30 December 2015

Looking and Observing


When crowd gather around binoculars and see the Moon for the first time through binoculars, their reaction is that, the moon looks the same even without the aid of binoculars. Ask them to spend some time at the binoculars and slowly they will start enjoying the view, as they start to Observe the details on the moon surface. This is true even with low power telescopes.

This is the difference between looking and observing which I am sure most people would have experienced in their initial stages.

Even when it comes to other celestial wonders, the situation is the same spend very little time at eyepiece and there is little to be seen but spend more time at eyepiece and details we can see are amazing.

Let me give an example of difference between looking and observing. Take a look at the image and at first sight it appears the same, little closer look will show couple of differences but as on spending time and studying the details will show lots of differences in the images.


When at eyepiece spend as much time as possible studying the object, for example if it is the moon study the shape of the craters, the shadow patterns at different phases of moon and so on. If it is a galaxy, study the dust lane, the arms and structure.  Cluster offers their own challenges like resolving and types of stars in the cluster. We cannot pick up such fine details if we are in a hurry, more time at eyepiece more details we will pick up.  Change the magnification, use different filters, study the object in different telescopes, you will be amazed on how on objects appears in different magnification, filters and apertures.



I always advice people not to fill the pages with number of objects they saw in a single night, but to fill the pages with the details on what they observed. There is no rush, take time in observing and keep challenging yourselves on how much more details you can see and minimum aperture needed to see the details. 

Why just Look when you can Observe!