"Sure you could tour the universe by web-surfing, but if you want the authentic, you'll want to join us. We are all about the original Photons!" - Richard "Scope Czar" Blake
What Will I See?
Or Photography reveals the night sky and astronomical objects in a way that no human eye, regardless of telescope size, can ever see. So instead of building up your hopes, (and ultimately your disappointment) with unrealistic photography of the Universe, we present you with comparative images. In the photo albums below (click on thumbnails for larger images) you'll see Solar System objects, and the deep space objects far beyond as photographed. Photography always wins, whether its our own Dark Ranger's astrophotography using their over the counter DSLR/mirror cameras mated to our BIG telescopes or images from the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope or other satellites. Now compare those images to the views of the same (images in the blue circles), as you are likely to see them through our BIG telescopes with your own eye.
We offer the original photons -- particles of light that have been traveling from mere light minutes in the case of our planets, to literally millions of light years in the case of other galaxies. These fragile bits of light left their source by the ga-gillions (technical term) with a survival rate of less than one in a billion, as they got veered off course by gravitational lensing of other galaxies, disappeared by black holes, absorbed by unimaginably massive clouds of interstellar dust. The vast majority of the lucky few who make it as far as Earth, will still get refracted by the water vapor and air pollution of Earth's atmosphere, or needlessly, in the last millionth of a second of their multi-million year journey, cancelled-out by the nasty photons of light pollution. Only those photons that make to the mouths of our BIG telescope are safe. Those survivors get intensified as they bounce off the mirrors, are reunited and magnified as they pass through lenses, and together plunge through your pupil. Only those photons can ascend to become a memory (that you will hopefully keep), as in a flash of biochemistry they stimulate your rods and cones, as they smack you in the back of your retina.
So... maybe? Show some ding-dang respect?!
Or at least realize and acknowledge that experiences may vary depending on whether:
1. which of these objects were in season, or as with planets, happen to be "wandering" to our side Earth while our Sun is on the other side
2. you haven't been to the eye doctor for a few years
3. you made the planning trade-off of having to book a full Moon night 'cuz that's all your schedule allowed.
4. you ignored telescope focusing instructions your Dark Ranger(s) opened with and reiterated throughout the night
5. you failed to dress warmly enough so your eyes got tired fast
6. you arrived from a long day of travel and started with exhausted eyes
7. you consumed too much alcohol and have drunken eyes and listening ability
8. humidity was too high, or breezes too strong for us to be able to use high-power eyepieces thus making highly magnified views too blurry for anybody to focus well. Sometimes smaller IS better!
9. you attended during later summer monsoon season and wimped out before the sky cleared
10. you prioritized other experiences on your vacation above stargazing and therefor it didn't make sense to book a back-up night to double your chances for getting more optimal weather.
Don't despair by the length of his list! 8 out of 10 are totally within your control. And the most important of the remaining 8, we can still help you with, if you'll let us, = focusing -- even if you never read this list.
Besides even a "results may vary" authentic stargazing experience with us is going to be better than the competition, especially if that competition was seeing the fake astronomy photons of planetariums, on-line videos/TV, video screens of fake-telescopes, etc.
We offer the original photons -- particles of light that have been traveling from mere light minutes in the case of our planets, to literally millions of light years in the case of other galaxies. These fragile bits of light left their source by the ga-gillions (technical term) with a survival rate of less than one in a billion, as they got veered off course by gravitational lensing of other galaxies, disappeared by black holes, absorbed by unimaginably massive clouds of interstellar dust. The vast majority of the lucky few who make it as far as Earth, will still get refracted by the water vapor and air pollution of Earth's atmosphere, or needlessly, in the last millionth of a second of their multi-million year journey, cancelled-out by the nasty photons of light pollution. Only those photons that make to the mouths of our BIG telescope are safe. Those survivors get intensified as they bounce off the mirrors, are reunited and magnified as they pass through lenses, and together plunge through your pupil. Only those photons can ascend to become a memory (that you will hopefully keep), as in a flash of biochemistry they stimulate your rods and cones, as they smack you in the back of your retina.
So... maybe? Show some ding-dang respect?!
Or at least realize and acknowledge that experiences may vary depending on whether:
1. which of these objects were in season, or as with planets, happen to be "wandering" to our side Earth while our Sun is on the other side
2. you haven't been to the eye doctor for a few years
3. you made the planning trade-off of having to book a full Moon night 'cuz that's all your schedule allowed.
4. you ignored telescope focusing instructions your Dark Ranger(s) opened with and reiterated throughout the night
5. you failed to dress warmly enough so your eyes got tired fast
6. you arrived from a long day of travel and started with exhausted eyes
7. you consumed too much alcohol and have drunken eyes and listening ability
8. humidity was too high, or breezes too strong for us to be able to use high-power eyepieces thus making highly magnified views too blurry for anybody to focus well. Sometimes smaller IS better!
9. you attended during later summer monsoon season and wimped out before the sky cleared
10. you prioritized other experiences on your vacation above stargazing and therefor it didn't make sense to book a back-up night to double your chances for getting more optimal weather.
Don't despair by the length of his list! 8 out of 10 are totally within your control. And the most important of the remaining 8, we can still help you with, if you'll let us, = focusing -- even if you never read this list.
Besides even a "results may vary" authentic stargazing experience with us is going to be better than the competition, especially if that competition was seeing the fake astronomy photons of planetariums, on-line videos/TV, video screens of fake-telescopes, etc.
The Solar System
Nebulae (The Births and Deaths of Stars)
Star Clusters
Other Galaxies
No photo gallery can convey the surprising strong emotions one feels when using a BIG telescope under HUGELY dark sky -- but the "Canvas of the Cosmos" comes close. If you haven't already booked your telescope tour you will after watching the video below.
