Serious Astronomy!

Ever since I can remember I have loved astronomy. Some of my earliest remembrances are of the warm breeze at dusk just as the first stars come out. Somewhere around the age of 7, I received my first telescope. In the ways of youth I kept hammering on my parents until they broke down and bought me the scope just to shut me up! A Tasco 10-50 power, table top mounted, 50-mm refractor. It was a beauty! I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time, but I sure felt like I was doing important work.

A year or so later aperture fever hit. Again I resorted to the tactic of verbal parental abuse and won out with a 3" reflector. It was great! I even saw the "Canals" of Mars with this baby. Keeping an observing log is what the books say all great astronomers do, so my notebook was filled with drawings and records of my celestial conquests. I was so sure that my work was good I sent my drawings off to Lowell Observatory just like my hero Clyde Tombaugh had done. Somewhere in the back of my mind was a thought that maybe they would want to hire me and I too could discover a new planet! Needless to say they were not quite ready to hire a 12-year-old!

It was during this time that I saw an article about the AAVSO in an astronomy book somewhere. The writer claimed that even small telescopes (my 3" broke and by now I had gotten a 60-mm Sears refractor) could make scientific observations of variable stars. So with trembling pen I wrote to the AAVSO and waited for a reply. Like Leslie Peltier in his book Starlight Nights, I raced to the mailbox each day hoping that my beginner charts had come. When they arrived I was at the height of scientific ecstasy! Now I would join the race for knowledge, follow in the footsteps of Galileo and stand on the shoulders of Giants! A week later I had still not found one variable. In fact, I couldn't even read the charts. Where is this SS Cygni? All I see is a circle, where is the star marked SS Cygni? At that time I knew no one else that was even faintly interested in Astronomy much less variable stars. After two weeks of effort I gave up in despair.

During graduate school I lived in the San Francisco area. Since our school was on the bay the seeing was usually not too good. Plus Theological Graduate school is extraordinarily hard! There wasn't much time or money to pursue my hobby. Even after graduation this was a condition that dogged my astronomical dreams for a long time. Each year I thought, "next year I will set aside some money and buy me a big telescope." Alas, next year never came. At least until 1992. That year I got a deal and built an 8" Dobsonian for $80, optics and all! Now I wanted to do some real work with my "Bargain Bucket."

In the fall of 1992 I saw an ad in Sky & Telescope, wanting ground-based observers for a Hubble Space Telescope project. Mr. Harold Schenk, an amateur observer, was looking for dust haloes around asteroids. Other amateurs were asked to join the ground-based effort to observe the asteroids at the same time the HST did. Here was my big chance to make a real contribution. The first observation period was rained out. I decided for the second period that I would use the Astronomical Society of Kansas City's 30" telescope. I found out that the secondary mirror had fallen down and broken the main mirror! It was out of commission. Undaunted, I wrote to Dr. Robert Millis at Lowell Observatory requesting time on one of the telescopes there. Permission was obtained to use the 31". A month before the scheduled run, the astronomer assigned to help me left the observatory and everyone else was too busy. Now what to do? I finally contacted Lake Afton Observatory in Wichita, KS. Sure, they would be glad to give me time. The day of the run was a beautiful sunny day. As evening approached clouds began to appear. By evening it was raining! I sat in my motel room and listened to the rain come down while I watched "Backdraft" on TV. It rained for a week straight! So much for my contribution to science.

Several years later I found myself flat on my back, bitten by the flu bug, and eventually contracting whooping cough. I had already been sick for one month and now I was headed into my second month of convalescence. My befogged brain could do little but read and ponder. I really wanted to do something in science that would be more than make-work.

At the Mid-America Regional Astrophysics Conference in Kansas City, many of the papers were on variable stars. In fact, several smaller universities spent much time and energy obtaining observations for light curves. These light curves were used to build models of the interiors of the stars. As I pondered, lo and behold, here was a chance to do some real astronomy! Variable star work, that's the ticket! To make the pot sweeter, I could even do this type of astronomy with my present telescope!

With trembling finger (literally trembling from a high fever and cough!) I wrote to the AAVSO once again. I waited and waited and waited. Finally, a reply came. Janet Mattei apologized profusely for the delay but indicated she had to track down my address since I had neglected to write it in the letter anywhere. It must have been my illness, since I am sure that I would never normally forget something so basic as an address. A beginner's chart came several days later. With child-like eagerness I rushed outside on the first clear night I could stagger out of bed without coughing uncontrollably and began to search. After only one half-hour I found Z Ursae Majoris. This was exciting! After all these years, I finally made a real contributions to science!

Since those high and heady days I have retired from one profession and started another. We moved to an area of dark skies, but bad seeing and cold temperatures. I am lucky to make one real observation a year but I always have good intentions. In the spring of 2003 I got the privilege of presenting a paper at the 2003 spring meeting of the AAVSO. Looking out upon the faces of all those distinguished people I felt honored to be in the same room as them much less present a paper. In recent days I have been reorganizing my charts and getting ready to observe 2 little studied stars, WW UMA and CV UMA. Which goes to show that you can contribute to the AAVSO even if you are not an avid observer. My days are now spent in teaching Physical Science and Physics to native American students and coaching football. Though little time is left for astronomy I find that the study of the sky increasingly provides a warm shelter of thought in a hectic cold world. To soar above the chaotic plane of existence and expand your mind out to the edges of the universe is enjoyable indeed. There are many projects on the horizon. A roll-off observatory in my backyard, a real imaging system, applying for time on the Spitzer Space Telescope and more variable star work. I am learning how to image process and use a digital camera. Overall, there is not enough hours in the day to enjoy family, astronomy and job!

I would suspect that there are many in the hobby of astronomy that long for a chance to really do something important. They thirst after the excitement of discovery and knowledge. Joining a club, they may be disappointed eventually with observing awards and picnics. They desire to be enshrined with the likes of Edwin Hubble, Clyde Tombaugh, William Herschel, and Leslie Peltier. In the high- tech, gadget-filled world in which we live, isn't it nice to know that with simple equipment and a commitment you still can make a name for yourself in astronomy!

Paul V. Temple
Science Teacher
Chinle High School
Chinle, AZ