My work desk as following with a set of the handbooks, which I still us, but not as much as 20 or so years ago. I actually have two sets of the hardbacks.

The soft-backs are not very durable, especially if used outside, or even with lots of use indoors. Now just my opinion, but every amateur should have a set of Burnham’s in their home library and take them out frequently, and read some of the information. How any mortal being could put together such an amazing amount of work, with so much technical information and self-publish is nothing less than amazing!

Seems that Brian Skiff (astronomer at Lowell) at one time was contemplating a revised version of the handbooks. But, after a careful comprehensive review, “maybe before even getting started” he decided against. (I think I’m correct on this, or at least close.) I can’t remember all of the particulars, but I do remember (why Skiff might have chose not to….and seems the word he used was: Daunting!

For those of us that have been visual observers for at least the past 30 plus years “Burnham’s Celestial Handbooks” were and continue to be invaluable. 

Rather than attempting to write anything about Robert Burnham Jr. there is no need; as so much information can be found in the following links, or other places online.

View from Mars Hill: Robert Burnham and his Celestial Handbook

https://frostydrew.org/publications.dc/show/entry-1112

It was Daniel Mounsey aka “DoctorD” (advanced longtime amateur astronomer, writer, and telescope extraordinaire) that inspired this post: 

I don’t think anyone has used the Handbooks more for both indoor and backyard use than Daniel. It was about eight or ten years ago when he sent me a photo of his “soft-cover” set.  They were so well-used that he fabricated steel rings to hold the pages and entire books together!

So, here are the photos that I saw, so many years ago. This is the way all astronomy reference books should look! Roger

The following quotes were taken from Daniel’s Cloudy Nights and personal emails.

“The observer who sits in quiet contemplation of what they can see at the eyepiece will be in direct contact with cosmic things…” Robert Burnham Jr.

“The astrophotographer who sits at a computer screen will be in direct contact with figuring out how to make things work….” DoctorD

Now some of my thoughts…using the handbooks: Roger

I have used the handbooks on many nights outside for reference, with my telescope. One night about 30 years ago, I remember so well using the photos from the handbooks to identify faint galaxies, NGC 147 and NGC 185. This was just one of the many times the handbooks assisted me in my observations.

Many consider the handbooks to be outdated…but not me.

Roger Ivester

Early 50’s: Photo credit Tommy Greene

We visited the coffee shop earlier today (Thursday, September 25th 2025)

Debbie and I thought it would be good (a year or so ago) to document a little history concerning the building, and some information about W.J. Cash from wikipedia: So Read on...

Excerpts and photo as following from Wikipedia: The article is very long, so I tried to take out as much as possible, but leaving what I thought was the most important.

Wilbur Joseph “Jack” Cash (May 2, 1900 – July 1, 1941) was an American journalist known for writing The Mind of the South

Early life and education

Cash, known as “Jack” throughout his life, was born as “Joseph Wilbur Cash” – he later reversed the order of his given names, and normally used only the initials – and grew up in the mill village of Gaffney, South Carolina. He had three brothers and a sister, of whom he was the eldest. He was educated at the local public school until he was 12, when his family moved to Boiling Springs, North Carolina, 14 miles away across the state border – his mother’s home town – so that his father could become a partner with Cash’s maternal grandfather in a general store there.

…..In 1918 and 1919, at his father’s wish, Cash attended Wofford College, a Methodist school, but left because he objected to the school’s narrow provincialism. He then enrolled in Valparaiso University, a Lutheran college in Valparaiso, Indiana, dropping out around Christmas 1919. In 1920, again at his father’s urging, he entered the Baptist school Wake Forest College, despite it being what he considered to be a “preacher college.”^[2]

In the summer, he worked at the hosiery mill at which his father was then the superintendent. Cash graduated in 1922 with an A.B., and then attended law school there for a year, before deciding not to pursue a legal career.^[2] Cash later declared that he left law school because it “required too much mendacity.”

…..Cash taught English at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, and at a high school in North Carolina, before experiencing a nervous collapse. Throughout his life, Cash suffered from manic depression or affective disorder, which manifested itself in breakdowns, periods of depression, fear of sexual impotency, and physical ailments such as not being able to swallow or choking when he spoke. He also suffered from a hyperthyroid condition, occasional alcoholism and excessive smoking. Cash usually referred to his condition as “neurasthenia“.^[7]

From 1926 to 1928, Cash held several newspaper jobs: a year in Chicago writing for the now-defunct Chicago Evening Post; several months with The Charlotte News during which he wrote a wistful philosophical column titled “The Moving Row”; and a four-month stint during the fall of 1928 as the chief editor of a small semi-weekly newspaper, the Cleveland (County) Press, in Shelby, North Carolina.

