News / Nature
“Will do Eye Surgery for Telescope Time”
Surgeon Dr Carl Tubbs has Stars in his eyes.
Astrophotography
provides a myriad of pleasures and tribulations, from the management of
the peculiar and unpredictable nuances of mount mechanics, to the
planning and executing therein of a night’s observation, and then
finally enjoying the plethora of arts involved in making a
representation of the sky that the human eye can finally appreciate in
its own terms. As an Ophthalmologist, I find challenges in each of
these, and remain awed by what a simple digital camera can show as
compared to my personal ophthalmic “cameras” with their little exit
pupils and scotopic retinas. Wouldn’t it be great if the eye could
integrate light?
Astronomy has only become more of a personal passion over the past year or two, as I was forced to retire from my previous love- Triathlon, but the night sky has always remained a quieting partner, even as our local semi-rural community has caused it to fade slowly from its increasing light domes.
Learning the sky’s anatomy has been a slow endeavor, but now, teaching friends and students what one can see with averted gaze and even simple binoculars remains a treat; it is surprising how little most people know about the sky, yet how interested they can become when they “see”.
My Global-Rent-A-Scope subscription (GRAS) was actually a gift from my mostly understanding spouse, who I believe became somewhat sleep deprived from my travels in and out of the sliding door to the back deck in cold weather. I’m often torn between using my system at home and running a session on GRAS, but the latter systems are for the most part better behaved than my own, so I now have the pleasure of imaging with GRAS while fiddling with the home setup, obtaining different data and results.
Is there a better example of art, science and religion than one can find intertwined within astronomy? We are fortunate indeed to live in a time when our equipment allows us to see increasingly farther away to learn not only more of our origins, but about ourselves and our limitations as well.
Here’s to looking and driving back in time, while maintaining a healthy curiosity.
Dr Carl Tubbs is a GRAS Driver and Eye Surgeon in the USA.
