It's an expensive hobby, but worth it, this fan says.
By ANGIE EVANS
Special to The View
Star gazers and comet chasers have found a haven in Pueblo West.
Kids are the most common visitors to John Boucek's backyard observatory, from Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts to entire classes out on a field trip.
To accommodate the larger groups, Boucek said he has a camera he can hook up to his telescope. The camera is routed to a small monitor where images from the telescope can be viewed.
The monitor allows everyone in the room to see the images at the same time rather than having each person take a turn at the telescope.
The 1957 sighting of the Arend-Roland comet, which was visible without any special equipment, awoke Boucek's curiosity. He then knew he wanted to explore the heavens further and bought his first telescope that same year, he said.
Boucek was living in Northern Illinois at the time.
During World War II, Boucek was stationed in Fort Collins and fell in love with Colorado, he said. He promised himself he would move here after retirement.
Boucek moved first to La Veta, then to Pueblo West when he was advised by doctors to live at a lower elevation. Each time he and his wife, Margaret, moved, the telescope had to be disassembled and put back together.
It doesn't take up a lot of space once it taken apart, Boucek said, but it did lose a few parts during re-assembly.
“I hope I don't have to move it again,” he said, “Whenever I disassemble it, I end up with a handful of nuts and bolts.”
Boucek said he donated his first telescope to then-University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State UniversityÐPueblo) when he first moved to Pueblo West in 1987.
His new telescope, an 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, has since been upgraded. Boucek said he could not put a price tag on the equipment because he has added so many accessories.
Along with the monitor attachment, he bought photography equipment that allows him to take pictures of what he sees in deep space, and a solar filter, which allows him to look at spots and flares on the sun.
Since becoming a star gazer, Boucek said he has seen a lot of interesting action in deep space.
A class once sent up balloons with messages written inside to see what would happen, Boucek said. He saw the balloons explode through his telescope and was able to contact the class they belonged to.
The teacher then arranged for a field trip to Boucek's home so the kids could see their experiment in action.
He also saw, and photographed, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that hit Jupiter in 1994 and created an explosion several thousand miles across.
There were explosions on Jupiter for several days after the first hit as other meteorites from the comet struck the planet, Boucek said.
Boucek's wife, Margaret, is tolerant of his hobby, but usually not interested in the telescope, he said.
"(But,) once I see something spectacular, she'll come running," he said.
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