Backyard Astronomy And Other

My oldest grandson needed a college project for showing the altitude of the Sun, via the shadow. I made a simple solar device in my back yard, and John-Winston fabricated a similar one in his yard at Myrtle Beach. We compared views fairly often and discussed our results.

We (Sophie, Debbie and myself) made the following photos today at 12:00 noon (December 21st 2022) EST.

The (blue mark) represents the Sun Shadow (today) at “precisely” 12:00 Noon EST, December 21st. Note that the shadow is “almost” at the end of the scale. This shows or presents the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, which is a very long shadow.

The (green mark) on the measuring tape at nine-inches…was made on the the first day of fall (September 22nd.)

The (white mark) presents the sun shadow on the first day of summer (June 21st) and the longest day of 2022, which shows a very short shadow!

This would “also conclude” that the sun is never “perfectly” overhead for our latitude which is +35º 18′ north.

The scale on the ground is perfectly level and aligned north-south. The shadow post of the solar device is at a vertical 90º.

Nova Sophia (Sophie) looking at the longest shadow with interest.

See photos below: Note the longest shadow, the blue mark, which was made on the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year.

During DST, the time of the measurements of the shadow should be made at 1:00 PM. During EST, the shadow measurement should be made at 12:00 Noon.

Date of writing: November 24, 2022

Brad and Zoe, at one time made frequent trips rom Las Vegas to Los Angeles, traveling through Baker, California, via I-15 which crosses the desert.

Baker is best known for having the tallest thermometer in the world at 134 feet, and considered the gateway to Death Valley.

The thermometer was built to commemorate the “official world record” setting temperature of 134º F, set in nearby Death Valley (Furnace Creek) on July 10, 1913. Yes, the “official” hottest temperature on the planet earth, and a record that stands to this day.

The following photo of the thermometer was during a trip on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. On that day the temperature was a cold 30 degrees, which is quite the change from the record setting temp.

Roger Ivester

Warren D. Ivester: (1913-1986) Ruby Whisnant Ivester (1919-2006)

My Daddy loved sports cars.  The following blue convertible is a Fiat 124 and the orange one (second photo) is a very rare Datsun Fairlady.  He also had a couple more European cars, which was another Fiat and a French Peugeot.

Warren Ivester: “Circa 1976” driving his 1965 Datsun Fairlady 1500 Roadster. A very rare car with a high-performance 4-cylinder (1,488cc engine) twin-carburetors and a four-speed transmission.

My Dad had an engineering mind with an ability to improvise a mechanical fix when he didn’t have the necessary parts. This was especially true as related to cars which were always his passion. In the early days, I remember him cutting copper-shims and placing underneath engine bearings rather than using new bearings. However, this was a common practice during the early years and even into the 60’s.

Helping my Dad at our home garage:

The garage was a very humble building with a dirt floor and comprised of a conglomerate of salvaged materials with a small coal burning stove.

While my Dad was rebuilding an engine or doing some serious engine work, I would try to help. And one of my jobs was to grind valves and valve seats in head blocks, when necessary. I would use a tool with a suction stopper on one end, attached to a wooden handle, using a variety of abrasives.

Born in 1913, my Dad grew up on a farm in the foothills of North Carolina when most roads in the area were dirt and things were far different than today. Those were the days of Ford T’s and later A-Models.

When my Dad was born it was only 10 years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight in December 1903, lasting only 12 seconds. And one year after the Titanic sank on April 12th 1912.

Working on the family cotton farm:

He would later begin working as an auto-mechanic, and would work for himself at times and then at many different garages over the coming years.

The story of the Savannah River Nuclear Facility:

My Mom told me on numerous occasions….Dad had an offer to work at the Savannah River Nuclear Facility, but decided against it. This facility was being built in the early 50’s to produce and fabricate nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonian-239. Some “seriously dangerous materials” for sure! I can’t remember or be sure as to why he didn’t take the job, but was not due to the plutonian-239.

However, if my Dad had taken this job, it would have for certain changed the trajectory of my family, and It could have been beneficial to the family finances for sure.

