The Webb Deep-Sky Society
I grew up in Western New York State not very far from Niagara Falls and close to the Canadian border. My interest in astronomy started while in elementary school in the 1960’s – during the height of the space race to the Moon. I was voracious reader and soon I read all kinds of astronomical literature including my father’s college textbooks. During the early 1970’s, I found an old pair of 6 x 30mm binoculars and coupled with introductory observing guides I started my first survey of the sky. I received my first “real” telescope in 1975 - an Edmund 4 ¼ (110mm) f/10 reflector on an equatorial mount. Within a year, I had surveyed the entire Messier catalogue, plus a couple hundred deep-sky objects (DSO's). However, in the span of a year, “aperture fever” hit, and I began to scrimp and save for a larger instrument more suited to my needs. After a long summer working in an ice cream plant, I bought a Cave 8” (200mm) f/7 OTA on a massive, homemade equatorial mount.
This scope was a real workhorse, and I often put it pushed it to the max under less than ideal conditions. My observatory at the time was located in upstate Western New York – in an area affectionately known as the “snow-belt”. During the long, harsh winter it wasn’t uncommon to clear a path to the observatory through snow up to 1 meter deep. Nevertheless, I would observe over 1500 DSO’s in a span of ten years before moving to the much more balmy climes of Atlanta, Georgia in 1987.
I soon joined the Atlanta Astronomy Club (AAC), which gave me ready access to large aperture telescopes up to 50cm in diameter. Faint spiral structure, wispy plumes, H II regions, and distant extra-galactic globular clusters that were very difficult or impossible to detect with my 20cm scope were now common observing targets. I started to record many of my observations as drawings in notebooks, and as of today I have hundreds of detailed sketches of DSO’s made with a wide variety of instruments. In 1996, I received the graphics award from the Web Society for my many drawings I have contributed over the years.
Although I consider myself an observational “generalist” (I observe deep-sky and solar system objects with equal tenacity) – I do prefer the more unusual objects or trying to pick out details that other observers may have missed. My favorite galaxy targets include the structures of interacting galaxies; detecting spiral arms, H II regions and other structures; emission-line and Wolf-Rayet galaxies; ring galaxies of all types and objects from the Arp and Hickson Catalogues to name a “few”. I also like to observe challenging diffuse and planetary nebulae – especially those objects that lie off the beaten track.
Today I observe with a wide variety of instruments including those provided by the AAC, and my own rebuilt truss-tube 44cm Coulter and a 120mm f/5 rich-field refractor. Most of observing sites I have access to are not especially “dark”, most have limiting visual magnitudes in the range of 6.0 to 6.5. Only a couple locations – one in the North Georgia Mountains and the other near Chiefland, Fla. have skies that come close to 7.0 magnitude.
Over the past ten years, I have written numerous articles for not only the Webb Society, but also for other astronomical publications such as Amateur Astronomy, Astronomy Magazine, Sky & Telescope, and Magellan (German), plus contributions in several observation books. The topics have been extremely diverse ranging from astronomical history, observation of DSO’s, drawing at the eyepiece, and even a few weird “tall tales”.
I hope I can re-vitalize the galaxy
section and provide inspiration and guidance for observers of the deep sky. I
plan to attain more focus in the section by providing some recommended lists of
targets that would be both interesting and visible
in a wide variety of scopes and observing sites.
Happy hunting,
Richard Jakiel
5186 Big “A” Road
Douglasville, GA, USA 30135