A Weekend with Jack Newton

I thought I was a starry eyed kid before! I ventured to Jack Newton's bed and breakfast observatory, but I had no idea what i was getting myself into. It was an inspiring experience!

Jack's Solar Views

As one who has always been fascinated by astronomy ( I received a four and a half inch newtonian reflector on a solid equatorial mount for Christmas), I took my daughter, Jenna, age 16,to Osoyoos,B.C., to Jack's bed and breakfast observatory on Anarchist mountain, June 22nd; Just in time for Mars' closest approach to the Earth in thirteen years. Although Mars was disappointing,(too far south for good seeing), the rest of the universe unfolded before our eyes, under Jack's tutelage. Even Jack commented that the seeing was exceptional, and the naked eye view was bright through the dome opening, with Cygnus, Aquila, and the Milky Way glowing brightly.

Being around the astronomically wise is the only way to learn, for this new viewer: being around Jack Newton was like sitting at the feet of Aristotle. Jack and I even talked briefly about where the dinosaurs would be had they not been wiped out 65 million years ago, as at that time, some were hunting in packs. He felt, as we laughed,but only a half laugh, that had they made it, by now they could have been building space ships!

Jack uses the latest ccd (charged couple device, a meade 1616 chip) , astrophotographic equipment, coupled to a meade lx 200 sixteen inch scope in his home observatory. one computer is dedicated to finding and slewing to objects ( he uses a 45 million object data base!), the other for camera work.

Jack's wife, Alice! An extremely pleasant and kind lady who fashions together an awesome breakfast, mentioned the house was virtually built around the observatory: 65 dump trucks full of gravel and concrete were poured into the telescope support pier, after rebar was embedded right through the mountain bedrock. The observatory is on the third floor of his home.

He presented a slide show of his images, in a very impressive home theatre, complete with dvds, video tapes, and the latest wide screen, high definition satellite t.v.. Jenna was most impressed with the sound effects of the movie "The Matrix" here. Three guest suites top off the facility, a two, plus one, no bedroom units, and a sleeping unit, each with the most fantastic view of Osoyoos , 1500 feet below.

Another guest, and fellow astronomer Tristan, flew in in his beechcraft bonanza, from Colorado. He and Jack focused a good part of scant scope time on taking one second ccd shots of Pluto, the goal: To be the world's first to photograph Chiron (Pluto's moon), as it orbits its host planet every 6.3 days. Successive nights are required to finish this project and we do not know if they were ultimately successful or not. The goal would be accomplished by "stacking" images of Pluto,layering each photo on top of each other on successive nights. In the correct sequence, the lump, if detectable, would indicate more and more detail. Pluto, our very faint solar system neighbour (13.8 magnitude object), is, faint in itself).

We also took ccd shots of M-51, M-13, M-87 ( with a gas jet ejected from the side and clearly visible on this elliptical galaxy), and the Eagle nebula, all truly spectacular, brilliant both in ccd format and in the eyepiece. Jack's two page photograph (similar to) the Sun made this spring's April 2nd issue of Newsweek magazine, a short photo essay, entitled: "Thousand words". It was truly awe inspiring.

No less awesome though, was the ccd photograph Jenna and I took with Jack ( well, he took the image, we assisted with moral support!), using his Coronado h-alpha filter, by Santa Barbara instruments. His computer imaging skills, and equipment added the finishing touches to this truly fantastic image , now sitting in my boardroom. Clients ( I own a financial planning practise in Abbotford, B.C.) still gasp at the splendor and power of our home star close up. Most are amazed they are even looking at an image of the Sun, it is so clearly defined. A solar prominence erupts into space (five to six times the size of earth) on the upper left of the image.

We rounded out our trip to Jack's, with cherry picking and a horse back riding in the mountains near Oliver,B.C. She and I have captured a memory we will never forget, and are anxious to return, as "space" and our schedules permit.

Clear Skies! And enjoyable viewing!

Chuck Webb