Starwatchers revel in their ‘grunt work’

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, August 12, 2006

By day, Dr. Don Dillinger meets with patients at his Everett clinic.

By night, the Snohomish man trolls the universe in search of exploding stars and roaming asteroids.

Dillinger estimates he’s spent about $25,000 on his amateur astronomy hobby since picking up binoculars 15 years ago and seeing Jupiter’s moons march around the planet.

He’s even built his own observatory – a shed with a retractable roof – on his family’s hilltop property.

This week, Dillinger found himself examining a speck in the cosmos 300 million light years away, in hopes it could be a supernova.

If it looks likely, he’ll have a fellow amateur astronomer in France verify the finding, then forward the information to a central reporting agency in Massachusetts to be shared with the world.

“Under ideal circumstances, we can do some work the science community doesn’t have the funding for,” Dillinger said. “It’s more kind of drudge work the real experts prefer not to take up their valuable telescope time. So a lot of the grunt work can be done by amateurs.”

The doctor is one of thousands of amateur astronomers, many of whom are now helping advance scientific discoveries from their own back yards.

Digital imaging and the Internet have revolutionized the way space and its countless inhabitants are mapped.

Before, taking a visual inventory of space required observatories, arduous film processes and, most of all, time.

Today, specialized digital cameras take images within minutes. And computers can operate telescopes to keep scanning patches of sky while their owners sleep.

“Amateurs today are probably just as capable as the professionals 50 years ago … if not better,” said David Espinoza of Clearview, who is finishing his own $7,000 home observatory.

Espinoza was searching for his own dark sky site to buy when he heard of the Seattle Astronomical Society’s Dark Sky Site effort. He joined, though he’s still hoping to buy his own patch of land, too.

The Microsoft worker and his wife have already invested a lot of money in their hobby, from the observatory to telescopes to trips.

“I’m just dabbling right now,” he said, without a hint of irony.

Indeed, while amateurs say binoculars or a basic 4-inch telescope from Wal-Mart would be sufficient for the hobby, many don’t stay there for long.

Cliff and Rabbitt Boyer of Coupeville bought their daughter a 41/2-inch Meade telescope, but Cliff got to it first.

“He got bit by the bug, and she had to find another Christmas present,” Rabbitt Boyer said.

Boyer got her husband a papa bear-sized 10-inch telescope instead.

“I’ve always been a science fiction fanatic,” Cliff Boyer said. “Now I have the ability to go and look at stars I’ve read about. Not to mention it’s just plain beautiful to go out there and look at it. And it’s challenging.”

Boyer is seeing how far his telescope can take him, though he’s sure he’ll never be fully satisfied.

“He’d like to lasso the Hubble,” his wife said. referring to NASA’s orbiting observatory.

Light pollution, or sky glow, is the excessive light given off by cities and other populated areas. Imagine the night skys natural background as if all of the lights in the world were turned off then compare that to what you actually see.

According to Sky and Telescope magazine, a typical suburban sky today is about 5 to 10 times brighter at the zenith than the natural sky. In city centers, the zenith may be 25 or 50 times brighter than the natural background.

Dark sky sites are areas that escape the light. At their most ideal say, in the middle of the ocean even the faintest of phenomena can be seen with the naked eye.

The Seattle Astronomical Societys Dark Sky Site group is seeking a dark sky site in Eastern Washington. Its criteria:

* Dark sky

* Around 20 acres

* Southern sky exposure

* Maximum three-hour drive from Seattle

* Minimum of eight months accessibility

* 2,000 to 4,000 feet in altitude

* Accessible without 4-wheel drive

* Flat areas for concrete pads and parking

* Not too windy

* Will still be dark in 10 to 20 years

Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.