…..Afterwards, Cash moved back into his parents’ house in Boiling Springs – where he lived with his extended family, including his two brothers and their pregnant wives. He contributed to H. L. Mencken‘s The American Mercury magazine, and received encouragement from Mencken. From 1929 to 1935, Cash wrote eight articles about various aspects of the South,^[a] including one in October 1929 called “The Mind of the South”, which would become the basis for the later book.^[b]

During the period of primary writing on The Mind of the South (1929 to 1937), Cash continued to live with his parents in Boiling Springs.^[9] When his contributions to The American Mercury ended after Lawrence Spivak took over ownership of the magazine, Cash supported himself with freelance weekly book reviews to The Charlotte News from 1935 to 1939, for each of which he received a payment of $3, equivalent to about $60-$65 in 2023.

Cash’s seminal article, “The Mind of the South”, was published in The American Mercury in October

In 1932, however, he began to write seriously again, using the unheated back room of the Boiling Springs Post Office, where his aunt was the postmistress.

After Cash had some success at The Charlotte News, he finally had the personal and professional confidence he had previously lacked, and his work there helped him to develop his unique style of writing. He also met and fell in love with Mary Bagley Ross Northrup (later known as Mary Maury), a divorced woman who also wrote for the paper, and who helped him to complete the book through his periods of depression, and his continued focus on events in Europe. During this period, Cash would listen to the news on the radio about the Anschluss with Austria, the invasion of Poland, or the fall of France and would pace around the room, biting his nails, hands, and wrists, leaving marks. He would become so upset that he would leave the house and walk the streets at night.^[14]

Finally, on July 27, 1940, the last pages of the manuscript were finished and sent to New York. Five months later, on Christmas Eve, Cash and Northrup were married by a justice of the peace in York, South Carolina.^[11][2]

On February 10, 1941, The Mind of the South was published by Knopf. The book, an intuitive socio-historical exploration of Southern culture, received wide critical acclaim at the time and garnered for Cash praise from such sources as Time, The New York Times, The Saturday Review of Literature, and most Southern newspapers of note, although criticism came from the Agrarian group out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Cash also received the thanks of Walter White, the director of the NAACP, for the book’s liberalism in regard to race and its exposure of the bigotry of the South.^[15] Time said of The Mind of the South “Anything written about the South henceforth must start where [Cash] leaves off.”

Cash and his wife chose Mexico to spend their year on the Fellowship because it was cheap to live there, and they would have to watch every penny; they embarked on their trip to Mexico City on May 30 1941.^[2] Cash had been invited by University of Texas president Homer Rainey to provide the main commencement address to the 1941 graduating class on June 2 in Austin, Texas.

While in Mexico City, Cash came under an apparent psychotic delusion. On June 30, he told his wife that he heard Nazi assassins whispering in the next room, plotting to kill him. The next day, when he was calmer, she went to get help. On her return with a correspondent they had met earlier, Cash was not in the room.

Hours later, he was located in another hotel, the Hotel Reforma, where he had hanged himself with his tie from the bathroom door.^[17][d] An autopsy failed to find evidence of a brain tumor. Cash’s remains were cremated, and a funeral service was held in the First Baptist Church in Shelby. The ashes were later envaulted in Sunset Cemetery in Shelby.^[2]

Now is the perfect time “to attempt” Sirius B: It might be easier than you think. (?)

Why an off-axis stop-down mask?

“Often the effects of poor sky stability can be countered to a certain degree. Larger aperture scopes are adversely affected by atmospheric turbulence more than smaller scopes. The cylinder of light of parallel light rays collected by an 8-inch object is subject to a larger cross section of the atmosphere than is that of a 3-inch. The greater the amplitude of of variation in air parcel boundary layers perceived by the system, the more this refractive aberration manifests itself as image wavering. “For certain deep-sky objects (notably double stars) one needs to trade light gathering ability for turbulence reduction. The aperture of the telescope can be reduced by employing a mask over the light gathering end…..” by TL

Tom Lorenzin “1000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing”

I’ve never tried or attempted to see Sirius B with a Newtonian. I was anxious to give it a try with my 10-inch f/4.5 using an off-axis stop-down mask with an effective aperture of 5.25-inches.

November 2nd 2023:

Beginning at 5:30 AM with a 3rd quarter moon and really bright. I concluded my session at 7:20; approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. I was still able to see Sirius B!

Surprisingly, I could still see the companion just as well at 7:20 AM in very “dim daylight” and still with a fairly bright moon, as when I began almost two hours earlier. This would show and prove that double stars can be enjoyed with a moon and light pollution.