It could have been really good for me also: As I needed my own bicycle, a serious astronomical telescope, a Lionel electric train, and other essentials that kids needed in those days. 🙂

Moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse:

Earlier this morning while Debbie and Sophie were still asleep, I was trying to find my “original” 1982 photo of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. A photo before it was moved further inland, away from the ocean.

Fortunately for me, I had scanned and saved an original 35 mm photo more than 20 years ago. I had also written an interesting story as a tribute to my Dad.

He taught me and my brothers how to repair cars, and all things mechanical. This would also include how to move a lighthouse!

When engineers from all over the country were trying to figure out how to move the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse further inland, my Dad already had it figured out. I remember him sharing the following on a number of occasions; and one time to me and Phillip under the maple tree beside our house.

“……it needs to be lifted up with hydraulics, using the same principle as moving a house. Then installing a massive rail-system underneath. The rails would extend the entire distance to be moved, or to its new and final resting location. The lighthouse would have to be moved very slowly, maybe only inches a day, which would allow very close monitoring of the process.”

This was pretty much the exact way the famous 210 foot high lighthouse was moved.

An amazing fact concerning the light house is the foundation: It sits on top of yellow pine lumber crisscrossing in the sand, in fresh water. The timbers were still in perfect condition when the lighthouse was moved. Yes, the light house had no foundation other than sitting on wooden beams! No concrete or steel!

I made the following photo in April 1982 of the lighthouse in its original (1870) location. Moving this massive structure was definitely an engineering marvel.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Ruby Whisnant Ivester:

My Mom was the mother to six-boys and a wonderful mother she was.

She was very intelligent, excellent in math, very artistic, beautiful handwriting and well read in so many subjects. And this was many years before the internet. She would purchase one encyclopedia every month from the Shelby Winn-Dixie. We would get our groceries at Winn-Dixie, on either Friday nights or Saturday afternoons and most of the time I’d go. Our house was about 15 miles from Shelby, and we called this…going to town.

We received the National Geographic magazine, for about ten years, from about 1960 to 1968. With the addition of our grocery store encyclopedia’s, what more could we possibly need to learn about everything? My Uncle Boyd and Aunt Shelley who lived in Virginia gave the National Geographic magazines, to me and my brothers, in those early years. I remember being excited when the magazine came to our FFA (Future Farmers of America) concrete pedestal mailbox, each and every month. One of my brothers made the mailbox at Polkville School, and brought it home on the school bus.

How my Mom saved me from going to prison when I was 9 years old!

I sent off for a free stamp coin collection, or maybe it was all for a dime I’d sent them. Then I started receiving more and more (worthless) international stamps and more and more books. The company was located in Garden City, New Jersey. I then received a bill for $35. But, what to do? I just ignored the letter, but a month or so later they sent me a serious legal letter.

They advised me to seek legal counsel, as they would be sending their attorney to meet with me and my attorney in Shelby, NC, within the month. But my stamps/coins and books were suppose to be free…or covered by the dime I’d included in the envelope!

I showed the letter to my mom, and it scared her to death!

She quickly looked in our “savings” drawer and counted out $35 and put in an envelope. I’ll never forget the both of us cramming the stamps and books into a box with the money. Yes…cash in an envelope and sending to a bunch of shysters in New Jersey!

Relief! My life was saved! My Mom just couldn’t let her her youngest son go to prison for $35. The real criminals were the folks at the stamp and coin mail order company. (Note: Many years later, a law was passed by Congress, that allowed people to keep anything they didn’t order.) And I didn’t order boxes of books stamps, cheap aluminum coints and worthless books! Considering inflation, the $35 would be equivalent of $366 as of 2025. And my family needed this money!

When I was in about the 1st-4th grades (~1960-1963) she would work at a sewing company in Cherryville, and would ride with some of her friends in the area, who also worked there. My Mom would never have a drivers license. During periods when she was not working, she loved to watch soap operas, which she called “the stories.” She would talk with a few of her local friends on the telephone about the stories as if they were real. One thing for certain….she loved her family.

