Local Astronomers Have Plenty to Look Up To

As Wayne Johnson sees it, one of Orange County’s most precious natural resources is dwindling away, year by year, and nobody is lifting a finger to stop it.

The loss he bemoans is dark skies, the kind of blackness-with-stars that many suburbanites these days see only in Steven Spielberg movies. Drive in some night from the mountains or the desert and you’ll see the L.A. basin blanketed in a coffee-colored glow, the result of countless street lights wastefully illuminating the sky as well as the ground.

The same thing is happening here.

A dedicated stargazer, Johnson takes night’s slow demise to heart. But while the going’s still good, he and others are making Orange County a hotbed of amateur astronomy, supporting one of the biggest and most active clubs in the country.

Orange County Astronomers, of which Johnson is president, is holding public events today and Saturday to mark National Astronomy Week and to introduce the curious to the hobby. Today at the Tessmann Planetarium at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, club members will offer telescope solar viewings to the public all day, and a planetarium open house will begin at 7 p.m.

“We’re trying to get the public familiarized with what astronomers do,” Johnson says. Indeed, the events are part of a series of outreach efforts by the club which, in 1990, reopened the Tessmann Planetarium to the public (shows are offered each Sunday at 2 p.m.). Club members often visit schools to discuss astronomy with students, and plans are underway for the club to open a public observatory in conjunction with the Discovery Museum in Santa Ana.

The club has 650 members and, while some are serious amateurs, most are

beginners, Johnson says. In any case, non-members are welcome at regular club activities, which include monthly talks and “star parties” in Silverado Canyon and at the club’s 20-acre observatory site in the desert near the town of Anza. The parties “enable you to see astronomy in action,” Johnson says. “It gives you an idea of the equipment people have, and what there is to look at.”

The hobby of stargazing tends to grow fastest during such well-publicized celestial events as eclipses or comets. When Halley’s comet neared the sun during its 76-year round-trip in 1986, membership in Orange County Astronomers surged from 200 to 500. But there’s no need to wait for a headline-making event to get a taste of the pastime.

Although it can become an all-consuming avocation, getting into astronomy is easy enough, and it is one science where amateurs continue to make significant contributions: The biggest supernova in decades, which reached its peak last month, was discovered by an amateur astronomer in Spain.

Heading out of town, away from city lights and smog, can make it easier to see fainter objects in the sky, including such “deep-sky objects” as nebulae (clouds of interstellar gas), galaxies and star clusters. But “you can see a lot from your back yard too,” says Joe Klotchman of Scope City, a telescope shop in Costa Mesa. “You don’t have to travel 100 miles. That’s a myth, that you can’t see anything from the city.”

Several of the objects most popular with first-time observers can be seen from suburban back yards, particularly on moonless nights. With a relatively simple telescope, one can find Jupiter with four of its biggest moons; Saturn with its famous rings (now appearing edgewise from Earth); some of the brightest deep-sky objects, such as the Orion nebula, and the brightest stars, which make up some of the most familiar constellations.

The moon is an obvious object for beginning star-gazers to explore. Contrary to what many assume, the full moon is not the best time to look. The best viewing is during the first and last quarter, when shadows help define craters and other features.

Actually, a first-timer needn’t lay out money for a telescope right away. “I think the basic equipment is just a desire to learn the stars,” Johnson says. Planetarium shows are one way to get an introduction to the night sky and its most prominent features. In addition to the Tessmann in Santa Ana, there are planetariums in Los Angeles (at the Griffith Observatory) and in San Diego (at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre and Science Center).

Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa recently renovated its planetarium and started giving its first shows in 10 years. A program titled “Cosmic Catastrophes” repeats there Friday night. Community colleges often offer adult courses in introductory astronomy that can provide solid grounding in the basics.

Because of Earth’s rotation on its axis and its revolution around the sun, the sky is in constant motion; the skies of winter will differ significantly from the skies of summer. An inexpensive star chart, or revolving “planesphere,” can help pinpoint the position of the stars and other objects on a specific day and time.

Computer databases that serve as “desktop planetariums” have become increasingly popular and serve much the same purpose. After a few keystrokes, the computer screen will display a representation of the sky for any day, time and place--even thousands of years into the past or future (stars change relative position over centuries, although the movement is almost imperceptible over a human lifetime).

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Numerous books geared to beginners are available in most general interest bookstores as well as telescope shops (Scope City is one; Star Quest Enterprises in Orange is another). There are two general circulation magazines for sky-watching buffs, Astronomy and Sky & Telescope.

