Censorship in Cyberspace 1991-2021

I placed myself outside the accepted norms on two discussion boards for amateur astronomers, The Sky Searchers and Cloudy Nights. I withdrew from TSS though I still participate with CN. 

 

To me there is no doubt that the owners of the discussion boards can have any rules they want: it’s their property. My problem—and it is entirely my own—is that the privately-own spaces are marketed as forums for discussion and in those discussions I found myself marginalized for not sharing common though unstated assumptions.

 

On The Sky Searchers, I posted a negative review of The Science and Art of Using Telescopes by Philip Pugh (Springer 2009). I placed similar though somewhat different versions on Cloudy Nights and Stargazers Lounge. You can read another here on Necessary Facts. On TSS, I received a nastygram from a moderator demanding to know how I could “launch an unprovoked attack on one of our special authors.” (The quote is inexact. I no longer have access. My IP address is blocked.) I said that they would not have a problem in the future and deleted the review. When I went back to find the exact exchange, I found the block. 

 

Cloudy Nights LLC is a discussion forum for amateur astronomers. It is hosted by Astronomics, a second-generation family-owned retailer of telescopes and related instruments and accessories. The discussion board is now over 30 years old and has more than 115,000 unique usernames. Their policies and processes are time-tested and mature. However, they do include contradictory applications. 

 

They say that they do not allow discussions of religion and politics. And that’s fine with me, except that several people do quote the Bible in their signature fields. Psalm 19:1 is perhaps the most common: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork.” In fact, my Austinite neighbor, Ed LaBelle has an outreach called “Psalm 19 Astronomy” and he writes under that label for the local astronomy club newsletter as well as Cloudy Nights. They do work hard at urban sidewalk outreach taking their telescopes to the public and I applaud their successes.

 

On The Sky Searchers, when birthdays come around, one of the frequent contributors places her good wishes in an off-topic chat area. As it was November, I followed suit by quoting astrological forecasts for the day as a nod to other Scorpios. Those were pulled down by the moderator because astrology is not allowed on TSS. If that stricture is in the published rules, I missed it. In a wider context, however, astrology is a religious practice and I wonder if the moderator would have pulled down a Christian benediction. 

On Cloudy Nights, in the off-topic forum, I placed a version of my Christmas star essay, which in the past I placed in the Austin Astronomical Society newsletter. (Two versions are 2015 here and 2017 here on NecessaryFacts.)

The article was only a historical view of a popular problem. The International Planetarium Society website (www.ips-planetarium.org) lists over 100 citations to the Star of Bethlehem. Writing in Archaeology Vol. 51, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1998), Anthony F. Aveni cited 250 “major scholarly articles” about the Star of Bethlehem. 

The moderator, csa/montana, pulled it because it discusses religion, which is not allowed on Cloudy Nights. And that would be fine, if people did not have Scriptural quotes in their  signatures. 

Cloudy Nights hosts a forum for discussing Light Pollution. The guidelines are very clear. They do not allow people to advocate shooting out lights with BB guns. 

LP Forum Guidelines - Please Read

Started by Glassthrower, Jan 21 2008 10:23 PM

Cloudy Nights wishes to foster a positive environment where the science of light pollution can be discussed. People seeking to learn more about light pollution should be able to come here, peruse the information available, discuss the issue, and walk away with something positive gained - and hopefully a new appreciation (or at least a curiosity) for starry dark skies the way nature originally intended them. 

We want to provide useful information that will help people take civic action on their own, or with local/national networks (like the IDA) - to implement dark-sky friendly regulations in their area. Working with local and state governments, zoning commissions, lighting boards, and utility departments can be an intimidating experience for the uninitiated - we'd like to offer a place for others to share their experiences and resources in this respect. But the politics of the day should always take a back seat to the academic and the science. Stick to the facts and leave the feelings out of it. 

Full statement here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/150672-lp-forum-guidelines-please-read/

Personally, I believe that concerns about light pollution and the associated problem of new constellations of artificial satellites are mostly Luddite rants against progress. The recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope dramatically caps 64 years of progress in placing sensors and recorders away from the Earth, its atmosphere, and lights. That said, I am not insensitive to the frustrations of ground-based astronomers. In fact, I share them. But I tally the convenience of electricity and night-time lighting as a diminutive cost to myself. (Against Dark Skies on NecessaryFacts here. and I Like Satellite Constellations here.) 

