Space Fan News Live in 2014
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Space Fan News Live in 2014 - Video

Kepler Observations Confirmed; Hubble #39;s 1st Frontier Field; JWST Mission Status
Live streaming from the AAS last week can be seen here: http://ustream.tv/channel/hubble-stream Kepler: http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasa-kepler-provides-...

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Kepler Observations Confirmed; Hubble's 1st Frontier Field; JWST Mission Status - Video

John Dobson, a former monk and self-taught stargazer who developed a powerful, inexpensive telescope that almost anyone could build and showed thousands how to do it during five decades as one of public astronomy's most influential evangelists, has died. He was 98.

Dobson died Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said Bob Alborzian, coordinator of the Burbank chapter of Sidewalk Astronomers, an international organization that Dobson helped found in 1968. Dobson had been in poor health since a stroke a few years ago.

Called the "Johnny Appleseed of amateur astronomy," the lanky, ponytailed Dobson started building telescopes in the 1950s when he was a monk at the Vedanta Monastery in San Francisco. His passion for the hobby led to his expulsion, freeing him to become a roving ambassador for the simple joys of studying the nighttime sky.

"He really wanted to just share viewing the sky with people," said Anthony Cook, astronomical observer at Griffith Observatory. "He created a hobby and a type of telescope that ensured that people could build their own and look farther across the universe than was possible for most people before his time."

Dobson used cheap or salvaged materials such as ship portholes and cardboard tubing to make his telescopes, the most radical feature of which is a simple, sturdy and highly effective wooden mount that allows users to easily point the scope at any spot in the sky.

His design was eventually embraced by commercial manufacturers, who advertise the telescopes as "Dobsonians." They remain "one of the most popular telescopes on the market," said Dennis di Cicco, senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.

Dobsonian telescopes have made important contributions to astronomy, including the discovery in 1995 of Comet Hale-Bopp, the farthest comet ever discovered by amateurs. One of its namesakes, Tom Bopp, was using a Dobsonian.

Alborzian, who had known Dobson since 1968, said he once urged Dobson to patent his design. Dobson refused. "He said, 'These are gifts to humanity,'" Alborzian recalled. "His goal was to open astronomy to the common man."

Dobson had his critics. He did not, for instance, subscribe to the big-bang theory but favored the idea of a "steady-state" universe with no beginning and no end. "I'm not interested in just the stars," he told The Times in 2005. "I'm interested in the whole ball of wax."

Although the steady-state theory has been widely discredited, Dobson was an unwavering supporter, which caused many in the astronomy establishment to dismiss him.

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John Dobson dies at 98; former monk developed easy-to-make telescope

CLARKSBURG The Central Appalachian Astronomy Club and Dominion Resources held Astronomy Day Saturday afternoon at the Gaston Caperton Center Fairmont State University Clarksburg Campus.

This annual event takes place every January and welcomed all ages to come out and enjoy the wonders of the sky.

Joe Gonzales, one of the founding members of the club, said this was the 14th year for the event, and the turnout continues to increase.

One of the featured speakers was Mark Indy Kochte, operation specialist for the Messenger Mission, with an inspiring presentation of "Comets Messengers from the Depths Of Space.

Comet is derived from Greek, and means long-haired star, Kochte said.

Kochte added the Messenger is a spacecraft orbiting Mercury.

Time-lapse photography is one of Kochtes hobbies that he does for fun on the side.

The videos normally take a couple weekends to put together, Kochte added.

Kochte has attended Astronomy Day for the past 12 or 13 years and said it is a great opportunity for people to learn something about space that they do not already know, and they can learn from someone who has direct experience in the subject.

Depth and detail are key when providing information, Kochte said.

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Astronomy Day turnout on increase