If I were writing this reflection about 5 or 6 years ago, I presume that the argument for the use of online observatories may have fallen into the “minority” category of support. The primacy of traditional stargazing and visual astronomy would most likely have won out in a vote. Don’t get me wrong, imaging to create beautiful images and data collection for scientific work would have played prominently in support of digital astronomy. Still, even the most active of digital astronomers would have argued that experiencing the night sky naked-eyed should never be forgotten.
Today, I don’t know if that same presumption holds true. Not only has astrophotography become more accessible to the masses, but the rise of Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) has made looking at screens more desirable than eyepieces. Yes, EAA still invites the stargazer to setup under the night sky and with the use of a small tablet realtime images can be shared with whole groups of people at once versus waiting patiently in line for a glimpse through the eyepiece. However, with the rise of remote observing where someone can literally log onto an observatory and do EAA from the comfort of their home, one can argue that we may be losing a connection with the night sky God has gifted us with.
Up until recently, I would have argued strongly with a classic “back in my day” argument of going out and experiencing the night sky. Yes, I enjoy astrophotography, but my embrace of being under the night sky as a spiritual practice of Contemplating Creation has enriched my spiritual life to the point where I have felt less prone to do imaging and more inspired to observe, contemplate and pray.
Recently, however, I have gone through an experience where I still error on the “back in my day” side of the argument, but have seen how remote observing is a true gift. A few days before I was to fly to Arizona to be a part of our Astronomy for Catholics in Ministry and Education (ACME) I slipped on what we call “black ice” (Ice that’s so thin its hard to see) when leaving my house and did serious damage to my left leg. The good news is that the surgery went very well and I am expected to make a full recovery. The bad news is that i will have limited mobility for at least the next few weeks… and we’ve had clear skies… and I’m looking at my astronomy gear with frustration.
Enter stage right, online astronomy observatories. When something like this happens in life we can choose one of two paths – Live with the frustration or figure out a solution. If you can’t tell, I’m figuring out a solution. I’ve decided to enter back into the world of online stargazing. Two of the online observatories I have been recently using are Telescope Live and iTelescope. In the past I have used Slooh and will most likely renew my membership with them too. For now, I feel a desire to try some new platforms. Don’t be surprised if a “Slooh Revisited” post will come in the future.
Telescope Live and iTelescope are two very different platforms for doing online observation. Telescope Live is less of an online observatory and more of a data purchasing website. Astrophotographers will contribute data from all around the world to Telescope Live. The subscribers search and purchase the data they want. For those who participated in ACME this year, the data sets I gave you tutorials on (with the exception of my Dwarf II data) were from Telescope Live.
All the data is pre-calibrated, meaning that much work has been done to address common flaws that astronomy data can have. Still, the data is not always pristine and still contain things like satellite and plane trails in some of the inexpensive data sets. I actually don’t mind seeing these imperfections because they are things I would see in my own data that I capture. There are simple yet at times tedious ways of removing these artifacts like any other data set. For those who don’t want the experience of dealing with the imperfections, the more expensive data sets are more pristine.
To the left is a favorite image for many astrophotographers – Rho Ophiuchi. It is a night sky object that landscape astrophotographers know well. When imaging the Milky Way, Rho Ophiuchi sits near the galactic core of our common home. Though the spectacular colors are not visible with the naked eye, the stars are bright enough to make for easy framing of the Milky Way with even your smart phone.
This was one of the free data sets that Telescope Live offered. The original data was monochrome images captured through Red, Green and Blue filters. I created channels for each collection of data, assigned color values and constructed this image. It’s a great way to practice editing your images!
Below is an image I captured during my sabbatical with my Canon R and a 14mm camera lens. If you look at the “dark fingers” that reach behind the tree, Rho Ophiuchi is hiding right where the branches and fingers intersect.
The great strength of Telescope Live is predictability in the data you receive. Each data set gives a preview of a completely edited data set. The data you receive is unedited or “RAW” data. Therefore, you need to do the work of editing. Still, the preview images show you what is possible in the data you’re purchasing. Its up to you to decide how you want to edit the data.
My take on Telescope Live is that it is great if you want to practice editing different types of data. If I didn’t own any astrophotography gear, I could also see this as a good test ground for figuring out what gear you want to buy. I would encouarge you to look for the images that move you the most and would want to edit, find what type of telescope (lens) and camera setup were used for these images and see if that is the type of gear you should purchase. The downside of the Telescope Live is that there is no realtime observing experience.
Below is a beautiful image of a section of Orion the Hunter just above his belt. This data I purchased from Telescope Live and editing it. The preview image used a different color palette than the one I chose for my edit.
Next week I will give you a review of my experience of iTelescope. It is a very different platform that I find to be a bit more satisfying to use. You’ll find out why next week!
Happy Monday!