In response to a post, I quoted from those two essays. The moderator csa/montana closed the discussion saying that it had become political. So, it is appropriate to call for the United Nations to regulate the launching of satellites and further for your local government and the UN to debate whether and how to address light pollution. However, it is not allowed to question the need for those interventions.

 

http://www.phrack.org/archives/issues/38/2.txt

                                ==Phrack Inc.==

                 Volume Four, Issue Thirty-Eight, File 2 of 15

                          [-=:< Phrack Loopback >:=-]

                                By Phrack Staff

 

     Phrack Loopback is a forum for you, the reader, to ask questions, air problems, and talk about what ever topic you would like to discuss.  This is also the place Phrack Staff will make suggestions to you by reviewing various items of note; magazines, software, catalogs, hardware, etc.

 

Date: March 22, 1992

From: "Michael E. Marotta" <MERCURY@lcc.edu>

Subject: Censorship in Cyberspace

To: Phrack Staff

 

I have been hired to write an article about the control of information in

cyberspace.  We all know that Fidonet moderators and sysops devote their OWN resources for us to use.  There is no question about the "right" of the sysop or moderator to delete messages and users.  The practice of censorship is nonetheless newsworthy.

 

If YOU have experienced censorship on Fidonet or Usenet, Prodigy or CompuServe,or another BBS or network, I am interested in learning about your story.  If you can supply downloads of actual encounters, so much the better.

 

If you have ever been censored, send me physical world mail about the event.

 

               Michael E. Marotta

               5751 Richwood  #34

               Lansing, Mich. 48911

 

http://www.phrack.org/archives/issues/38/2.txt

 

http://cu-digest.org/CUDS5/cud514.txt

Computer underground Digest    Wed Feb 17, 1993   Volume 5 : Issue 14

                           ISSN  1004-042X

 

       Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)

       Archivist: Brendan Kehoe

       Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth

                          Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala

       Copy Editor: Etaion Shrdlu, Seniur

 

Date: Thu, 11 Feb 93 20:17 EST

From: "Michael E. Marotta" <MERCURY@LCC.EDU>

Subject: File 5--Censorship in Cyberspace

 

Excerpts from "Censorship in Cyberspace" (c) 1993 by Michael E. Marotta the complete text (2000 words) appears in the ($5) 1993 Retail Catalog of Loompanics, P. O. Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Founded in 1974, Loompanics, publishers of unusual books, features about 300 titles on privacy, underground income, self-defense, etc.

+++++

As Ayn Rand noted, when people abandon money, their only alternative when dealing with each other is to use guns.   Yet, the anti-capitalist mentality permeates cyberspace.  Most public systems and networks actually forbid commercial messages.  So, computer sysops and network moderators are reduced to cavalier enforcement of their personal quirks.

 

When Tom Jennings created Fidonet, Omni magazine called him an "online anarchist."  Since then, Fidonet has developed a governing council and lost Jennings.  Over the last two years, I have been banished from

these Fidonet echoes: 

         * Stock Market for saying that Ivan Boesky is a political

           prisoner

         * Virus for saying that viruses could be useful

         * Communications for saying that telephone service

           should not be regulated by the government

         * International Chat for asking "How are you" in Hebrew

           and Japanese.

 

Kennita Watson, whom I met on Libernet, told me this story:

 

         When I was at Pyramid, I came in one day and

         "fortune" had been disabled.  I complained to

         Operations, and ended up in a personal meeting with

         the manager.  He showed me a letter from the NAACP

         written to Pyramid threatening to sue if they

         didn't stop selling racist material on their

         machines.  They cited a black woman who had found

         the "...there were those whose skins were black...

         and their portion was niggardly.... 'Let my people

         go to the front of the bus'..." fortune, and

         complained to the NAACP.  I suspect that she (and

         the NAACP) were clueless as to the meaning of the

         term "niggardly".  I (as a black woman) was

         embarrassed and outraged. Because of the stupidity

         of a bunch of paranoid people, I couldn't read my

         fortune when I logged out any more. "

 

It is important to bear in mind that to the censor, censorship, like all evils, is always an unpleasant but necessary means to achieve a good result.  Robert Warren is a sysop who replied to an article of mine on Computer Underground Digest.  He said: ... People have a right to say what they want in public, but some don't care about the responsibility that comes with it. So you zap 'em."  Now, there is no argument with his basic premise: Since he owns the equipment, he has the final say in its use.  This is his right.  Likewise, the administrators of publicly-funded university computers also engage in censorship under a mandate to serve the people who pay taxes.  "All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," the historian John E. E. Acton said.  It is no surprise that this applies in cyberspace.

