Stargazer and astrophotographer, Richard Higby, is a man whose obsession with the night sky extends over six decades since he was given his first telescope at age 14.
“I looked up and saw the rings of Saturn and had my first wow moment.” He has been hooked on watching the stars and capturing images of them ever since.
To me, Richard Higby is a fellow Tasmanian time traveller. “I see the telescope as a time machine,” he told me. “When we look up at distant stars, we are looking at an image that was created 35 million years ago. I’m looking at stars and nebulas that may not even exist now. The whole thing is mind-boggling.”
A businessman by trade, appreciating the stars is his hobby – a hobby that dominates his nights with awe and wonder. He says anyone can get into the stars, starting with a simple telescope or by joining a local astrological club. “They are full of eccentrics, but they are fun.”
Higby said he got serious about stargazing and astrophotography about 40 years ago. He was 30 when he built his first telescope box camera. The combination of homemade telescope and camera allowed him to spy on far-off galaxies and take images that he had never dreamed of. Since then he has never stopped peering and clicking.
He said everything changed when digital photography arrived. “We used to have to put dry ice around our gear to increase the sensitivity of the film to be able to capture the light. Now I can take a digital image from my little observatory and my images are as good as what the world’s largest observatories were taking just 20 years ago.
“I love gazing at Saturn’s rings through a telescope and taking pictures – it really is the jewel of the sky.”
Tasmania is an excellent place to view the stars. “The further away you are from city lights the better, but you don’t have to go far – my observatory is at Opossum Bay. Tasmania is so far south it uniquely allows us to explore the south astro polar region of the heavens. Weather is our only challenge.”
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More of Richard Higby’s photographs can be seen at his web page: astro.chigby.com.
More information on stargazing can be found at the web page of the Astronomical Society of Tasmania, astas.org.au.
A free planetarium for your computer can be found at stellarium.org.
Read the partner article to Time traveller here.
Don Defenderfer is a native of San Francisco who once went on a holiday to Alaska where he met an Australian who told him to visit Tasmania. So he did, and while here he met a woman. That was 30 years ago. He was state coordinator for Landcare Tasmania for many years, a job that allowed him to be inspired by not only the beauty of the Tasmanian landscape but by the many people that are trying to repair and renew it. He has a Masters Degree in Social Ecology and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies with a minor in writing. He has published three volumes of poetry, and his work has appeared in newspapers and periodicals, including The New York Times and The Australian.
