BEWARE! SOME ASTRONOMICAL HAZARDS

Astronomy is a great hobby, and a dynamic science. New developments are announced daily. There are, however, a few physical dangers. It is also a ripe hunting ground for scam artists to con the public. On this page we'll try to enumerate some of the most common dangers and astronomical abuses.

BEWARE OF OUR OWN SUN!

What's the most dangerous thing you can do as an amateur astronomer? Well, pointing a telescope at the Sun and trying to observe it without the proper filters ranks right up at the top of the list. The objective lens or mirror of your scope gathers light and with it, heat. . . a lot of light and heat. It then focuses that light and heat on your eyepiece which further magnifies it. Your friendly telescope can burn a hole right through your eye in a fraction of a second. There are several types of solar filters available. The only safe type, however, fits over the front of your telescope. Never use a solar filter that is associated in any way with your eyepiece. Excellent solar filters can be obtained from many telescope accessory dealers. For a small scope a good solar filter can be less than $100.00 or around $150.00 for larger instruments. We want you active and content in astronomy for many years. DON'T LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT THE CORRECT FILTERS.

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BEWARE OF PEOPLE THAT WILL NAME A STAR OR ANY ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT FOR YOU

There are ads in many very reputable national magazines, newspapers, the pervasive internet, even occasionally on television offering to name a star for you. The advertisers suggest naming a star for an individual makes an excellent birthday, anniversary, or employee recognition gift. We've seen prices range from $19.95 through . . . well, the skies the limit (pun intended). The offer usually includes a handsome certificate, a letter of certification suitable for framing, and the assurance that the new name will be registered with the US Copywrite Office. So that means astronomers the world over will suddenly be referring to Antares, a first magnitude star in Scorpius, as Bertha Schmidt. After all, you paid for it, right? Well nooooo, not actually. You see, the only place Antares possibly will be called Bertha Schmidt is in the offices of the company that sold you the name, and we'd wager it's not called that there either. There's only one organization authorized to name astronomical objects and have the name recognized by the world of science. That organization is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Why aren't the scalawags selling star names thrown in jail? In many countries they are, but in the good old USA what they're doing is not illegal. Anyone can copywrite anything they write. Anyone can generate a great letter and certificate of authentication on almost any computer. In fact, if you're browsing through this website, chances are you can do it. So the advertisers give what they promise. It's all perfectly legal. It's also all perfectly worthless. So if you have an intense desire for a handsome, but worthless, certificate to hang on the wall and a really great letter to stick in your desk drawer, go for it. Send in your $50.00 or whatever. Just remember, however, you can generate all those documents on your own computer, and use the money for a great dinner for two in a good restaurant.

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BEWARE OF TELESCOPES SOLD BY OTHERWISE REPUTABLE DEPARTMENT OR DISCOUNT STORES

It's your grandson's birthday next week, and you're in a real quandry over what to get the lad. You want something besides a toy or clothing. You know the toy will be broken in a few days, and you remember how you felt when you were nine years old and a well meaning relative got you clothes for your birthday. You've been thumbing through catalogs and wandering through discount stores. Still there's no decision. Wait! That's perfect. It's a beautiful sky blue telescope, and it's only $79.95. Why there's plenty of open to buy on the credit card for that, and you're getting the kid a gift that's pretty hard to break and perhaps encouraging his interest in science as well, right? Once again. Well noooooo . . . not actually. You see, telescopes such as we've just described are almost always inferior products that will result in discouragement, frustration, and ultimately a disgust for all things astronomical. They're what we call, "junk scopes", or perhaps a trifle more delicately, "department store scopes." How can you determine if a telescope you're thinking about buying falls into that category. First, such scopes are almost always promoted with a statement of a ridiculous magnification capability. If you're looking at a telescope box that proudly proclaims it's capable of 600X or even 1000X, it's junk. Magnification is about the least important attribute of any scope. Much more important is the aperture of the objective, the diameter of the big lens or mirror. It's aperture that governs how much light the telescope can gather, that is how dim an object it can detect, and how close two or more objects can be an still be separated from each other through the scope. Many junk scopes use plastic lenses in their eyepieces and some of the worst even have plastic objectives. Usually a good quality scope has a theoretical magnification limit of about 50X per inch of aperture. A few very sophisticated telescopes called Apochromatics can occasionally be pushed to 100X per inch of aperture. Even this is possible only on nights of perfect seeing, with clear steady skies. If higher magnifications than this are attempted, the result is a dim blur. So it is ludicrous to promote a telescope with an aperture of 2.5" as a 600X scope.

Just as important as a telescope's optics is the mounting that holds the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA). To perform satisfactorily it must be stable, steady, and firm. Remember, if you're using the scope at say 125X, then every vibration or movement in the telescope is magnified 125 times. The best mountings for small scopes are wood or steel. Many junk scopes use aluminum mountings, and they're almost useless. It's nearly always difficult or even impossible to hold a steady image with the aluminum mounts included with junk scopes.

We suggest you purchase a scope from a recognized merchant specializing in optical equipment. There's a list of dozens on the links page of this website. You may also be pleasantly surprised. The prices at such stores are not always more expensive than those asked elsewhere for junk scopes.

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BEWARE OF COMPANIES SELLING EXTRATERRESTRIAL REAL ESTATE

We probably shouldn't even have to mention that a company offering to sell real estate on the moon or another planet is conducting a scam, except that millions are being extracted from gullible people throughout the world by that very con game. Even a cursory internet search will reveal more than a few companies ready and willing to take your hard earned yen, pounds, eurodollars, or just plain dollars for a few acres of lunar real estate they don't own to start with. If you send them money, you will receive a deed printed right on the company's computer. Also generated by the same source will be a letter certifying your transaction's valid. You may also receive a map with a red "X" indicating the location of your newly acquired land. Of course you can do as you wish, but we wouldn't touch such a transaction with a pole two light years long.

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IN THE CONSTELLATION OF ORION

THE DIFFUSE NEBULA M42 (NASA PIX)