[pasmembers] Re: Night Sky Training Event - Your input is requested
- From: insanas@xxxxxxx
- To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2013 22:15:41 -0500 (EST)
We have so many cancelled star parties because of rain, clouds, wind, etc.. I
hate to set up a new star party just for this topic. I would be happy to take
one hour of a regular public star party to work with new pas members who want
to learn the night sky. I would show them star charts, planispheres, messier
handouts, telrad charts, setting cirlces, constellations charts, sky and
telescope planet charts, etc... Once the newbies see how an object is found,
they can try to find the next object and I would help them if they get lost.
Anyway, spending one hour at a public star party saves setting up a whole
separate star party. Take care, Sam
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Steinberg <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: pasmembers <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Jan 9, 2013 5:43 pm
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Night Sky Training Event - Your input is requested
Tim, your point is well taken - you can only learn it ultimately by
doing it. Yet I think there is some validity to the idea. Though it
comes naturally to some of us, others have some difficulty making
overall sense of the sky even with a planisphere, and may not even know
where to start.
Eventually, those with an interest will have to do exactly what you say,
but we can help with some basic explanations, like how to use the
planisphere, the idea of star-hopping or things like the precession of
the stars and the celestial equatorial/polar concept. That along with
some hands-on demos might get people kick-started to do their own
learning.
JM2C
Eric
-----Original Message-----
From: pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tim Jones
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 3:03 PM
To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Night Sky Training Event - Your input is
requested
While I appreciate the intent behind this, the only way to learn the
night sky is to get out under it and look up. A session here or there
really is not going to help.
Imagine one of your music students that you only see 2-3 times a year
because their schedule doesn't allow them to practice the instrument
more often. Just how quickly do you think they would learn to master
the instrument? Learning the night sky is very much like learning to
play an instrument. While a bit of guidance will help keep the student
on the proper track, it only practicing regularly that results in the
student learning to play the instrument.
My recommendation for learning the sky - get a Planisphere (either an
app or a real one) and spend evenings looking at the sky and learning
the lay of the land (so to speak). You don't even need a telescope for
that.
Tim
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