of them take your breath away. I have been itching to try my hand at astrophotography myself, but I can't afford the outlay for a good imaging setup. It appears to me that producing a quality image would be extremely difficult and painstaking work, than one who was successful at it would be justly proud of his accomplishments. I'm sure that would be part of the attraction for me.

But no image, not even one I created, no matter how spectacular, could possibly compare to seeing M42 for the very first time in a quality telescope under excellent seeing conditions. It's a completely different experience. I love to see great photos of DSO's, but I want to see them with my own eyes.

Aside from that, an image never changes. Visually, images can change significantly (such as the position of Jupiter's moon's, or features on the surface, or using different EP's on the same object) and sweeping through the night sky produces vastly different results. I'll take an hour or two sweeping through Sag, or Scutum, or Cygnus on a summer night from a really dark site over two hours of imaging any day. Just my $.02.

Clear nights ... dark sites,
Darren