DOBZILLA - This huge 25-inch Newtonian telescope, dubbed “Dobzilla”, owned by the Sunset Astronomical Society, will be available for public viewing Saturday in the Tawases, weather permitting. - Photo by John Morris

‘Dobzilla’ returns to Tawas
by John Morris

TAWAS CITY - A huge 25-inch diameter portable telescope dubbed “Dobzilla” will make a return visit to the Tawases Saturday for public viewing.

The free event, aimed at exploring the wonders of space, will be held Saturday at Tawas Area Elks Lodge and at Tawas Creek Golf Club course. It’s being sponsored by the Iosco-Arenac District Library through a grant from its adult education program and the Sunset Astronomical Society (SAS).
The second annual event begins at 1 p.m. at the Elks Lodge with a presentation by Kevin Dehne, an assistant professor of physics at Delta College who will cover the topics of “How Cold is Outer Space?” and “Comet Composition.”

Dehne, who teaches astronomy, physics, physical science and geology at Delta, gave a presentation at last year’s event. An active member of SAS since 1995, Dehne earned a bachelor’s degree in earth science and a master’s degree in general science at Eastern Michigan University.

IT’S COLD - Kevin Dehne, an associate science professor at Delta College, will demonstrate how cold outer space is by using liquid nitrogen. - Photo by John Morris

A question and answer session will follow Dehne’s presentation. Static telescope displays also will be available, as will solar viewing, weather permitting, until 4 p.m. There also will be astronomical exhibits and handouts as well as books available at the district library on astronomy, stargazing and telescopes and Internet and book bibliographies.

Also weather permitting, beginning at 7 p.m. at the golf course, the public is invited for guided star gazing with telescopes and binoculars hosted by members of SAS and other local amateur astronomers. Persons who own binoculars are encouraged to bring them along.

The featured telescope will be “Dobzilla”, a 25-inch Newtonian Dobsonian reflector telescope owned by the Saginaw-based astronomical society.

A reflector telescope, as its name suggests, uses mirrors to gather and focus light from a celestial object. In its most commonly encountered form, the Newtonian - which has been around for more than three centuries - has a specially curved concave or dish-shaped primary mirror at the bottom end of the telescope. Near the top of the tube a small, angled secondary mirror directs the light reflected from the primary to the top side of the tube, where it’s met by an eyepiece. A variant of the Newtonian telescope is known as the Dobsonian. The Dobsonian is a Newtonian telescope on a simple, rugged mount which has become popular among amateur astronomers because of its low cost, ease of use and portability.

The Tawas area is well-known among Midwest amateur astronomers as being a “dark-sky site.” For example, did you know you can see Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster and Orion Nebula through binoculars? Or better yet, if you know where to look, they’re also observable with the naked eye. The dark skies over the Tawases also gives up exceptional naked-eye views of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

One word of warning, however, don’t expect to see colorful images through a telescope such as is shown in magazines. In a telescope, the images look grey as the eye can’t pick up detailed colors like a camera can. Some images, such as distant galaxies, look like small smudges or “faint fuzzies.”

And that’s part of the attraction of amateur astronomy - being able to view distant “deep space objects”, some millions of light years away.

“Persons will be able to travel back in time and see starlight that is millions of years old,” said Russ Besancon of the Iosco-Arenac District Library, himself an amateur astronomer and is the coordinator of the event. “Take advantage of our local dark skies to view distant galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, planets and our moon.”

The Tawas area is well-known among Midwest amateur astronomers as being a “dark-sky site.” For example, did you know you can see Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster and Orion Nebula through binoculars? Or better yet, if you know where to look, they’re also observable with the naked eye. The dark skies over the Tawases also gives up exceptional naked-eye views of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

One word of warning, however, don’t expect to see colorful images through a telescope such as is shown in magazines. In a telescope, the images look grey as the eye can’t pick up detailed colors like a camera can. Some images, such as distant galaxies, look like small smudges or “faint fuzzies.”

And that’s part of the attraction of amateur astronomy - being able to view distant “deep space objects”, some millions of light years away.

“Persons will be able to travel back in time and see starlight that is millions of years old,” said Russ Besancon of the Iosco-Arenac District Library, himself an amateur astronomer and is the coordinator of the event. “Take advantage of our local dark skies to view distant galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, planets and our moon.”

For more information on the event, contact the Iosco-Arenac District Library at 362-2651.