SATURDAY SCOOPS
Scoping out the sky
By Chris Oliver
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Jim Harwood, a retired professor of astronomy, will be on hand at the Amateur Telescope Clinic tomorrow at the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy Open House in Manoa. He will provide advice on investing in a home telescope.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Star party The Hawai'i Astronomical Society will hold a star party April 24, after sundown, at Kahala Community Park and Waikele Community Park. Free. Information: 524-2450. |
"Look into the Western sky tonight and the brightest object visible is Venus. To the left of Venus is the Orion constellation and looking left again is the 'dog star' Sirius," said Harwood. "The planet Jupiter is almost directly overhead. Though all are visible with the naked eye, a home telescope will magnify details such as Jupiter's moons wonderfully."
For those looking to invest in a "home scope" for the deck or lanai, Harwood will be on hand tomorrow with telescopes and tips at an Amateur Telescope Clinic, part of the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy Open House in Manoa.
"I see a lot of advertisements pushing telescopes with way more power (magnification) than is needed for a home telescope," said Harwood. "I also have a friend in Seattle who repairs small telescopes and has lots of horror stories about incompetent or badly packaged equipment. It just seemed like there was a need to have some information about what was important when buying a telescope for home use.
"People often think that buying a telescope with a high magnification means they're going to see more objects or a greater distance, but it is the diameter of the mirror that is important, not the magnification," Harwood said. "A high magnification will blur images, which then bounce around too much whereas a wide mirror will give a much cleaner picture."
Harwood recommends a reflecting telescope with a 3-to-6-inch-diameter mirror (a reflecting telescope has a mirror with one curved surface; a refracting telescope has a lens requiring several precise curved surfaces).
"The larger the diameter of the mirror, the more telescope you get for your money," he said. "For example, the Edmund Scientific Astroscan has a 4¥-inch mirror with 16x magnification. For $200, it's an excellent family telescope."
With this telescope, Harwood says, it's easy to see the moon and stars quite brilliantly.
"The moon is spectacular. Its shadows are sharp, as are the planets. Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons, which change from hour to hour, are also good, and the colors are great. Globular clusters look beautiful ... like pinpoints of jewels; there also are ring nebulae — round doughnut-shaped blue and white objects with the original star visible in the center. Then of course comets and asteroids come around from time to time. ..."
Harwood cautioned that home telescopes will not produce images like those seen using the Hubble telescope, which uses a powerful time-lapse camera.
Another tip: Make sure you have a stable tripod or mount. A spindly tripod makes a telescope hard to align, Harwood added.
Is a computer useful? "For a telescope in the $1,000 range, astronomy software programs enable you to click on the object you want to look at and the telescope will automatically find it, saving a lot of set-up time and fiddling around," Harwood said.
Harwood advised doing some simple research before buying a telescope and, most important, to buy one for the whole family. "It's not just a toy for a child, it's fun for everyone ... parents, grandparents and children."
Get astronomical at open house
Ever wanted to make a comet shoot, launch a rocket or learn about "dark matter"? The University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy Open House takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow at 2680 Woodlawn Drive.
Family events include an amateur telescope clinic; remote observing, using the NASA Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea; sunspot viewing; "Ask an Astronomer" information booth; lab tours and demonstrations; lectures, planetarium shows; "Fun with Physics" experiments; and hands-on activities for all ages.
Admission is free.
Information: www.ifa.hawaii.edu.
Deposit your wildest dreams in creative wish jar
A Wish Jar is a powerful receptacle for all the dreams and wishes in your life, especially those that you think are impossible. There is an unseen power that starts to work when you put your innermost desires on paper. See for yourself, but be prepared — you might get what you wished for.
Wish Jar
- 1 glass jar with a screw-top lid
- glass paints
- screwdriver and hammer
- small pieces of paper in contrasting colors
- markers
Clean the outside of the jar with glass cleaner and paper towels. Decorate the outside to your liking with glass paints. Let dry. Make a slot in the lid by placing the screwdriver on it and hammering across the top to make an opening big enough to fit your papers in. Screw on the lid (decorate it, too, if you like) on the jar.
Think of things that might make your life more fulfilling, luscious or spectacular. They can be big things: "I want a house in the country," or small things: "I want purple shoes." Write down as many as you can think of. Put them in the jar and watch them come true.
Source: This project is excerpted with directions from "Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life," by Keri Smith (Perennial, $14.95).
— Kathy Cano-Murillo, Gannett News Service
Fans of The Rock, we know you're out there. And this weekend you can see your hero on the 30-foot screen at Sunset on the Beach, the Waikiki festival of food booths, entertainment and movies.
"The Rundown," partly filmed in Hawai'i, stars The Rock, left, as a sort of bounty hunter who is assigned to bring back Seann William Scott from the Amazon. The film will hit the screen tomorrow night.
Tonight's movie is "Matchstick Men," starring Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell as con artists.
Sunset on the Beach begins at 4 p.m. each day on Queen's Surf Beach. Admission is free.
The folks on Maui are celebrating the 131st birthday of Lahaina's historic banyan tree with festivities 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today and tomorrow at Banyan Tree Park. Attractions include arts and crafts, displays of native Hawaiian plants, hands-on activities for kids, Hawaiian cultural demonstrations and entertainment. Oh, and birthday cake will be served at 1:30 p.m. each day.
Admission is free.
(808) 667-9175.
What's to love about Kailua? A lot. Find out, if you don't already know, at tomorrow's "I Love Kailua Town Party," 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Kailua Road in front of Macy's and Longs Drugs.
The 12th annual block party includes a plant sale, crafts, entertainment, keiki activities and health screenings.
And for foodies, there's "A Taste of Kailua," in which restaurants such as Baci's Bistro, Kevin's Two Boots, Lucy's Grill & Bar and others offer samples of their menus. www.ILoveKailuaTown.com or 234-0404.
'Swing' by theater early to avoid Olympic triathlon crowds
With tomorrow's U.S. Olympic triathlon bike trials nearby, Diamond Head Theatre is alerting patrons with tickets to a sold-out 4 p.m. show to arrive early, because detours and expected traffic jams may cause delays.
"Swing," DHT's musical, is expected to draw a full house tomorrow. Theater folk noticed a route map in The Advertiser earlier this week, with the race in the theater'ss front yard and parking across the street at Kapi'iolani Community College.
Ticket-holders are advised to use Alohea Avenue to reach the theater's back parking lot. A free valet-parking service also will be in place.
Deena Dray, theater managing director, sees a silver lining. "Think how entertaining intermission will be, watching Olympic-calibre athletes whiz by," she said.
There should be a whole heck of a lot of people looking and wandering and wondering ... no, not at the car show that's taken over the Hawai'i Convention Center (although there'll be zillions of people there, too). We're talking the gigantic 7th annual Islandwide Mother's Day Crafts and Food Expo at the Blaisdell Center. It continues 10 a.m.-9 p.m. today and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow. Admission is $3 general; free for kids 12 and younger.
