#High powered telescope how to

The GMT and the Thirty Meter Telescope are a part of the U.S. The NSF grant positions the telescope to be one of the first in a new generation of large telescopes, approximately three times the size of any ground-based optical telescope built to date. These crucial advancements for the Giant Magellan Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile will allow astronomers to see farther into space with more detail than any other optical telescope before. Also visit /activities/stargazing.The Giant Magellan Telescope, of which the University of Chicago is a founding member, has received a $17.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to accelerate the prototyping and testing of some of the most powerful optical and infrared technologies ever engineered. More information on their lectures, classes and other stargazing sites can be found at aaa.org. 25, from dusk to 30 minutes before the park closes. The Amateur Astronomers Association holds stargazing at The Diller-von Furstenberg Sundeck, on the High Line at W. For a night dedicated to contemplating the vastness of space and its far-away objects, the experience we shared left me feeling more connected than ever before. I smiled too, knowing exactly how she felt. With a smile on her face, she walked away.

Finally, she laughed and said, “Oh, wow.” It made me feel less alone in my limited knowledge of how telescopes work.

#High powered telescope how to

At first, I noticed her struggling to figure out how to use the telescope. While getting ready to leave, I looked over my shoulder and saw Horwitz at work, adjusting the telescope for another woman around my height. Though the strange man ended up being part of a separate performance I passed by later that night, the incident was fitting, considering we were there to view what astronauts see from a different vantage point. Several people near me laughed, and I caught the scene with my camera. With a white lantern fashioned over his face (like an astronaut helmet, it seemed to me), the man made his way toward the telescopes at a snail’s pace. Photo by Nicole Javorsky.Īmidst observing the stargazers, I suddenly noticed a man walking toward us, slowly, and in silence. Meanwhile, I overheard another child asking Halim, “Can I see a planet too?”Ī man dressed to impress, or at least make an impression, walks past the stargazing crowd. The father lifted up his young daughter to the eyepiece of the telescope so she could also get the chance to see what’s beyond our planet Earth. There were many families with young children (true to the path of discovery Horwitz followed, kids seem to be natural stargazers).Īt another telescope set up across from me, a family took turns looking through the eyepiece. Close by, Horwitz discussed the AAA’s various programs with an older group of people. I overheard a young couple remark that they were visiting from New Zealand. The event seemed to bring out all ages and ranges of experience. As the sky darkens, High Line visitors crowd around the telescopes for their turn at spotting the stars and the planets. Several others soon lined up behind me to see the planet, with still more people scattered around to decide which part of the universe they wanted to get a glimpse of first. He showed me how to adjust the focus and, suddenly, I could see Jupiter. After all, it is about 400 miles away,” Horwitz told me. A white speck against a black background was, at first, all I could see. I used this as my excuse for having no idea what to do, when looking through one of the AAA’s telescopes. Unlike Horwitz, I never played with a toy telescope as a kid (though as a native New Yorker, I probably wouldn’t have seen much through a toy telescope anyway). Then, he recalled, “About 20 years ago, I thought I’d try it again.” Carey Horwitz sits behind a telescope and answers the questions of people walking along the High Line. This interest, though, ceased once he entered adulthood. Members do their own observing - but as the lectures and classes show, they often opt to share their love of astronomy with the public.Īn AAA member for the past decade, Horwitz became interested in stargazing when, as a child, the things he was able to see through a small telescope captured his imagination.

Horwitz and Halim are two of over 700 members in this astronomy club that has been active since 1927. Visitors to the High Line gather around the telescopes set up by the Amateur Astronomers Association.