 

   Political and social freedom have little to do with constitutions or elections. Congress could choose a new prime minister every day or the people could elect the secretary of state to a three year term. The details are unimportant.  Some places are free and some places are controlled because the people in those places need freedom or accept oppression.  It always comes back to the individual.

 

   Dehnbase Emerald BBS is home to libertarian and objectivist discussions and is a vital link in Libernet.  The number is (303) 972-6575.  Joseph Dehn is not interested in enforcing rules.

 

   Albert Gore and George Bush agreed on the need for a "data superhighway."  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has recommended that this national network be open to commercial enterprises.  This is good.  An open market is the best protection against power and corruption.

 

------------------------------

Previously on Necessary Facts

 

The Science of Liberty 

The Sociology of Freedom 

Why Evidence is not Enough 

Jerry Emanuelson's Algebraic Proof of Ricardo's Law of Association. 

Tycoon Dough is Democratic 

Crimes Against Logic: Exposing Bogus Arguments  

  

Cultured Carrot Fermented Foods

How do you get your kids to eat sauerkraut? For Kristin Simpson, the solution was to develop a line of fermented foods that their palates would accept. The resulting array of garnishes is now available in Austin and around Texas. 

They say about themselves: 

Kristin Simpson and
The Cultured Carrot
https://theculturedcarrot.com

Launched by two women in Austin, the Cultured Carrot has revolutionized ancient fermentation. While we were amazed at the exploding amount of information about the microbiome, gut health and the amazing benefits of fermented foods we knew there had to be a better way to get them onto our plate and into our families tummies. 

The Cultured Carrot was founded by Palak Sadarangani, a health coach practicing an Ayurvedic lifestyle and Kristin Simpson, a pharmacist with a holistic lifestyle approach. Both busy moms of young kids were blown away by the research and study of the microbiome. Up to 80% of our immune system is found in the gut. Eating fermented foods adds good bacteria to our guts to help maintain the balance we need for a healthy immune system.  A healthy microbiome was the key to our families overall health. We knew we had to get more probiotics from fermented foods into our families tummies. Currently all the fermented foods on the market were traditional kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, miso etc. Remembering to take these traditional fermented foods everyday became difficult. We had to create something that was convenient and part of our everyday palates. That's when the idea was born, to create fermented vegetable dressings for salads, marinates and sauces. This concept is the new revolution of fermentation, making traditional ferments more convenient and bringing them to today's busy modern tables. -- https://theculturedcarrot.com/pages/about-us

Kristin told me that she graduated with a degree in pharmacy and worked for local hospitals in Florida before moving to Texas and working in a hospital here. Her goal has always been to introduce healthful, natural alternatives to the over-prescription of synthetic antibiotics. 

Her products have a three-month shelflife. She said that refrigerating it keeps the biotics more potent through that time.

It was really nice to meet another vendor at the Wheatsville coop. We went about 18 months without visitors from among our local providers. 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Salsa Showdown: Jaime's versus Royitos

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Biohackers

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Two Hot Mamas Salsa

Merry Newtonmas 2021

Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;

God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.

 

If your neighborhood is like ours, then, it started with Halloween which began about Labor Day: lights; people lit up their yards and houses with displays of icons and arrays of sparkles. As soon as Halloween passed, Christmas was launched. I believe that this is a reaction to the continuing Covid crisis. People are resisting despair and fighting back against both biological and social malaise with symbols of hope and good cheer. 

 

Around our neighborhood;
the unicorn is snorting shifting colors.

In Newton’s time, it was the Great Plague of 1665. That was followed by the great London fire of 1666. When the plague struck, Cambridge University was closed and Newton went home to Woolsthorpe. There, isolated with his own thoughts, he expanded his work in mathematics, optics, and gravitation. 