I used a small plastic protractor to help me determine the position angle of Sirius B, and where to look.

My first time seeing Sirius B occurred in 2016, using a 102 mm f/8 FS fluorite Takahashi refractor in March 2016, from Lost Arrow Ranch. My good friend and astronomy associate Don Brooks of many years owns this telescope.

It was actually very easy with this telescope using direct vision. A group of six amateurs took the test.

Using the face of a clock, and all without sharing their perceived position of the companion until everyone had the opportunity to observe.  When the last person completed their observation, all correctly identified the position of Sirius B.  

Some were very skilled observers, but a couple or more were not, however, all could easily locate and see the companion. 

Roger, thanks so much for the off-axis mask idea….wonderful.

Sirius B:

After several or should say “many” attempts I spotted Sirius B in May 2020, using averted vision. My eyes were tearing, cloth over my head and let Sirius pass through the eyepiece. However, after 45 minutes of struggle, I saw the companion.

To-Date: I have now found and seen the companion, also known as Sirius B several times, but it’s still never an easy. It is important to have a stable and clear sky, and good seeing is “absolutely critical” if you are considering taking on this task.

Interesting; I found if Sirius is in the west and after sunrise, seeing Sirius B is actually easier, which might be surprising to many. Roger Ivester, mentioned the same in his report. Magda

1971 class reunion: October 11th 2025: And a great time was had by all! It was a breezy (windy) and really cool Saturday afternoon.

The 2023 event follows 2025….just keeping scanning down.

I missed getting a “face-on” picture of Debbie. How was that possible? So, I thought I’d just share a photo of Debbie and Sophie from May 2025.

Photos of the 2023 Burns High School class reunion are as following: Much appreciation to Charlotte Sinclaire for taking the lead in organizing this fabulous event. Everything was perfect! A memorable class reunion for sure.

In the following photo…Five guys began 1st grade at Polkville in August 1959, and graduated together at Burns. We were the first class at the new school, and went all four years.

However, after the 5th grade, some of us parted ways for three years, some went to Casar and some went to Piedmont…but back together again at the new Burns High School in the fall of 1967.

Left to right: Charles Melton, Roger Ivester, Rob Pendleton, Bill Ledford and Don Bridges.

Bortle Dark Sky Scale: The Bortle Dark Sky Scale was developed by John Bortle “based on nearly 50 years of observing experience,” to describe the amount of light pollution in a night sky. It was first published in a 2001 Sky & Telescope article.

Depending on the device you are using, it may be necessary to slide the chart to the right to see in its entirety.

Number Code

Map Color Code

Label

Sky Mag.

Naked Eye Limit Mag.

320mm Limit Mag.

M33 visible?

M31 visible?

Central Galaxy visible?

Zodiacal light visible?

Light Pollution

Clouds

Ground Objects

1

excellent dark sky

22.00–21.99

≥ 7.5

> 17

obvious

.

casts shadows

striking

airglow apparent

.

visible only as silhouettes

2

average dark sky

21.99–21.89

7.0–7.49

16.5

easy with direct vision

.

appears highly structured

bright, faint yellow color

airglow faint

dark everywhere

large near objects vague

3

rural sky

21.89–21.69

6.5–6.99

16.0

easy with averted vision

.

complex structure

obvious

LP on horizon

dark overhead

large distant objects vague

4

rural/suburban transition

21.69–20.49

6.0–6.49

15.5

difficult with averted vision

obvious

only large structures

halfway to zenith

low LP

lit in distance

distant large objects distinct

5

suburban

20.49–19.50

5.5–5.99

14.5–15.0

.

easy with direct vision

washed out

faint

encircling LP

brighter than sky

6

bright suburban

19.50–18.94

5.0–5.49

14.0–14.5

.

easy with averted vision

visible only near zenith

.

LP to 35°

fairly bright

small close objects distinct

7

suburban/urban transition

18.94–18.38

4.5–4.99

14.0

.

difficult with averted vision

invisible

.

LP to zenith

brilliantly lit

.

8

city sky

< 18.38

4.0–4.49

13

.

.

.

.

bright to 35°

.

headlines legible

9

inner city sky

.

≤ 4.0

.

.

.

.

bright at zenith

.

.

My view to the east (last night @ 9:15 PM, November 18, 2023 from my back deck) showing the light pollution at about 15º above the treetops.

I always try to observe deep-sky objects at least one hour or two from the meridian.

It is difficult to see the Pleiades “visually” at this low altitude. I was using an iPhone 14 “handheld” to make a photo for illustrative purposes.

The Pleiades was my first deep-sky object when I was 12 years old. I remember so well, walking out in my front yard in about mid-November and seeing this cluster rising above the treetops.