A note on viewing: The eyes take about 20 minutes to adapt completely to the dark. Refrain from going inside or turning on outside lights while stargazing, and if you’re going to look at the moon on a given evening, look at it last. Use a red-filtered flashlight if light is needed to read star charts or for other reasons.

As for optics, Johnson recommends that beginners try looking with a pair of binoculars first (with a tripod, if possible), or going out with someone who owns a scope. Meteor showers can be enjoyed without any aid: Just a cot and a sleeping bag in the back yard will do the trick.

The cost of a scope ranges from about $150 to as much as $20,000. Most of the telescopes Klotchman sells are less than $2,500. The approach to buying a scope varies, he says: “Some people will do it on the spur of the moment; some people will wait 10 years.”

There are three major types of scopes for amateurs: Basically, refracting telescopes use lenses to collect light; reflecting scopes use a mirror, and Schmidt-Cassegrains use a combination. The most common beginner’s scope is a 60-millimeter refracting telescope, which Klotchman says is strong enough to explore the moon’s craters, Jupiter and its four brightest moons, the rings of Saturn and brighter deep-sky objects.

Spending more money on a telescope generally buys higher light-gathering capabilities, fancier accessories and a better mount. An equatorial mount, found on mid-range scopes, enables the addition of a motorized drive for tracking stars across the sky, allowing for the exposure time needed for astral photography (one of the more popular branches of the astronomy hobby).

The computer age has brought several innovations to amateur astronomy, including automated scopes controlled by computer key pads or even by a PC inside the home. Electronic imaging (CCD), which requires a shorter exposure time than conventional photography (a few minutes, compared to 20 or more), also is gaining popularity among serious amateurs.

Despite the new gizmos, the essential lure of astronomy--just gazing at the heavens and wondering what it all means--remains unchanged. Johnson, 35, got hooked when he was just 5, in the years after Sputnik, when interest boomed in space and space travel.

“My dad used to sit out on the front porch watching satellites,” he recalls. “I just carried the hobby a little further.”

Star Trekking No expertise, and not even any fancy equipment, is required to catch the cornucopia of celestial treats in Southern California’s May sky. Views of several planets and constellations can be had right from home. Here are some tips, and a look at what the sky has to offer.

* The Big Dipper / Ursa Major

This is actually part of a larger constellation, Ursa Major (the great bear). This constellation changes almost hourly, because of its proximity to the North Star. Look to the north-northwest throughout the evening.

* Lyra

The “little Harp” constellation contains the fourth-brightest star in the sky, Vega. Look to the northeast about 1 a.m. Lyra will climb higher as the month progresses.

* Bootes

This kite-shaped constellation contains Arcturus, an orange-colored star only 37 light-years away.

* Virgo

Spica is the brightest star in this constellation. Look southwest about 1 a.m. throughout the month.

* Constellations

Each season has specific constellations. The above map shows the sky over Orange County for May 18, at 1 a.m. in spring, four star patterns are easily seen in Southern California, although, again, optimal viewing calls for gazing away from city lights.

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Planets Jupiter

Called the “amateur astronomers planet” because it is the easiest planet on which to see detail through binoculars or a small telescope.

Identification: Yellowish-white, it’s the brightest object in the sky after the moon.

Best View: High in the south between 9 p.m. and midnight. Begins to fade in June.

* Saturn

A small telescope shows that the planet’s rings have turned nearly edgewise so they appear flat. This phenomenon occurs every 11 years.

Identification: It’s a tan star, half as bright as Jupiter.

Best view: In the southeast around 4 a.m.: rises about 12 a.m. this month

Facts: The second-largest planet in the solar system, it is 74,898 miles in diameter.

Shortest distance from Earth: 762.7 million miles.

Greatest distance from Earth: 1.03 billion miles.

* Venus

Wake up early (or stay up late) to catch this planet, most prominent before dawn.

Identification: White, it looks like a thin crescent.

Best view: In the east Between 4 and 6 a.m. on May 18.

Facts: Venus is known as the Earth’s twin because it is similar in size, 7,520 miles in diameter.

Shortest distance from Earth: 25.7 million miles

Greatest distance from Earth: 160 million miles.

Tips for Amateur Gazers

* Jupiter and its moons are well placed in May.

* Avoid “light pollution.” Try stargazing at least 10 miles from city lights: fainter stars require almost total darkness.

* The best binoculars are 10 x 50 power. If you are purchasing a small telescope, select one that offers 50-power-per-inch-of telescope.

* Avoid telescopes with flimsy eyepieces that cause tunnel vision.

Source: Orange County Astronomers: Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times