Two Newtonian reflectors:
my first Celestron Equatorial 130-mm and
my current Besser 208-mm. 
Reflectors have no chromatic aberration
and are easy to make very large.

We can only wonder if forty years from now we will have time travel and warp drive (perhaps the same phenomenon) because some genius was isolated by Covid-19. 

 

We accept today that Leibniz and Newton
developed the calculus independently.
We generally use the Leibniz notation 
though Newton's can be a convenient shorthand.

The American Numismatic Association granted a George Heath Literary Award (2002) to a feature article that I wrote about Sir Isaac Newton’s 30-year career at the Royal Mint, published in November 2001. Historian David Berlinski called that time “uninteresting” ending his biography with the publication of the Principia. 

Not many people read Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica today in any language and surely not in Latin. I have two editions, one translated by I. Bernard Cohen whose work I already knew from reading ancient sources when writing about numismatics. 

Newton’s ideas are easy to explain today, especially using algebra and the Leibniz notation for calculus. The proofs in the Principia are—and could only have been—delivered via geometry. We do not know it so well today. Richard P. Feynman intended to develop and present his own proofs to a class as a treat to relieve the stress of up-coming semester final examinations. He could not do it. He did not know enough geometry. 

 

The book is the Principia, opened to the page proving
Kepler's laws and central force motion.

The core of that work is Newton’s mathematical proof that Kepler’s laws of motion are required by logic and determined by the nature of central force motion as measured for timekeeping, navigation, and astronomy. They are necessary factual truths. 

 

Previously on Necessary Facts

Newton versus the Counterfeiter 

Measuring Your Universe: Alan Hirshfeld’s Astronomy Activity Manual 

Meteorites

Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers 

Reminders of Newtonmas Past 

Funky Mello: Feel Good Marshmellows

We have not been treated to vendors at the Wheatsville Co-op since Covid started and it was a pleasant shock to see Delisa and Zach of Funky Mello set up in the front aisle. 

As kids we were obsessed with marshmallows,
but as adults our bodies couldn't handle
the unfriendly ingredients.
Determined to keep the beloved marshmallow in our lives,
we spent tireless hours in the kitchen
crafting a new kind of marshmallow.
Today, we are thrilled to bring happiness
back to marshmallows!

Their products are plant based, dairy-free, and gluten free. The three flavors--Vivacious vanilla, Satisfying strawberry, and Creamy cookie--also are free of the top eight allergens. Of course, the treats have no artificial colors or artifical flavors and have no genetically-modified organisms in their contents.

You can get read their story and get more details about their products on their website https://www.funkymello.com and you can find them on Instagram.  

Their website features recipes based on marshmellows.

They have developed an impressive presence at natural, organic, and alternatives retailers here in Texas and they have already established sales through stores in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. The three-pack sample goes for $18.99 at the register. 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Coffee at the Co-op: Tradition and Novelty

Awesome Austin Foods at the Wheatsville Co-op

At Oryana Co-op I Took My Change in Bay Bucks

Hot Dang Vegie Burger Mix

Two Deep Sky Targets

 On 28 November, I viewed the Double Cluster in Perseus for the first time. The following night, I was able to find the globular cluster Messier 15 in Pegasus.

I live on the southside of a city of 1.8 millions. So the northern sky is usually washed out with light. For example, as easy as it is to find Polaris, the other stars in Ursa Minor are not visible. I have readily found the double star eta Cassiopeiai with several small telescopes, and I have viewed the Andromeda Galaxay often. So, I measured out some distances and spent about 45 minutes seeking the double cluster catalogued as Caldwell 14. (It is not a Messier object.) Interestingly, it was noted as a permanent patch of light by Hipparchus circa 130 BCE. Guidebooks call it a naked eye target, but I have never seen it from here. 

The telescope was an Explore Scientific achromatic 102-mm refractor. The oculars were Celestron 32-mm Ploessl alone and with 2X Barlow and a Celestron 17-mm Ploessl for comparison, and then a 14-mm Meade 5000 with an 82-degree field-of-view. Both clusters fit within the 17-mm FOV of 1.34 degrees. 

The next night, I made a concerted effort to locate M-15. It took about 45 minutes and much referencing of star charts, but when it came into view, it was immediately perceivable. 

