Halley

         (Originally posted on Mar 17, 2007 16:13)

         And talking about comets, March 15th also marked the anniversary of my encounter with yet another comet 21 years ago. The Halley. 

         Since I was about 9 years old I was fascinated by astronomy and since I was in high school I was an amateur astronomer.

         Being an amateur astronomer in Brazil in the 80s was a very frustrating activity. In that period the Brazilian government was trying to kickstart the domestic industry by forbidding imports. So if you were a musician, for example, you couldn't get your hands on high quality imported musical instruments, you had to content yourself with the low grade Brazilian made copies. And in the case of amateur astronomers it was even worse. There wasn't any Brazilian made telescopes at all, not even low grade ones. So, if you wanted to be an amateur astronomer in Brazil in that period you also had to be an amateur telescope maker. So when I was in high school me and another astronomy buff friend of mine started making our own equipment and research. It was fun and it consumed half of my free time (the other half being consumed by my other hobby: playing guitar and singing in a garage rock band. With a low-grade Brazilian made electric guitar, of course) to the horror of my mother who used to give me a hard time for fumbling with non-profitable, time-wasting activities instead of studying. She used to yell at me that I would never make any money with this astronomy nonsense. Ha! She couldn't be more wrong. Well, actually yes, she was even wronger when she forbid me to take paint and design classes because I would never make money with it... But I digress. 

         So astronomy and telescope making were very time consuming. Can you imagine how long does it take to grind and polish a block of glass by hand until you have a perfect parabolic surface? But it was fun. I loved it. We used to skip geography and history classes to get together with the physics teacher and discuss astronomy and astrophysics.

         And then by the end of 1985 we started preparing for Halley. All our equipment were specially made to photograph deep space objects. For the comet we needed a wide angle, high luminosity astrocamera. We were already developing a big telescope. We already had the mirror, a 30Cm monster that took hundreds of man-hours of painstaking polishing. But in no way this equipment was going to be ready for Halley. By chance we stumbled upon a derelict copy machine and after some major surgery we extracted from it's interior the lenses that would be our new astrocamera. And from some scrap metal and an old washing machine timer we made a motorized equatorial mount and on March, 15th, 1986 we became the first amateurs to photograph the Halley comet in Brazil.

         Here's a transcript from the article in the photo, condensed and without the unnecessary tabloid bla-bla for your convenience:

        Halley - Amateurs make equipment to take photos

         Equipped with a newtonian reflector telescope of 120mm diameter and 870mm focal distance, a telephoto lens of 180mm and a 400mm astrocamera, the students Marcos Sakaguti and Anacleto Domingos Espinosa, residents of the city of Piedade, located and photographed the Comet Halley last Saturday night in a place 3 Km from the city. All the equipment were handmade by the students.

         Sakaguti declares that all he knows about Astronomy he learned from books and doesn't intend to follow Astronomy as a career. He intends to computer sciences and have astronomy as just a hobby. Even so, both Sakaguti and Anacleto are members of the Union of Amateur Astronomers, based in São Paulo and they maintain contact with the physics professors of Sorocaba Faculty of Technology. 

         Sakaguti tells us that when he photographed the comet last Saturday the sky wasn't in good conditions for this kind of astrophotography but even so the comet could be seen through their equipment. The observer explains that Halley was located South-East at an altitude of 25 to 30 degrees. 

        He was the first amateur in the country to locate and photograph the comet.
As the best views of the comet are reserved for the next few weeks, both students intend to obtain more detailed photos. 

         Before the event of the "Halley fever" both amateurs were already busy with astronomy and astrophotography. And when they are not in the field using their equipment, Sakaguti and Anacleto are busy with another activity: the fabrication of their equipment. With lenses, mirrors and tubes in a modest workshop they produce equipments that can't be found even in the specialized market. 

About their handmade equipment, Sakaguti explains that the newtonian reflector telescope, contrary to what people believe, works not with lenses, but with parabolic mirrors. 

