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Brian Brengle is looking for people interested in taking trips to the stars. The Sussex Astronomy Society begins the first leg of its journeys to heavenly bodies, near and distant, at the Milton Public Library.
“This is fun stuff,” said Brengle, Sussex Astronomy Society founding member.
The astronomy society’s first meeting, in June, was light years from being a big bang. The event barely registered a whimper as only one person – Brengle – showed up.
“I started wondering. Is it possible that no one around here is interested in astronomy?” Brengle said.
With Milton librarian Gail Young’s assistance, Brengle said word of the astronomy society’s gatherings has been spreading – not quite at the speed of light – but slowly pushing toward the outer limits.
Astronomy society gatherings are open to anyone who is interested in learning about the cosmos and delving into its countless mysteries.
Brengle, 42, lives in Milton. He said a discovery made in the early 1990s by David Levy and Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker sparked his interest in astronomy.
“They were comet hunters. They would spend clear nights in an observatory hunting new comets,” he said.
Levy and Gene Shoemaker would photograph targeted areas of sky, and Carolyn would examine the images looking for comets.
In 1993 their efforts paid off when they codiscovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
After independent confirmation of the find, astronomers determined the comet’s fate – it was headed for impact on Jupiter.
“I remembered hearing about it but I got so busy that I missed seeing it slam into Jupiter. It was something that you could have seen with an amateur-sized telescope.
“I kicked myself over it because it was an unprecedented event in human history that, for the most part, has gone pretty much unnoticed,” Brengle said.
He said the comet’s collision with Jupiter shook up the field of astronomy, challenging theories about impacts that had occurred on the Moon and on Earth.
“Up until that time they really hadn’t come to grips with the fact that objects can still hit other objects in the solar system – mainly the Earth,” Brengle said.
After paying $90 for a telescope, which he purchased from a well-known retailer of products imported from China and sold at always-low prices, Brengle said he thought he was ready for serious stargazing.
“I had no idea what I was doing. It was a waste of money,” he said about the telescope, which frustrated him because of its limited capabilities.
Brengle said he began reading about astronomy, immersing himself in textbooks, and studying periodicals such as Sky & Telescope and Astronomy Magazine. He also learned to use star charts – maps of the sky.
“I knew I had to teach myself the constellations and I had to begin to really understand things about our solar system. I became aware of many objects that I could see – other than the planets,” he said.
Brengle said that’s when he jettisoned his first telescope and purchased a 10-inch Dobsonian telescope. (Attend a Sussex Astronomy Society gathering to learn about Dobsonian and other types of telescopes.)
Brengle said those attending astronomy society gatherings learn not only where to look for interesting objects, but also how to avoid mistakes – like buying a telescope that’s better for bird watching than Betelgeuse viewing.
Although everything about astronomy isn’t easily understood, its scope is vast, something many enjoy.
Brengle said those who might be intimidated by astronomy’s mathematics shouldn’t worry – it’s not essential to still lear things.
“It’s informative and it’s fun to open people’s minds to the fact that we have celestial neighbors,” Brengle said.
He said the Sussex Astronomy Society isn’t – and he doesn’t want it to become – stuffy and inaccessible. So, the society has attendees, not members, and it holds gatherings – sometimes parties – but not meetings, Brengle said.
He said about 15 people attended the society’s July 26 star party at Broadkill Beach.
Star parties are gatherings of amateur astronomers to view the nighttime sky. They’re typically held away from light-polluted areas – locations with numerous sources of outdoor lighting, which interfere with observations.
Brengle said Jupiter and its Great Red Spot were among the recent party’s target objects.
“Viewing was pretty good. I’d give it a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10,” he said.
Brengle’s van is his sky lab on wheels. In it he transports telescopes, the Dobsonian and its base; a 4-inch Newtonian reflector; an 80mm Meade refractor; eyepieces; tripods; star charts; galactic images; and a variety of astronomy books and literature.
He shares the equipment and materials with astronomy society attendees who might still be investigating what it’s all about.
For Brengle, astronomy’s all about the big picture – the really big picture of the universe unfolding right before our eyes.
“Everything that we look at in the heavens we look at in the past,” he said.
The Sussex Astronomy Society meets at 6:30 p.m., on the first Thursday of the month, at the Milton Public Library. The next meeting is Aug. 7.
For more information, contact Brengle at 302-265-6535 or email brianngc5307@verizon.net.
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