Early Sightings

One interesting, and lesser-known, feature of the Natural History Museum is the Ralph Mueller Observatory, containing an 1899 Warner and Swasey Co. telescope, built right here in Cleveland. Although I had seen the stairs up there before, I had never really been into the observatory before this project. Happily, now I’m quite familiar with it, having helped out last Wednesday with the Museum’s weekly opening of the observatory to the public on clear Wednesday evenings. Although I really didn’t do all that much (as there were other, more experienced volunteers handling the big telescope), the evening was a good introduction into exploring the night sky. Having attended various planetarium programs in the past, I was able to find the North Star pretty easily; from there, I quickly found Leo, Arcturus, and Spica. The main events of the evening were the viewings of Jupiter and Saturn, so I also learned how to find and identify those planets. Save for assisting in aligning a smaller telescope, most of what I did that night was simply look at the stars and practice finding various objects in the night sky. Although this seems simple, this was actually really useful: living in Cleveland and often being burdened with homework, this was the first time I have really been able to use all the tools I’ve learned to navigate the night sky. (For example, I’d often read and learned that planets do not twinkle, as they are much closer than stars; this was the first night that I have been able to consciously apply that knowledge, using it to differentiate Saturn from the nearby Arcturus.) All in all, this night was an excellent introduction to practical backyard astronomy.