         Intending to get better astrophotographs, both amateurs are developing a much bigger telescope with a main mirror of 300mm of diameter and a focal distance of 1680mm, which will be the biggest amateur telescope in the country. "With this equipment we will be able to observe and photograph the most faint galaxies and nebulae", explain the student. 

         The photos and observation date of Halley obtained by Anacleto and Sakaguti are being forwarded to the National Institute of Space Research in São Jose dos Campos and to the International Halley Watch in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as data obtained in the Southern hemisphere are scarce and highly needed. 

         About the spectacle that the Halley will give to the brazilians, Sakaguti warns that too much expectancy may end in frustration: "The spectacle will be fascinating, I have no doubts, but the communication media and the commerce are making too big a deal about it and this may frustrate a lot of people". He reminds us that in 1910 in it's last apparition, the comet was 8 million Km from Earth. "This time it's closest approach will be no less than 63 million Km. And that's a very considerable difference" warns Sakaguti. 

         It's so frustrating how journalists have the ability to mess scientific information (er... Monica, if you're reading this, read it "most of the journalists"). They not only messed a lot of the information that I gave but they published the wrong photo! In the same negative I had several shots that I made while testing the equipment and then some really good shots of the Halley. And of course they had to publish the worst of the test shots. Aaaaargh!

         Even so, this article helped me get one of the best jobs I've ever had. When I was in Japan and still working in a factory I made some friends in the amateur astronomy community in Nagoya. When I showed them the astrophotographs that I'd made in Brazil with my crude hand made equipment I got the respect of those who were using state-of-the-art equipment. After some time one of them, who was a manager of a big telescope maker company (actually one of the greatest telescope company in the world) offered me a job in the company. 

         As I am an amateur I have no curriculum in the astronomical field. But I had my photos and this newspaper add and they were enough to convince the directors of the company to hire me. 

 

         That was such a great job that I never thought I would have the slightest right to dream that one day I would get.
And it was offered to me because when I was a kid I used to waste my time "fumbling with non-profitable, time-wasting activities instead of studying." 

         Mooom! Pay-back time!! 

Comet

          (Originally posted on Mar 15, 2007 03:03)

          You came most unexpectedly into my life like a comet. And like a comet you dazzled me with your brilliance and your beauty. You blazed through my skies and after a while you disappeared into the depths of space, most probably in an hyperbolical orbit, which means I'll probably never see you again.

          It was the best of the times for me. For a few months I was happy like I've never been in my life. And for a moment I thought I would be happy like that until my time comes. 

          I remember clearly the first few times we talked. You pissed me off so badly (now I know it wasn't intentional) that I almost blocked you twice. And after three weeks we met. I really thought we were just going to meet, I would give you the CD and that would be it. The next day you would become inexplicably busy and I would not see you again. I'm glad I was totally wrong this time. We went for dinner. And it was funny how we had to search the whole city for the appropriately fancy restaurant. And we dined just the two of us in that terrace. And every time you smiled it made me feel like I was looking at a Van Gogh sunset. You have no idea how much I wished a temporal displacement would collapse right there so that the evening wouldn't end so soon. I woke up early in the morning wishing to hear your voice and your laugh again but I had to refrain myself from calling you so early. I waited until the appropriatish time and sent you an sms thanking you for the wonderful evening. In a few minutes you answered me saying you will "torture" me again soon and in that afternoon you invited me for a walk in the park. After that, until we went our separate ways we met everyday with only two exceptions: the day I went to the movie set to meet Nae Caranfil and the day you took your mom to Brasov. We met everyday and when we weren't together we were messaging and talking on the phone all the time. We had nothing in common and yet we couldn't stay away from each other. We didn't even have much to talk about in the beginning, remember? "Too quiet?" But we didn't need words.