I had tried to mark it by its altitude compared to Altair but looking about halfway between Jupiter and Deneb in Cygnus worked better.

The best view was with the Meade 5000. I used a 7-mm Nagler Type 1 82-degree though at a modest 94X magnification the view was too close to appreciate and the wider view presented both better context and better contrast.

Also, the skies those two nights were exceptionally clear following some rain and I was able to see the double star gamma Capricorni also called Deneb Algiedi, Tail of the Goat, and I verified it in the telescope.

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Eyewitness Testimony: Popper, Wittgenstein and the Innocence Project

Gregory M. Browne's Necessary Factual Truths

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Understanding Objectivism

Learning Lyra

My spatial reasoning scores are always lower than my verbal acuity grades. Consequently, the standard star charts for Lyra, a simple quadrilateral constellation marked by one of the brightest stars in the sky, has been oddly difficult to navigate. Therefore, I returned to basic methods. I have not yet found everything that I mapped out for discovery, but I am confident about the first half of the picture.

What it is supposed to look like

What I mapped in the sky

Although Lyra is supposed to be above Cygnus, clearly, to me, it is not. Of necessity, finding the double stars epsilon Lyrae and zeta Lyrae was a challenge. I have viewed and recorded the famous "double double" epsilon Lyrae several times. It is a target that I know. It is easily above and to the right of Vega.  ("Viewing Epsilon Lyrae" and "Binary Star Project" on this blog.) 

Three of Lyra's stars near Vega are interesting doubles. Barely above Vega is 4th-magnitude Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double. Epsilon forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm's length.

Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon. And a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should, during good seeing, resolve each of Epsilon's wide components into a tight pair.

Zeta is also a double star for binoculars. It's much closer and tougher, but is plainly resolved in a small telescope.

And Delta Lyrae, upper left of Zeta by a similar distance, is a much wider and easier binocular pair. Its stars are reddish orange and blue.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-november-12-20/

At first, I tried following the guides in support of my direct views in the telescope. But I came to understand that the rich star field offered other objects that could match the verbal descriptions.

So, I lay down on a chaise longue with my binoculars and drew out the sky as it appeared to me. And while doing that, I also was able to identify the binary stars, zeta and (of course) epsilon.

  

The cellphone Compass app is handy and the app for Measure includes a Level which is accurate enough for my purposes.

I also made estimates of the separations based on the field-of-view (FOV) calculations for the 12x42 Buhnell binocular, as well as the telescope I was using, my Explore Scientific 102-mm f/6.47 achromatic refractor. 

That left me confident of those views though still open on the problem of locating delta Lyrae. 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Copernicus on the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies

De Magnete by William Gilbert

In Support of the Entry-Level Telescope

Big Bang Theory: More Friends than Seinfeld

Discovering gamma Arietis

Having packed away the three 70-mm entry-level refractors I was enjoying (last week), I returned to my Explore Scientific First Light 102-mm doublet refractor but now using the better oculars, 82-degree sealed from Meade (14mm; Series 5000) and Nagler (7mm; Type 1), and a Vixen 25-mm SLV Plössl for wider views. The mount was an Explore Twilight I gear-driven Altitude-Azimuth.

10 November 2200 hours. Nominally “clear” but with not much sky, still clearing from rain with high overcast. In Aries only alpha (Hamal) and beta (Sheratan) were easily visible. So, I swept the area. Below Sheratan was another faint star and I found the double gamma Arietis (Mesarthim). Both were about equally bright. The next day, I checked An Anthology of Visual Double Stars by Argyle, Swan, and James (Cambridge, 2019). 

Gamma Arietis was found by Hooke (1664) and verified by Herschel (1779) as being “almost equal” in magnitude. 

Land-based estimates of magnitude for them is Gamma-1 = 4.58 and Gamma-2 = 4.52 while more recent estimates from Hipparcos are 4.75 and 4.64 respectively. Combined they appear as 3.86 from the ground. Their common orbital period is about 5000 years.

 

Two thousand years ago, the vernal equinox was in Aries. (It is now in Pisces and moving to Aquarius, which brings in very many cultural references to new ages.) The coordinates for Mesarthim are given as 

Right Ascension 01 hours 53 minutes 31.76 seconds; 

Declination +19 degrees 17 minutes 37 seconds. 