My mom also taught me so much about the Bible when I was really young, which inspired me to read the Bible, and my belief in Jesus Christ. I would begin to read the Bible on a regular basis, and had a couple that were given to me by my church. However, my favorite was a small Bible given to me at Polkville School, by the Gideons. Somehow at 11 or 12 years old, I managed to memorize the entire 34th Psalm. This is an amazing Psalm that says so much.

I remember so well, my Mom reading to me: Luke 16:19-31 KJV: She talked with me about Hell and eternity and said: “Can you imagine, constant torment that never ends?” Even at a very young age, this for sure caught my attention!

My Dad standing in the backyard during the summer of 1984:

An interview and documentation as following by Chadwick Ivester: His elementary school assignment (4th grade, nine-years old in 1981) was to interview an older person that was significant in their life. Chad chose his grandfather.

Page 2:

The following is the story for easier reading. Only a few spelling changes were made and paragraphs for easier reading.

I would consider this an historical document: Roger

Warren Ivester was born on Feb. 4th, 1913. The first school he attended was White School and then went on to Casar School. He started when he was six years old in 1919. He walked about a mile and a half to school in weather conditions as rain, sleet, or snow.

Later in 1926 Casar School got a 1925 Ford T-Model Bus. White School was a single room building that was stem heated. It used coal to heat. Then when he went to Casar School, the school had two rooms and was heated by the same stem heater. The desk were made of steel frames with tarnished wood.

The subjects he had were spelling, arithmetic, writing, and english, they had spelling books, arithmetic books, and writing books. For lunch he usually had fried pies, baked sweet potatoes, or some biscuits and ham.

Demerits were given for disipline, and if you got five or six, you would have to clean the chalkboard, wash windows and ceiling lights, and for strong boys, they would have to dig up big rocks and cover them back up.

The sports they played usually played was called Round-Town Ball which was simular to baseball. They were never given any homework to do. Warren went to school until the 9th but it went to the 11th. He made A’s and B’s and he liked school very much. The reason why he quit school was to drive the school bus for the school. He got paid 7 dollars a month, he said it would have been better making 7 dollars than no money at all.

The length of the school year was 6 months and vacation was six months. There were usually about 60 to 75 students enrolled in school and he was the smartest of all.

Chad Ivester

I pulled the following photo of (Leonard Nimoy) “Spock” and his “Orange-Tube” 8-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, from Phil Harrington’s vintage telescope advertisement post.

This is the telescope, that changed the world of amateur astronomy, with its introduction in 1970.    

http://www.philharrington.net/old50.htm 

Amateurs wanted a more compact and portable telescope, and the 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain f/10 fit the bill.  I’ve owned two SC scopes over the years, but for me, I still like the simplicity of a Newtonian Reflector, despite the bulk and weight. And should a problem present itself, there is always an “easy fix” maybe not so much so with a Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov-Cassegrain.

However, the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope is the choice of telescope for many amateurs, for their own personal reasons. I’d suggest mostly for portability, and astrophotography.

Newtonian Reflectors:

It’s my opinion, a 10-inch “equatorially mounted” (solid tube) reflector, is the largest reflector that can/could be considered portable.  And that’s a stretch, as I have a very heavy 10-inch EQ reflector (solid tube) so this is based on my experience.  

However, this is not the case for a Dobsonian design, as many take 20 to 25-inch Newtonian’s, and sometimes “even” larger to star parties on a regular basis.  But for me, I was always happy for someone else to bring such a large telescope. 🙂

My experience with a 20-inch Dobsonian: 

I’ll never forget being at a star party near Blowing Rock/Boone, North Carolina, and climbing a “really” tall ladder, to observe through a 20-inch Dobsonian.  To make things worse there was a 15 to 20 mph wind, and “of course” in total darkness.  I couldn’t wait to get back on ground, and decided my 10-inch reflector was all I needed!  I just never thought astronomy should be a hazardous hobby, even greater than road cycling!