At that time, I had no clue as to what this group of stars were.

A year or so later I found out it was the Pleiades, M45 and my interest in amateur astronomy began, which continues to this day. Interesting to note: This was Leslie Peltier’s first deep-sky object also, as probably so many others.

The following photo:

Andromeda is difficult for me visually, and requires averted vision. At the meridian, it can be fairly easy, but averted vision still works best.

The following photo using my phone, presents the galaxy quite a bit brighter than naked-eye.

So, I estimate the Bortle Scale from my backyard to be ~6.5. I think we can all agree, the Bortle scale is not a definitive number, but using this criteria can describe an observing site pretty accurately. I’d say John Bortle developed an excellent, simple and objective measurement system for judging different observing sites, and for comparison with others.

I continue to ride, but “absolutely certain” I’ll not be able to ride another 100,000 miles. My rides in recent years are quite a bit shorter and much slower, but more fun.

Date: October 9th 2023:

I’ve went from an 80mm f/5 refractor to this 10-inch Newtonian in just a matter of days. So, I’m proud of the progress I’ve make, from never using a camera with a telescope, to “at least” an image of the moon. And all within a week!

I changed some settings on my camera, something I’d never done before. It had been set on ISO 100, for my everyday snapshots, and changed to ISO 400 this morning for this moon shot. I was amazed how much brighter the moon was when focusing through the camera using this 10-inch versus the 80mm refractor.

For sure a lot easier to focus with the brighter view due to the size of the telescope.

The field using this telescope is really narrow and small as this photo shows. Now I’ve got to figure out how to set the “exposure time” for some small and bright deep-sky objects.

I’m actually amazed that I could do this...and hopefully more and better to come. Debbie

Telescope: 80mm: 400mm Focal Length: f/5

Camera: Nikon D3300

Nikon T-Adaptor

Camera Setting: Manual

Vixen GP Equatorial Mount

The following photo was made after sunrise

Nikon T-Adaptor

I also made a photo as following using a 10-inch f/4.5 EQ telescope. Roger had using this telescope during an early morning 4:00 AM observing session of a galaxy. So, before bringing it back into the house, he suggested I try a moon photo with this telescope. This is my photo.

The following solar project was suggested by Tom English:

Place a straight pole into the ground, facing due south, and at an angle of 55 degrees:

Then on the two equinoxes (the first day of spring, and the first day of fall) the sun will cast no shadow, as the sun will be shining directly down the steel rod.

Note: Tom was formerly an astronomy and physics professor at Gardner-Webb University for many years, but now teaches in Greensboro. However, we still stay in touch.

During more than a decade, we spent many nights in my backyard with telescopes, enjoying observing galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. Tom would often bring an 8-inch Celestron Orange-Tube SC telescope, and we’d compare views with my 10-inch Newtonian.

The Celestron Story: https://rogerivester.com/2022/09/26/the-8-inch-orange-tube-schmidt-cassegrain-f-10-telescope-founder-tom-johnson-and-other/ 

So, on June 21st, 2023 (Summer Solstice) the shadow will cast its greatest extent southward, and on the Winter Solstice (December 22nd 2023) the shadow will cast its greatest extent northward on the stick.

My latitude in North Carolina: The Latitude is 35º 15 mins

So a simple calculation to determine the angle of the rod.

(90º – 35º) = 55º

Debbie using an angle finder to determine 55º.

The angle of the rod is toward the South at 55º. So draw a line, with the post, going South to North.

Note the shadow: It will be increasing, each day, and getting shorter, until September 23rd, when there will be no shadow, as the sun will be “pointing directly down” the rod.

At 1:00 PM EDT, today (September 22nd) a photo was made, and indeed showing no shadow, as the sun was shining directly down the steel rod. September 22nd or 23rd…close enough.

The following photo:

The yellow mark indicated the sun shadow on August 24th, and the position of the sun shadows on different days following.

The red mark was made on October 4th.

The black mark was made on October 13th 2023. Note the rapid movement of the sun heading south in less than two weeks!

Note: The crossbar on the rod is for pushing in the ground with my foot, and nothing more.

Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus: Very faint and difficult, but with patience and a “reasonably” dark-sky it’s possible. Look for the tiny star chain, just to the NE and you know, you’re close to the Cocoon.

Comet Hale-Bopp With All Three Tails Being Sketched: The Gas Tail, The Dust Tail and The Anti-Tail. Chalk sketch on black card stock. (March 1997)

10-inch EQ f/4.5 Newtonian Telescope: Nine Galaxies in a 1/2º Field-of-View, around M84 and M86