 

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Book Review: The Science and Art of Using Telescopes

The essence of the book is given in the opening. Get past the beginner stage by finding new interests; specialize in subbranches of observational astronomy (page 2; page 4). After that, the writing devolves into a rambling monologue directed at knowledgeable amateurs. The information provided serves more as reminders of what we know, rather than providing new learning or directing us to important resources. Early on and throughout, the author tells us to find out about the current markets for instruments and accessories by referring to “monthly magazines” none of which he names. In point of fact, Popular Astronomy from the SPA appears bi-monthly, and the independent Amateur Astronomy comes out quarterly. The book offers no suggestions for websites, discussion boards, chatrooms such as Facebook and Reddit, or other online social media.

Author Philip Pugh does name his favorite brand of equipment, Sky-Watcher. He cites them 16 times (as “Skywatcher”), which is as often as he cites Meade (7), Celestron (6), Takahashi (2), Astro-Physics (1) , and Tele Vue (1) combined. Other labels are similarly passed over with brief mentions. 

The Science and Art of Using Telescopes
by Philip Pugh, Springer, 2009. 

The references to Astro-Physics and Tele Vue underscore the fact that this book is poorly edited. The brand names are misspelled as Astro Physics (page 250) and indexed as Astro physics; and Televue. Takahashi is misspelled as Takashi (page 28) and Takahasi (page 250). Plossl (never, as proper, Plössl or Ploessl) appears in the index as two lists: Plossl and Plossl eyepiece. 

 

Those small errors reveal the lack of professional proofreading. That speaks to the painfully obvious fact that this book reads like a first draft. The author loves (even in parenthetical comments!) exclamation points! Pugh just wrote this off the top of his head and Springer accepted it uncritically.

 

As an indication that the author did not have his manuscript fact-checked by an independent reader or even check his own work, the definition of ED (extra-low dispersion glass) is wrong, and wrongly stated. He calls ED “extra dispersion” throughout the book, and in the Glossary: “An extra dispersion lens is an improvement in the achromatic objective lens theme where it uses extra dispersion flint glass to improve performance.” (page 368). 

ED Extra-low dispersion

"Nikon's original ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass lenses effectively compensate for color fringing especially at high magnification." -- https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/sportoptics/how_to/guide/fieldscopes/choosing/choosing_03.htm

"ED stands for "extra-low dispersion," which refers to the composition and optical properties of the glass used for the lenses.  ED glass is specially formulated and contains rare-earth compounds that greatly reduce a visual defect called chromatic aberration." -- https://www.celestron.com/pages/ed-glass

ED glass enhances apochromatic lens design by producing extra-low dispersion of the wavelengths of light passing through it thereby giving an even better apochromatic performance.  -- https://explorescientificusa.com/collections/apo-triplet

In this chart, standard glass is shown on the far left. To the right of it are two commonly used extra low dispersion (ED) glasses. -- https://www.stellarvue.com/optical-glass-types/

Perhaps the hallmark of his style is that he avoids unequivocal statements. Pugh cannot discuss telescopes (pages 6-8) without digressing to his preferred choices among binoculars, even though “Choosing Binoculars” is the next section after “Choosing a Telescope.” Paradoxically, that section is not at all about choosing a single telescope but argues very well that you need more than one. The author’s apparent fear of absolute statements results in meaningless advice. “While it is true that the Usual Suspects (see the appendix) can sometimes look better under clear conditions, some gems such as M81 in its full glory have to be enjoyed while the chance is there.” (page 41). That sounds like good advice: whatever your skies right now, take the opportunity to view what you can. But if you read the words carefully, Pugh is saying that M81 can be seen in its full glory even though not under clear conditions, which contradicts the opening clause. 

 

That example is from the section “Too Cloudy to Go Out?” (page 40-41) which is about why is it not really too cloudy to go out because telescopes can often cut through poor seeing conditions. Faint clusters, dim companion stars, and more can all be viewed under bad conditions. I get the point, but an editor would have retitled the heading. 

 

Aversion to unequivocal assertions delivers many instances of “however.”  