I’ve always preferred the simplicity of both a Newtonian and refractors:  

For me, growing up looking at big Cave Newtonian’s (advertisements) and other brands, with massive German design equatorial mounts, was what an astronomical telescope should look like.

We can never escape our early years, and thoughts.

Roger Ivester 

The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia, concerning Tom Johnson and Celestron telescopes. 

…..Johnson, who had a strong interest in amateur astronomy, originally created Celestron as the “Astro-Optical” division of Valor Electronics in 1960.^[2][3] Around 1960, Johnson had been looking for a telescope which could be used by his two sons, but found no such child-friendly models on the market at the time.^[2] Johnson built a new telescope, a 6-inch reflector telescope, by himself, in 1960.^[2] He was visiting his brother in Costa Mesa, California when he came upon his nephew, Roger, trying to grind the 6 inch diameter lens he purchased from the clearance table at a local hobby shop. Roger was tired of the project and offered the lens-grinding kit to his uncle. Thomas Jasper took the kit home and after several days of hand grinding, he invented a machine that would grind the lens for him. Thus, by accepting the lens grinding kit from his nephew, Roger L. Johnson, “TJ” (as the family called him) created that first lens of many.

On July 28, 1962, he publicly unveiled a new invention, a portable 18+³⁄₄-inch Cassegrain telescope, at the party held by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society on Mount Pinos.^[3] The new transportable telescope proved so groundbreaking that Johnson’s invention was featured on the cover of a 1963 issue of Sky & Telescope.^[3]

Johnson’s interest in telescopes soon became a full-fledged business.^[2] Johnson’s new company, Celestron, which descended from the “Astro-Optical” division of Valor Electronics, soon began selling more sophisticated Schmidt–Cassegrain telescopes in models ranging from just 4 inches to 22 inches.^[2] However, the Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope proved difficult to mass-produce because the models needed Schmidt corrector plate, an advanced aspheric lens, which could be hard to manufacture.^[2] To solve this production problem, Johnson and the company’s engineers invented a new type of telescope, the Celestron 8, in 1970.^[2] The Celestron 8 was more compact, affordable and easier to manufacture than traditional telescopes, like the Schmidt–Cassegrain.^[2] Johnson’s new telescope proved very popular in the amateur astronomy and educational industries, allowing the hobby to rapidly expand and reach more consumers.^[2]

Johnson sold Celestron in 1980.^[2]

Debbie Ivester and Nova Sophia “Sophie” standing beside the city limits sign of Wadesboro, North Carolina…

Supplemental: The path of totality, also included other popular sites for research groups, including Pinehurst, North Carolina, as well as Newberry, South Carolina, among many others.

The following is a photo of the historic marker for the event in Pinehurst. Unfortunately, there is no such marker, or even the general area is not known where the various groups observed from in Wadesboro, at least to my knowledge. Roger

British Scientific Team at Wadesboro: Photo from the “NC Collection’s Photographic Archives”

The following information….again, provided by Tom English:

British Astronomical Association Eclipse Party at Wadesboro, NC, May 1900, courtesy NC Miscellany, UNC Libraries.

L-R:  Rev. John M. Bacon, Gertrude Bacon, Nevil Maskelyne, George Dixon, and three women, not specifically identified, but most certainly Miss E. K. Dixon, Mary Elizabeth Woolston, and Ada Mary Maskelyne, the magician’s wife. 

The BAA set up their station adjacent to the Princeton party led by Charles A. Young, at a site along what is now Brent Street in Wadesboro.  Maskelyne, a famous London magician, brought his kinematograph and used it to make the first successful movie of an eclipse – the device is in front of him in the photo. 

The Bacons had taken an earlier version of this camera to India in 1898 and used it to film that eclipse, but the film was stolen before it could be developed. John Mackenzie Bacon was a noted aerialist who once observed a the Leonid meteors from a balloon.  His daughter Gertrude was also an aeronautical pioneer and a writer. Her biography of her father, Record of an Aeronaut, includes an account of the Wadesboro trip.