          Bucharest became a nice place to me just because you were here. I would wake up in the morning, open my bedroom window to that construction site that looked like a Mad Max movie set and I still would think "This is a nice day for the race... Because I know you will call me the moment you wake up" And you did and in that day you wrote the most beautiful words anyone ever wrote to me. No. Those were the most beautiful words I've ever read in my life. They rate about 18 MegaShakespeares in my scale. By comparison Shakespeare's own "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" somnet rates only 6 MegaShakespeares. And you told me you were not the romantic type... Remember that evening in Constanta when I told you I had to change because I thought you probably considered me too romantic and you held my hands in yours and with tears in your eyes you begged me not to change anything because we were just perfect like that, that you needed me to bring romance to your dull business-oriented life?

          I always told you that any place is fine when we're together. And I meant it. Even being hit by thunderstorm and cold rain in that mountaintop was nice. Because I kept you tight in my arms. That was the best vacation I've ever had, even though it was only one week. You changed so many things in my life. Even our long talks (after we got over the "too quiet?" phase) in the car parked at the Circus's parking lot when we didn't have where to go were nice. Or driving down that rollercoaster road from the mountains at the sound of Queen? Every time I hear Made in Heaven I think of you, of how you drove, your hands on the stearing wheel and the way you would flick your eyes between the road and me. I know I used to tease you about the way you drove. But you know I was only kidding and I trusted your driving. Remember that day when that stupid kid on the black BMer came after us after I gave him the finger? Your evasive maneuvers were absolutely fantastic! And yes I remember I promised you to keep my hands in my pockets after that incident. And I kept the promise. Until I flicked my finger at that idiot on the black Merc. Come on, you know I can't stand idiots who believe they own the roads just because they drive a black German car.

          I was so surprised when you met Cathleen for the first time and she liked you at first sight. I couldn't believe that after just a few minutes she was laying on your lap. And even more surprised when she started sensing you coming and she would jump from wherever she was and she would wait for you at the door. Sometimes she still do that. I don't know if it's because she misses you or because she hears steps on the stairway that sounds like yours. My heart skips a beat when she does that.

          How about our nights at the opera? They were so perfect. A Mozart opera, dinner at the Ruby and long talks afterwards.
          And the dinners at my place... You were always afraid of making mistakes when cooking for me even though I told you so many times that I love your cooking and it doesn't matter whether you make mistakes or not. I meant it. Even though we used to go to those posh fancy restaurants, the best food were always those made by you. Because the best spice comes from your heart. And the times when I cooked also. Remember the pasta al'aglio & olio, Chianti and Pavarotti? Or the japanese dinner? It was such a joy to cook for you because of the look of delight on your face.
          Those were the best times of my life. I loved you a lot. You loved me a lot. I was happy. Everybody saw I was happy. Everybody liked me. I liked myself.

          Then like a comet, it was time for you to follow your orbit and me to remain in mine. And the way we went our separate ways was peaceful. We can't even call it "breaking up", can we? You cried when you told me you want us to separate. And my attempts too engrave the image of your face in my retina failed because I also had too many tears in my eyes. But we didn't break up in the true sense of the expression. And I am so glad we remained such good friends afterwards. And as I promised you, I got over it soon enough. And as I promised you, I made new friends and special friends too. And as I promised you I don't keep comparing them to you, even those for whom I felt and feel special affection.

          Yes, of course I remember all these things. But it's not because I haven't got over them. Its just that all my life I always had too many bad memories and too few good ones. And from our relationship I have only good ones. I just want to cling on to them because they are the precious few.
Everybody ask me why am I still in Romania, after all the bad things that this country has thrown at me. I'm still here because even though I don't love this country and this country doesn't love me, this is the only country in which I felt loved.

          Now I am completely thorn apart between a country that I loved but never felt loved in and a country that I hate but where I felt loved. And between the hope that I will be loved again like you did me and the fear that if I stay here I will die alone like I always knew I would. 

          But today the bad things don't matter.
          Today is a special day.
          Happy Birthday.