Both are go-to telescopes, meaning motors and sensors help track the objects selected by the operator.<\/p>\n
Dyck said the equipment makes it easier to introduce people to astronomy during community events.<\/p>\n
“Every time we have an event like this, the vast majority of people in this area haven’t had the chance to look through a telescope before,” Dyck said.<\/p>\n
He remembers the first time he saw Jupiter and Saturn through a telescope, describing it as a moment when he let out an audible gasp.<\/p>\n
“And I hear that reaction like later on when Saturn comes up, you’ll get to hang out here and you will get to hear people have that same reaction,” he said.<\/p>\n
Photo of the moon. Submitted by Kenton Dyck.<\/p>\n
Dyck said those first views can become the starting point for a new interest.<\/p>\n
“Now I get to be a part of that for a lot of other people,” he said. “And it’s really cool to do that because that’s often the hook for people to get if you see something cool and impactful, something gripping that kind of hooks you and now we have a hopefully a new passion for life.”<\/p>\n
The smaller telescope is also more accessible for children and wheelchair users, which Dyck said is an important part of the club’s outreach work.<\/p>\n
The telescopes can be moved into position and directed toward selected objects with the push of a button.<\/p>\n
A closer look at space<\/p>\n
When asked about his favourite star, Dyck chose a particular class of objects instead: pulsars.<\/a><\/p>\n Pulsars are neutron stars, which are the dense cores left behind after some stars explode as supernovas.<\/p>\n Dyck said pulsars are several times the mass of the sun compressed into an object about 25 kilometres across.<\/p>\n He compared the process to a figure skater pulling in her arms. As the star shrinks, its rotation speeds up.<\/p>\n Dyck said the fastest pulsars recorded have surfaces travelling at about 25 per cent of the speed of light.<\/p>\n