George Dixon was an organ designer, and Miss Dixon is likely his sister.  There was one additional member of the BAA party not shown in the photo (perhaps he took the picture?) – David Hadden of Alta, Iowa, who joined them on eclipse day. 

Hadden was a pharmacist and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society who contributed solar observations to thePublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and Popular Astronomy. The BAA account of the Wadesborough trip and the eclipse can be found in the official BAA report of the 1900 eclipse, compiled by Walter Maunder.

The US Naval Observatory Station at Pinehurst 

A. N. Skinner, Professor of Mathematics at USNO, spent 2 days in April 1900 in Southern Pines, NC, searching for an observing site.  He eventually selected Pinehurst, after James W. Tufts, of Boston, MA, who owned several hotels and cottages in Pinehurst, invited the USNO to set up their station there.  C. D. Benbow, the general manager of the Tufts properties, worked out the details.  The Lenox Hotel was kept open for the party.  (Pinehurst was a resort destination for northerners in 1900, but by May the “season” was over and the accommodations were closing down.)  Their observation site was 800 feet southeast of the Carolina Hotel which is still a popular Pinehurst resort. 

Skinner & USNO Assistant Astronomer Theo I. King arrived in Pinehurst on 3 May.  They sighted a meridian line that evening.  The next day they staked out a plan for the expedition site structures.  Their apparatus/instruments arrived on the 8^th and the rest of their observing party shortly after, and the group got to work setting up their station, so that all was in order several days before the eclipse.  A temporary telegraph line was established on the 12^th so that they could get noon time signals from the USNO.  Drills were conducted several times per day during the 3-4 days before the eclipse. 

The primary focus of the USNO observing plan was spectral studies of the chromosphere and corona, and large format imaging of the corona using a 40-ft focal length camera.  A similar 40-ft. instrument was set up at the Naval Observatory’s other station in Barnesville, GA.  In addition to a team of USNO staff, the station included observers from Johns Hopkins, Yale, the University of Wisconsin, and Cincinnati Observatory. Details about the observers and equipment for these stations (and others) can be found in the expedition reports. 

Nearby, in Southern Pines, a less technical eclipse party of observers from Carleton College (Northfield, MN) and Guilford College (Greensboro, NC) were stationed on the peach farm of Mr. John Van Lindley, a Guilford College Trustee.  H. C. Wilson, the assistant editor of Popular Astronomy, which was published out of Carleton, was the primary astronomer at this site, and his report of the expedition in the June issue was the first formal publication of results from the May 1900 eclipse.

Back to Wadesboro: Click on the following link…

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241210537_The_Road_to_Wadesboro_Site_Selection_for_Expeditions_to_Observe_the_1900_Solar_Eclipse

After years of wondering if I could see globular cluster (NGC 5139) Omega Centauri and galaxy (NGC 5128) Centaurus A from my home at a latitude of (+35º 18′) so I gave it a try on April 26th 2009.  

My poor southern view required that I go to a dark-site on the southern rim of the South Mountains, only thirty minutes away.  I met with longtime friend and expert amateur Steve Davis, who brought a Meade 12-inch Dobsonian, which was invaluable in also seeing galaxy Centaurus A.

The 12-inch also provided an excellent resolve of “Omega Centauri” despite the telescope optical tube being almost parallel to the ground!  

Theoretical limiting horizon calculation from Western North Carolina at +35º North Latitude:

(90º-35º) = -55º theoretical limiting south latitude. 

Omega Centauri south latitude:  -47º 28′  

My limiting southern horizon @ -55º (-) -47º = Only 8º above my theoretical southern horizon, and again…which puts my telescope tube almost parallel to the ground!  

I made the following sketch using a 102mm f/10 refractor, on the same night and location The NELM was ~6.5 at the zenith and with a good view of the southern horizon. However, the excellent seeing overhead did not transfer to the extremely low southern view as expected, at only 8ºs about my limiting horizon. The globular appeared fairly dim, mostly round, well-defined edges with some brighter members sparkling in the interior with averted vision.  I also noted many faint outliers enveloping the cluster.

