Friday, March 18, 2005

Dwight as Astronomer and Rocketeer

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dwight told me that once when he was very young our dad took him outside and spent a little time gazing with him at the heavens. It was at that moment that Dwight would dedicate part of his life to exploring the wonders of the universe. Sometime around 1970 we bought our first 4 inch reflector scopes and would call each other to share some simple observing episode (I was in Alabama, he was in New Jersey or DC). I'll need to get more time details from Louise. I moved to Colorado in 1972. Louise and Paul moved from New Jersey to Christiansburg, VA. soon after that. Then, Louise and Paul moved to Colorado in 1976 and our parents moved from New Jersey to Christiansburg. Dwight moved down to Christiansburg. He lived in Newport and Christiansburg. During that time Dwight built his own 6 or 8 inch octagonal wooden reflector. He spent hours viewing and photographing the heavens. He created his own dark room by sealing off his bathroom. Dwight worked as a maintenance supervisor and Virginia Tech. He (of course) got to know the astronomers there, and started sending me some pictures taken through their large telescope. They trusted him with access to all of their scopes, as time would permit. Somewhere around 1982 Dwight called me very excited. He had purchased a 17 inch reflector!! He built his own telescope dome in my parents yard with a a rotating top that rested on golf balls for bearings!! I think that it was around this time that Dwight met Dave Walker and the two of them spent many many nights chasing sky objects. At the same time I bought an 8 inch celestron. My parents passed away at the end of 85 and in 86 I packed up my clestron and headed for Key Largo to share with Dwight the event of my parents taking off on Halley's Comet. The week before he died, Dwight called me excitedly again. He had just ordered a pair of 100 mm binoculars for sky viewing. I think that he had only had a chance to look through them one evening. I have the fortune to be living in very dark sky southwestern Colorado. I have a site that has the most remarkable viewing. Roberta and I will get my celestron and Dwight's 100mm's set up for viewing. Some of you can expect a call at 2:00 AM sometime in the future!

Anonymous said...

Dwight mounted an 8mm camera on the head of his rockets! Yes, he was able to figure out how to have the 8mm movie camera start recording as it was desending by parachute!