Good Heavens

There are folks around Los Angeles who can’t wait until the sun goes down so they can start partying.

Not the people interested in hitting the newest clubs or dining in trendy restaurants. No, these people have front-row seats to what they say is the best show in town--the night sky.

They’re amateur astronomers and, not content to keep this a secret among themselves, they routinely set up their telescopes at locales all over the Los Angeles area with the purpose of turning the public on to the wonders and mysteries that lie beyond our atmosphere. “If the amateurs don’t do this, no one will--certainly not the professionals,” says John Dobson, founder of the international group Sidewalk Astronomers, speaking at a “star party” at Malibu Creek State Park.

Hundreds of eager campers--including many wide-eyed children--line up to take a look through the handmade huge-tubed Dobsonian telescopes. Jupiter and four of its 16 known moons are of particular interest. “They are lined up just like a string of pearls!” one little girl exclaims to her mother. That thrill and excitement are what amateur astronomers love to hear.

“Most people can’t believe we do this for free, but it’s part of our mission,” says Bill Scott, president of the L.A. Chapter of the Sidewalk Astronomers. “Looking through a telescope gives people a different perspective on life; we begin to see ourselves as part of the universe.”

Scott credits Dobson with designing a simple, easy-to-make telescope--the Dobsonian--when he was a monk living in Sacramento in 1956. Dobson’s telescopes are created from simple and inexpensive materials, such as cardboard tubes and discarded wood; they can be put together and broken down in a matter of minutes.

Enthusiastic about enlightening the public about stargazing, Dobson started the Sidewalk Astronomers in San Francisco and, with other amateur astronomers, began setting up handmade telescopes at street corners, national parks and shopping malls, any place, Dobson says, “where dark skies and the public collide.”

No longer a monk, Dobson, 83, teaches classes in conceptual cosmology and telescope making in San Francisco. In his spare time, he travels the world lecturing about the nature of the universe and helping chapters of Sidewalk Astronomers with their telescope making.

Probably the biggest star parties in the L.A. area are the ones held monthly at Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Sidewalk Astronomers and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. Usually scheduled on the Saturday following the new moon, the parties find club members lugging telescopes to the front of the observatory and inviting the public to take a peek at the heavens above. It’s a comfortable, informal gathering that takes many observatory visitors by surprise.

The Brito family from Los Angeles came up to the observatory one Saturday evening and discovered a lawn filled with telescopes of all sizes.

“I had no idea this was here,” says Angela Brito. “I think it’s a great service. Tonight, we learned about things beyond our solar system and to think about what else might be out there.” Her 10-year-old son, Daniel, had his first view of the moon from a telescope. “It was big and holey and had all these craters,” he excitedly reported, adding that he wants to have a telescope at home one day.

Walking from telescope to telescope, visitors will find eager amateur astronomers willing to talk about double star clusters, gaseous clouds, the recent photos from the Hubbell spacecraft and, of course, whether there is life on distant planets.

“The observatory is a fine place to hook the beginners, get them interested in astronomy,” says Astronomical Society member Norm Vargas, who became a club member after stumbling upon the Griffith star party by accident. Vargas, a machinist from San Gabriel, says that even though Griffith is close to the lights of the city, there are still plenty of things to see in the night sky: the moon, planets and the occasional comet. When comet Hale-Bopp soared through the skies in the spring of 1997, one member came up to Griffith Park every day for nearly two months to help direct and answer questions from the more than 83,000 people who witnessed the event.

For many Angelenos, Griffith Observatory is where they will first look through a telescope, according to society member Virginia Ward.

“Some don’t think [what they are seeing is] the real thing,” she says with a laugh. “They think we stuck a slide or image on the lens somehow.”

A hobby like astronomy encompasses many avenues, says Astronomical Society President Tim Thompson, who is on the technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Some people, he says, are content with casual viewing while others are ardent fans who devour scientific facts, figures and findings.