When observing with the 12-inch f/5 reflector the globular cluster was well resolved.  Despite observing at a fairly dark-site, I was looking over distant lights and layers of atmosphere which diminished the view significantly the galaxy was not visible with my 102mm refractor.

Observing galaxy “Centaurus A” with a 12-inch f/5 reflector: My notes read: Difficult! A very small smudge with a stellar nucleus.  Regardless, of the poor view of Centaurus A, I was happy.

102mm refractor: Rough field-sketch of globular cluster Omega Centauri as following using a chalk pencil on black card stock: Date 4-26-09 @ 1:00 AM EDT off Jack Moore Mountain Road.

Pencil sketch as following using a 12-inch f/5 reflector:

James Dire Image from Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii

Stellarview 102mm f/6.3 refractor w/Televue 0.8x focal reducer flattener

Omega Centauri from Naples, Florida using a C-14 telescope by Mario Motta:

In close proximity is galaxy, NGC 5128, known as Centaurus A, also with a C-14 telescope from Naples by Mario Motta:

Fred Rayworth of Las Vegas, saw Omega Centauri from Cathedral Gorge, Utah @ +37º 49′ 20″

“I saw Omega Centauri just over the hood of a truck on the horizon. I had a chance to see it at Death Valley, California when we went to the airport, but never caught it.”

+90º North (-) +37º 50′ = (-) 52º 50 mins or limiting southern horizon

So:  -52º 50′ (-) -47º 28′ = ~ 5º 22 mins above the horizon from Cathedral Gorge.    

Larry McHenry: Observing from West Virginia

Globular cluster NGC 5139 “Omega Centauri.”

Location: Calhoun County Park in central West Virginia. Setup on a ridge of about 1100 ft in elevation. (more about Calhoun at: http://stellar-journ…calhounpark.htm 

At the time of observation, NGC 5139 had an elevation of about 3.5º above the horizon.

First a wide-field “finder” image of NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri) using my Canon 100mm video lens & ASI290MC camera. 

Here’s the main EAA observation of Omega Centauri, again thru the trees, from 4/28/22 at 12:28 AM.

(8-inch SCT @ f/6.3 on an Atlas German equatorial mount , ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 20 second subs, no dark or flat frames, not guided, live-stacked using Sharpcap for 80 seconds). 

Due to the short exposure time, we were able to see the dark feature called the “Eye of Omega”, which is possibly a dark molecular cloud that is in front of the cluster in our line-of-sight. 
This is generally only seen visually, as most images are longer exposures to pull-out more of the cluster stars. 

Myself (L) Tom English in the center, and Dobson. I can’t remember, but I think someone local knitted Dobson the funky hat, which he wore most all of the time during his visit.

We had a get-together and dinner at one of the local astronomy club members home.

Dobson and Tom English during a solar observing session. Best I remember, Dobson didn’t think it was a good idea to observe the sun with a solar filter.

A letter that Dobson wrote to my wife, after he returned to San Francisco. He wanted to tell her about a movie he had seen.

Jim Yeager has always allowed me to use any of his aerial photos, which over the years have included, a beautiful photo of the Barringer Crater in New Mexico, covered with snow, and the Mount Potosi Observing Complex in SW Nevada. Both of which I’ve used in previous blog articles and other.

I really like the following image, as I’ve never seen the Southern Cross.

Jim’s notes and photo:

Here is somewhat of clear picture taken with an iPhone using a 3 second exposure on a descent out of 41,000 feet about 100 miles north of Lima, Peru.

You can see Alpha and Beta Centauri pointing to the Southern Cross.

The residual cockpit lights, moonlight behind us, and the haze of high altitude cirrus kept us from seeing the Magellanic Clouds.

Other aerial photos by Jim Yeager:

https://rogerivester.com/category/mount-potosi-observing-complex-in-southern-nevada/

https://rogerivester.com/2016/12/06/aerial-view-of-meteor-crater-compliments-of-james-yeager-pilot-american-airlines/