“Unguided exposures at long focal lengths can be troublesome on some mounts because of tracking errors. However, you will find that auto-guiding can compensate for this very well. Celestron offers a version of this mount. Moving up in quality and performance, companies such as Astro Physics, Takahasi [sic], and Software Bisque manufacture excellent mounts. However, considering the typical cost, they are not mounts for a beginner!” (page 250). 

Why are such mounts not suitable for a beginner who can afford them? He never says. 

It is disappointing in a book that recommends finding new interests that the author provided no pointers to the organizations that support the many sub-branches of observational astronomy and citizen science. On page 114, the author discusses occultations but only someone who knows the hobby well would know about the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) or the fact the the Society for Popular Astronomy has an Occultation section and that the chair of that committee will generate a spreadsheet for you of occultations predicted for your location. Similarly, for lunar, solar, and planetary viewing (Chapters 2, 3, 4), the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) was founded in 1947 for amateurs, and the American Astronomical Society (open to amateurs) also has its Division for Planetary Sciences. For deep sky viewing, AAVSO (the American Association of Variable Star Observers) maintains a peer-reviewed archive of data, much of it provided by amateurs.

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70-mm Shootout

Start with the mount. Just as the scabbard called “Avalon” was more powerful than “Excalibur” (the blade it sheathed), the positioning mechanism (“mount”) is more important than the telescope. In every case here, you could keep the telescope, but throw out the mount. But any telescope is better than no telescope. Given the limitations, if $159 is your price point, then these will show the stars you cannot see.  

Meade 70-mm StarPro Refractor

Celestron 70-mm AstroMaster Refractor

National Geographic 70-mm Refractor

Celestron AstroMaster 70 AZ Refractor Focal length=900mm; ratio f/13. $189.95 from Mile High Astro. Comes with two Kellner oculars, 20mm and 10mm.

 

Meade StarPro AZ 70mm Refractor Focal length=700mm; ratio f/10. $159.99 from Mile High Astro. Comes with three Kellner eyepieces, 26mm, 9mm, and 6.3mm oculars; and a 2X Barlow lens.

National Geographic Refractor Focal length=700; ratio f/10. $109.99 from Explore Scientific. Comes with two Ploessl oculars, 26mm and 9.7mm, and a 2X Barlow lens.

 

The Meade mount is not easy to use. Altitude and Azimuth clutches must be very, very tight and even then, the azimuth does not work well when it works at all. At best I can turn the handle and at the same time nudge the telescope from the strut. 

CELESTRON
PAN-TILT MOUNT

The Celestron pan-tilt mount is even worse. It is too tight even after disassembly, degreasing, and relubrication with WD-40 Silicon. In these tests, the Celestron was usually on an Explore Scientific First Light mount. In fact, after fighting with the mounts, the first night, I set them into an Explore Scientific Twilight I mount for its ease and stability. 

The mount and tripod of the National Geographic is a bad design. The altitude (or declination) is a twist knob screw drive and that works well. However, the thumbwheel for the right-left (azimuth or right ascension) was immovable with my left thumb, and jerky with my right.

Overall, the Meade is the best of three. I was disappointed in the Celestron because I had hoped to make good use of its longer 900 mm focal length. However, it did not stand up to simple backyard stargazing. The National Geographic was worst of the three. The objective lens was flawed, displaying ghost images from internal reflection. I already own a National Geographic that I was happy with and I bought this to test against it. The new one is not as good as the old one. The old one does not have ghosts.

From Star Ware by Philip S. Harrington

The Meade and Celestron come with Kellner eyepieces, a basic three-element design from the 19th century. Today, the baseline is the Ploessl design, also from the 19th century, but a more sophisticated four lens system that became popular in the 1980s. Kellners are considered to be cheap downgrades for these entry-level instrument packages. The National Geographic Ploessl eyepieces are Bresser branded. 

Overall, these do their best work with stars, not planets. With all three, among the first views were the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), resolving the interior Trapezium group, and then turning to the nearby open cluster Messier 41 (below Sirius). The last sessions were simple tours of the rich star field near Delta Cygni, the center of the Swan or Northern Cross. It was enjoyable because the area offers so many stars including red giants and binary stars. 

Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus were all challenging and disappointing in all three telescopes. I could identify the planets. The rings of Saturn were easy to define. However, all were plagued by cloudy, foggy glare from the bright disks. 

