May 7 is Astronomy Day. On the eve of the holiday, the correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda talked with a citizen of Kirov, who not only became interested in the stars, but was able to interest nine thousand countrymen - that is how many subscribers on VKontakte his group “Amateur Astronomy in Kirov” has.
EXPENSIVE STARRY HOBBY
Alexey Sykchin is a chemist by education. Last year he completed his postgraduate studies at Vyatka State University, and is currently preparing his Ph.D. thesis in electrochemistry. But, in addition to this science, he is very much attracted to the starry sky. Now he teaches astronomy at the technical school.
For 15 years, a citizen of Kirov has been observing the starry sky and improving his knowledge in astronomy. Where and when interest in this science arose is now difficult to say - it seems that he has always been with him, from early childhood. Alexei took his first information from books and popular science films. Then I found information about amateur astronomy and a map of the starry sky and moved from theory to practice.
“I was 13 at the time,” the young man recalls. - I started to get involved in practical astronomy in the winter of 2007. I then had a small monocular with a magnification of 10 times. With its help, he observed celestial objects in the conditions of the city, and later began to take the first astrophotographs of the Moon.
Two years later, his parents gave the young man a small telescope for his birthday. After becoming a student, he set aside a scholarship for a year and a half, sold the old telescope and bought a more powerful one. However, when deepening into astronomy and astrophotography, a new technique was needed. And Alexey bought another telescope, which is controlled by a computer.
- With its help, I take high-quality photographs of objects in deep space: nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, - explains an amateur astronomer. - For all the time I spent about 350 thousand rubles on equipment. Amateur astronomy is an expensive hobby.
EVERYONE CAN LOOK AT THE SKY OBJECTS
In October 2013, Alexey created the Amateur Astronomy in Kirov group on the social network. She now has over 9,000 subscribers. It all started with the idea to unite amateur astronomers of the city and the region and give everyone the opportunity to look at celestial objects, to touch the beauties of space. There are more and more people who want it.
In the group, a citizen of Kirov announces various astronomical events, uploads photographs of celestial phenomena, information on joint meetings, out-of-town trips and city observations.
When Vladimir Surdin, an astronomer, scientist, author of books and popularizer of science, came to Kirov at the invitation of the ICAAE (Information Center for Atomic Energy - Ed.), astronomy lovers arranged a personal meeting with him. Alexey managed to communicate with Vladimir Georgievich in an informal setting, to talk about life and common passion.
Amateur astronomers usually hold meetings once every three weeks - they discuss the accumulated issues, and on trips they look at celestial objects through telescopes. Doing this in the company of understanding like-minded people is both more useful and more interesting than doing it alone.
- Anyone who becomes interested in this science can join our community, - says Alexey. And we will teach you everything. I help beginners in assembling and setting up the telescope. I can advise where to buy good quality equipment. In our city, telescopes are also sold - usually in optics stores, but there is also one specialized point. In general, very high-quality equipment is now available to amateur astronomers, and, for example, even in summer cottages, you can get photographs of the level of professional astronomers. The main thing is to shoot away from the city, so that the illumination from the lanterns does not interfere.
This is not the end of Alexei's activities in popularizing practical astronomy - he also conducts open popular science lectures. The next one is scheduled for May 27 at the library. Herzen during the "Library Night in Gerzenk". He also works with children: for two years in a row he comes to the Klyuchevsky Center for Gifted Schoolchildren in the Penza Region and conducts master classes in observational astronomy and astrophotography there.
NOT ONLY STARS…
What do we see when we look at the night sky? Usually two Bears and beyond are "just stars." But an experienced eye distinguishes among them the figures of constellations, and armed with technology, it even examines the planets and objects of deep space.
The Kirov astronomer says that in our city, the constellations of the northern hemisphere, all the planets of the solar system, and craters, mountains, seas on the Moon, and even such rare atmospheric phenomena as the aurora borealis or noctilucent clouds are available for observation. The list of all the objects and events that observant Kirov residents can see does not end here: the “jellyfish” from the launch of a space rocket, various types of halo, solar and lunar eclipses, bright meteor showers, spots on the Sun.
- There are a lot of interesting things in the sky, - Alexei believes. The main thing is to watch and not miss the moment. Among the celestial events there are those that can be seen only once in a lifetime. So on June 6, 2012 in the Kirov region it was possible to observe the transit of Venus across the solar disk - the rarest predicted astronomical phenomenon, which next time will occur only on December 11, 2117.
But Alexey has been attracted by astronomy for so many years not only with its “rarities”, but rather with different facets. - If in my childhood I was interested in astronomy as a science, now it is more about aesthetics, - shares the citizen of Kirov. - It is very impressive when you see with your own eyes a distant celestial object, which is tens or even hundreds of light years away. Looking at the stars, we see the past, because the light took time to reach us. It is very cool and interesting when you yourself manage to photograph a distant galaxy.
I must say that astrophotography is a rather difficult task and requires certain skills. Galaxies and nebulae are beyond the power of a beginner - here you need the knowledge of an advanced amateur astronomer and sophisticated equipment. But the astroscape can be done with a simple camera on a tripod. You will need a telescope to take pictures of the moon and planets.
During his passion for astronomy, Alexei has already accumulated several hundred photographs of celestial objects and phenomena. So far, he is posting them in his group, but plans to arrange an exhibition in the near future.
