Batesville Herald Tribune, Batesville, Indiana

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  • Star gazing: Mike Christin spends a lot of his spare time looking through the telescope and taking photos of nebulas and global clusters.

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June 26, 2009

Watching the night sky

Diane Raver

Mike Christin has always been hooked on astronomy. “I grew up watching the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions .... and it just fascinated me.”

Because of this interest, the Batesville resident spends a lot of his spare time looking through telescopes, watching the night sky.

“Winter is the best time to observe .... because there is less humidity.” However, he admits, “I was tired of standing in the wind in the middle of winter,” so he came up with a solution to the problem: He designed and built an observatory with an 8-foot dome.

The Kendle International information technology project lead began the planning stage in April 2008. “It took a couple weeks to design it and get all the drawings” ready. Along with his son, Greg, he began construction last May.

“It was built out of OSB (oriented strand board), and the shell is vinyl paneling.” He reveals, “The hardest part was cutting all the arches out of OSB .... My neighbors must have loved me. About every spare moment was spent cutting arches in the garage.

“Cutting some of the vinyl paneling was also a little challenging until I figured out how to do it .... There were a few math errors along the way, but I figured it out before I started cutting.” It took about four months to complete the backyard structure.

The dome rotates and has a slit that is opened when Christin wants to use his telescope to view areas of the night sky. “It’s amazing what you can see,” he comments.

Weather permitting, “I try to go out there about every night.” The friendly man (whose family also includes wife Nancy and daughter Kendra) indicates that cloud cover, humidity and high altitude winds are a big factor in how clear the image will be.

“I use a computer program and plan out in advance what I want to view” each evening. “I can be out there anywhere between three to five hours” or more.

“I spend a lot of time observing global clusters, star clusters .... They literally have thousands of stars.” He also enjoys watching interstellar gases called nebulas, galaxies and planets. His cameras are specifically designed for astrophotography.

Christin emphasizes, “It was very rewarding the first time I used it (the observatory) .... It makes my life so much easier. Telescopes are very heavy and my back’s not up to carrying them every time I want to do something.”

What are his future plans? “I’m going to make some changes .... to make it (the structure) more weatherproof and run electric out to it. Right now, I drag out extension cords .... I may add a room for computer equipment.”

Diane Raver can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 114; or diane.raver@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com.

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