However, the Meade had a saving grace. It comes with an aperture reducer, a clever old hack from experienced observers, a mask--in this case a hole in the dust cover--which allows a limited cone of light increasing the focal ratio by reducing the aperture in order to bring out more details in planets, but at a cost of brightness.

After trying out all three in their "native mode" with the eyepieces provided in the package, I followed the advice offered by a customer service representative from Mile High Astro and tried them with my best oculars. 

06 November 2021 Testing with the best oculars: 

TeleVue Nagler-1 82-degree 7mm

Meade 82-degree 14mm

Vixen SLV 25mm. 

 

(discount priced)
Meade logo but no name
Series 5000 14 mm
82-degree field of view

1915 hours

Meade 70-mm StarPro with 7-mm. Nagler 

Saturn. 1 band north. 1 ring. Some hint of texture to the ring on the east side.

Titan? and Tethys? (It seemed so at the time, but the Sky & Telescope “Saturn” page (here) says no: these were just stars in the field.)

 

Jupiter. Hard to focus. Some chromatic aberration but north and south bands visible and some texture to equatorial region.

 

1938 hours

Celestron 70-mm AstroMaster with 7-mm Nagler.

Saturn. Hazy. Foggy. Titan (or star) discernable. Ring visible. 1 band north. Near limit of resolution. Image spotty and grainy.

1947 hours

Nagler 7mm Type 1

82-degree Field of View

12mm Eye Relief

7 element system

Jupiter. Hazy. Foggy. Near limit of resolution? (Inspected objective lens and diagonal prism for dew or condensation, but both were clear.)

 

1955 hours

Celestron 70-mm AstroMaster with 14-mm Meade.

Jupiter smaller (of course). Not as foggy. Still hints of diffraction rings. Two bands discernable. 

(Checked magnification: 900 / 14 = 64+. It should be a clear view.)

 

2005 hours

Meade 70-mm StarPro with Meade 82-degree 14mm.  (50X)

Jupiter. Nice view. 2 bands. Some chromatic aberration.  Not bad.

Used aperture reducer. Sharper image. More detail on planet. Not as bright. But more detail in the equatorial between the bands North and South.

 

2016

Meade 70-mm StarPro with Meade 82-degree 14mm.  (50X)

Saturn with aperture reducer.

Vixen SLV
Lanthanum coated
Twist-up eye cup
All metal body

Sharp image. No bands visible. Titan (?) discernable though faint, of course and one more moon (?) behind the planet. 

2032

Meade 70-mm StarPro with Vixen SLV 25-mm

Delta Cygni region. 

Lots of stars. Focus OK, not perfect, but close. Scanning area, settled on a red star at center and a discernable binary to the north or east. Lots of stars to look at in my Bortle 7-8 with no Milky Way. The telescope comes with a Modified Achromatic (Kellner) 26-mm, which is OK.

07 November 2036

Celestron 70-mm AstroMaster with Vixen SLV 25-mm Delta Cygni region. (see above: The area is rich with targets to observe, record, and enjoy. This telescope comes with two eyepieces, 10mm and 20mm, which magnify too much (45X and 90X) for broad and wide fields such as this, the Pleiades, and the Moon.  

Because the project began with the challenge to split the double-double of epsilon Lyrae with a 70-mm refractor, here are those notes.

 

01 November 2021

Celestron AstroMaster 70-mm refractor.

1948 Installed Celestron Lens&Filter kit Ploessl 6mm and kit 2X Barlow and successfully split the companions E Lyrae E1A and E Lyrae E2A. 

Smaller, of course,
but about like this

05 November 2021

1955 Chasing epsilon Lyrae.

2011 Chasing epsilon Lyrae.

Celestron 70-mm AstroMaster with 8mm Celestron Ploessl and 2X Barlow.

Note that northern members are touching. Western pair definitely separated. I tried the 6mm with 2X Barlow but it was just too hard to fight with the pan-tilt camera mount.

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

 

Focus on Georg-Simon Ploessl 

Product Review Celestron AVX Mount and Tripod 

Galileo and Saturn: Epistemology, not Optics 

Observing with NASA: An Open Platform for Citizen Science 

Below the fold.

Open the Jump to see all of the notes that I took 31 October to 05 November 2021.