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There are a lot of things that really move you
in astronomy. More often than not, it’s giving people
their first chance to look through a telescope.
I teach astrophotography at our Bed and Breakfast.
So I get to see the look on people’s faces when they
take their first astrophotograph. They absolutely
shake with excitement. You get people who will
write you a letter and say, “you’ve changed my life.”
One woman cried when she saw her photo of the
Andromeda Galaxy.
But even better things happen when I let people
look through the eyepiece. One very young child,
couldn’t have been more than six or seven, came to
our Observatory B&B with his parents. They were
visiting from the U.K. He was up on the stepladder
with Saturn in view. When he saw the rings, he
hauled off and squealed out a swear word. It wasn’t
a very bad one. But it shocked the parents so that he
gulped when he saw their reaction. The poor kid was
just so excited. It does your heart wonders.
The greatest joy I’ve had was probably discov-
ering my first supernova. Because at that moment,
it hits you that you’re going down in history with
your name on an object. Since then, I’ve discovered
16 more. That opens the door to just about any
observatory in the world. They know who I am from
all these discoveries and welcome me with open arms.
So I’m fulfilling my dream of contributing to science
in a meaningful way.
But my first love is still teaching. We just can’t
do enough. I’ve always felt that someday many years
from now, maybe some Senator will sign the check
because Jack Newton showed him Saturn when he
was a little boy. That would be payoff. Big time.
We need that next generation of space telescopes
up there.
Sometimes I wish I could have a few minutes at
the eyepiece with every person in the world. Because
that’s what astronomy really comes down to: People
and pure joy.
“ I N S H A R I N G T H E J O Y S
O F A ST R O N O M Y I’ V E
L E A R N ED T O E XP E C T
O O H S, A A H S, A N D
E V E N M O R E C O L OR F U L
L A N G U AG E .
”
Jack has shot thousands of images with his two Meade 16" L X200s and is currently expanding his horizons with a Meade 14" L X400-ACF.