BYTE MARKS
Search skies through Net telescopes

By Burt Lum

Gazing into the night sky has been a preoccupation of mine ever since small-kid time. To witness the sparkles of light, each representing a celestial object in the darkness, evokes a sense of wonder we've probably all shared.

This wonder sometimes stays with us throughout our lives, determining our path in college, imploring us to become astronomers. For others, like myself, it remains a wishful fascination to ponder.

Then there are people like Arnie Rosner (www.arnierosner.com) who share their passion for astronomy with the world.

These amateur astronomers hold day jobs like the rest of us, but in the evening their hobby becomes their serious pastime. For Arnie, it's a project called Rent-a-Scope.

Here's how it works. Arnie provides support for users over the Internet at www.sonoranskiesobservatory.com. He is located in California. Over the Internet, a user can control either a Takahashi Mewton 300 or Takahashi FCT-150. These telescopes are in a small town just outside Tucson, Ariz. These are not inexpensive telescopes, so there is price for viewing time.

With my user name and password, I logged in without any knowledge of how the system works. Arnie is available for assistance in real time through his Yahoo Messenger account. After you get the hang of it, the system is extremely easy to run.

Next, you select an object for viewing. For starters, Arnie pointed me to M1, the Crab Nebula; M33, the Spiral Galaxy; M31, the Andromeda Galaxy; M42, the Orion Nebula and many more. Once entered, you can set exposure times and other settings.

The system then determines the coordinates and adjusts the telescopes to acquire the image.

The many elements involved in this system make this quite amazing. There's an observatory in Arizona that operates under a retractable roof. There's software that remotely controls the telescopes. There are satellite hookups that enable Internet access to the telescope locations.

If only this were available when I was in school. ;-)

Burt Lum is a click away at burt@brouhaha.net.