If you’re a regular reader of these pages, you probably know we’re pretty big fans of the Concord Public Library. After all, what’s not to love about a nice place in the center of town that always has all kinds of interesting, fun and, most important, free activities going on.
Although libraries are typically known for books, this particular library is always looking for new and innovative ways to engage with the community and provide cool resources to its patrons, from worm races to puppet shows and everything in between.
One of the cooler attractions the library has added in recent memory is a telescope, courtesy of the New Hampshire Astronomical Society. It’s an Orion StarBlast 4.5” telescope, which of course is a pretty high-end device, and it’s your ticket to the stars.
The library allows you to check the telescope out for a week at a time, and they ask that you buckle it in like a child when you drive home with it – this thing isn’t cheap and you don’t want it flying off the seat because that guy in the mini van cut you off.
I have to say, it felt a little odd driving around with an inanimate object buckled in and riding shotgun. Not that it felt bad, just, different.
The library staff doesn’t give a ton of pointers on the actual operation of the scope – there’s an instruction manual for that. The telescope also comes with a handy little guide to the stars, so you can (maybe) figure out exactly what it is that you’re looking at, or what you’re trying to look for.
The manual includes lots of tips, the most important one being: Never look directly at the sun! Although this may be obvious, it is worth mentioning – the instruction book warns you, in red lettering, a total of three times never to do this. Not only could you cause permanent damage to your eyes after only an instant of looking at the sun, but even pointing this thing at the big star will melt pieces of it – who wants to be on the hook for that? Plus, the sun is pretty big and bright, you shouldn’t really need a telescope to see it.
Now as far as my actual experience of looking at the stars, well, there wasn’t much of one.
Despite a careful study of the instruction manual, I struggled to ever get anything in focus through the viewfinder.
One problem I had was with the EZ Finder, which looks a lot like a laser sight for a rifle. It’s supposed to turn on and show a red dot that appears to float in space, but I never saw the dot – possibly dead batteries? I don’t blame the library for this, I just had trouble with it.
Beyond that, I tried adjusting everything that would adjust but all I saw was a blur. I made atttempts at two locations – one at home about a block outside of downtown Concord and one outside the Monitor offices in dark East Concord. Maybe it’s too bright around downtown, I thought, but I had the same issues on Monitor Drive.
I’m sure, as a telescoping rookie, I just wasn’t doing it right. Don’t be discouraged by my misfortune.
If you want to give it a whirl and show me how it’s done, call over to the library (225-8670) and ask to reserve the telescope.