“There is something for everyone,” he says, noting that the amateur astronomers’ group includes doctors, lawyers, teachers, librarians, engineers, set designers, film editors and, well, the list goes on. A growing area of interest for many members, according to Thompson, is astro-photography (photographing heavenly bodies) and Charged Couples Devices imagery, a technique that allows an image to be captured from a telescope to a computer and then shown on a monitor.

Shirley Sunada, a homemaker from Monterey Park, has been hooked on astronomy for years and has a keen interest in astro-photography, which uses a camera and a telescope.

“I did my first photo in front of my house,” she says, proudly describing the shot of the moon rising through the trees. “It was so perfect and beautiful.” Sunada owns four telescopes, including one Dobsonian that she made.

Children as Young as 8 Build Own Telescopes

Many people contact local astronomy clubs because they want to build their own telescopes--both Sidewalk Astronomers and the Astronomical Society offer free classes. Children as young as 8 have made telescopes, but adults too find the experience emotionally satisfying and mentally challenging.

When Rick Kaufman, an architectural assistant from Canoga Park, discovered that the Sidewalk Astronomers during a meeting at the Burbank Media Center Mall offered telescope-making classes, he signed up right away. He says he enjoyed the process of creating something with his own hands and is working on his second telescope. Not only did he end up with something he can call his own, he says, it was cheaper than buying a commercial telescope.

“The thing about the Dobsonian telescopes is that you use whatever materials are available to you,” he says, citing scopes that have been made with house shingles, old leather belts, cardboard and discarded ship’s portholes. The most time-consuming part of the process is grinding and polishing the glass into mirrors.

“It took me two months to get my mirror done,” he says, “but everyone works at his or her own speed.”

Telescope making is just one of the activities offered at the weekly Wednesday gatherings of the Astronomical Society at the Garvey Ranch Observatory in Monterey Park, the club’s headquarters. (The society also holds monthly meetings at Griffith Observatory with speakers covering a variety of topics and interests.) One Wednesday in the small Garvey Ranch Observatory dome, 83-year-old Herman Meyerdierks is discussing the vastness of the universe with other members, while 10-year-old Leah Hotz gives newcomer Jim Colleran, a city electrician, a tour. She shows him the lending library, telescope work areas and the “Clyde-O-Scope,” a telescope with a mirror donated by Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto.

Hotz found out about the organization after a Griffith star party. Both she and her dad quickly became members. Hotz is in the process of grinding her first mirror. She admits she was captivated by outer space after watching the movie “The Right Stuff.” Her goal: “I am going to be a geologist on a mission to Mars,” she announces. “Astronomy is a good hobby for me right now.”

Amateur astronomers, no matter their age, seem to possess both the scientific knowledge and a poetic speculation about worlds that exist beyond our galaxy. Their attitude is a blending of technology and philosophy that both answers questions and, at the same time, provokes more questions about the nature of the universe and the uniqueness of human existence in the great cosmos. The dichotomy seems appropriate to the amateur astronomers, especially to Dobson, who says: “If we don’t understand and worry about the universe around us, then we’ll fail to worry about our own planet. And then, where would we be?”

BE THERE

The next star parties at Griffith Observatory are scheduled for Saturday, March 27, April 24 and May 22, with a special party Tuesday to observe the Jupiter-Venus conjunction. Some telescopes will be set up in the late afternoon for viewing the sun, but most telescopes will arrive just before dusk. Arrive early for a good parking spot. For information, call the Astronomical Society at (213) 673-7355, or view its Web site at https://www.laas.org. The public is also encouraged to drop by the weekly Wednesday evening meetings at Garvey Ranch Observatory located in Garvey Ranch Park in Monterey Park. For more information about the Sidewalk Astronomers, call (818) 841-0548; (323) 960-1729, Ext. 10, or (818) 842-6484; or view its Web site at https://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/6389/.

Saga of the Rocket Boys

* The film “October Sky” tells the story of high school youths in a coal-mining town who were inspired by Sputnik to build a functional rocket. Page 11.