Multiple times a week, amateur astronomer Richard Konrad records images of galaxies, far, far away, through the lenses of telescopes stationed in southern Spain, the Utah desert or Chile’s Rio Hurtado Valley.
Is the 62-year-old grandfather a seasoned globetrotter who taps unlimited resources to pursue his hobby of astrophotography as he sees fit? Not even close, he says with a chuckle, seated inside a Portage Avenue coffee shop five minutes from his Westwood home. Rather, Konrad is among an ever-increasing number of celestial enthusiasts who rely on public internet-based services to capture out-of-this-world, high-res images of stars, nebulae and quasars, without ever having to set foot outside their kitchen or rec room.
Hobbyist astrophotographer Richard Konrad uses the online astronomy access program Itelescope to take photos from his home. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
“Before leaving the house for this interview, I was using a telescope in the Australian outback to try and get a picture of Messier 78,” he says, referring to a comet-like specimen situated in the constellation Orion so-named for French astronomer Charles Messier. “It was right there, only the conditions weren’t very favourable — it had been cloudy in that part of the country for two weeks — and because I had to go, it became a matter of, ‘OK, maybe next time.’”
Konrad, a married father of two adult sons, split his time growing up between Winnipeg and northern Ontario. He was living in Thunder Bay when his mother gave him a telescope as a gift for his 10th birthday. He couldn’t have cared less that it was a lesser model, likely purchased from K-Mart, he recalls. He figured out how to use it fairly quickly, and began studying the solar system for hours on end, after his parents hit the hay.
Rosette Nebula (Richard Konrad photo)
Describing himself as “single-focused,” he parked his telescope at age 13, in favour of music. After receiving a doctorate degree in piano from the University of Indiana in the early 1980s, he returned to Winnipeg, where he proceeded to teach piano, around classical performances of his own.
He guesses it was 16 years ago when his youngest son, now 22, became fascinated with astronomy. Instead of reading books at bedtime, the two of them would turn out the lights, stare out the window and imagine themselves flying off to distant destinations, describing what they were encountering, along the way.
To feed his son’s inquisitiveness, he brought home a telescope that offered a lot more “bang for the buck” than the one he had as a child. Around the same time, he joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Winnipeg chapter, to help answer his son’s litany of questions with some sense of authority. The funny thing was, as his knowledge and renewed interest in the field grew, his son eventually moved on to “whatever, you know what kids are like.”
Fighting Dragons of Ara (Richard Konrad photo)
Undaunted, Konrad bought a superior telescope to the one he gave his son, then another, then another. “The last one I got weighed over 200 pounds, and was so big I had to buy a trailer, expressly to transport it outside the city, away from all the lights and such,” he says. “It was also so tall, I needed an eight-and-a-half-foot ladder to see through it.”
Konrad continued in that vein for a number of years, driving to rural areas after sundown to stargaze for a few hours. That was, until his wife began dealing with insomnia, which caused him to feel horribly if he returned home at three or four in the morning, only to rouse her from a sound sleep by opening a door or slipping out of his coat and shoes.
Obviously, a telescope isn’t much use during the day, so his thought was “I guess that’s it.” At the end of the day, ensuring she was sleeping properly was much more important than anything he was up to, he says matter-of-factly.
Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex (Richard Konrad photo)
Konrad isn’t sure how his wife twigged into Itelescope, which bills itself as one of the “leaders in internet astronomy since 2006.” All he knows is that for Christmas 2018, he received a trial membership that allowed him to access telescopes on the other side of the world when it was broad daylight here in Winnipeg. Before you could say “beam me up, Scotty,” he was using Itelescope to take photos of this object or that, which he excitedly turned around and shared with friends and family on social media.
Here’s the way it works, he says, holding out his phone to show off a rainbow-coloured image of the Tarantula Nebula, located 160,000 light years from Earth. After reserving a block of time, usually an hour, he punches into a booking system the co-ordinates of what he’s hoping to view on any particular day. Itelescope, which offers various membership plans, including tutorials and free trials, handles everything from there. When it’s his turn to log onto the chosen telescope through his phone or laptop, it should be aimed precisely as requested.
That’s maybe 10 per cent of the hobby, he continues. The other 90 per cent is processing.
Tarantula Nebula, one of many high-res images of stars, nebulae and quasars astrophotographer Richard Konrad has captured remotely through telescopes stationed all over the world. (Richard Konrad photo)
“It’s not like snapping a picture of the moon in the sky. What you’re receiving is scientific data, or linear data, and your job is to then interpret and render it into a way that our brain sees things. From that point on, the hobby becomes less about science and more about art.”
One of the places Konrad regularly shows off his handiwork is Manitoba Astronomy, a Facebook group with 1,200 members. Scott Young, an administrator for the group, says he always looks forward to seeing what Konrad has been up to.
“I mean, Richard’s photos are so good, I have to double-check whether they’re his, or from the Hubble (Space Telescope),” says Young, who also serves as a Planetarium Astronomer with the Manitoba Museum.
Young has tried his hand at Itelescope and similar sites, on occasion. He is also familiar with people in the city and province who do something similar with their own equipment, albeit, on a much smaller scale.
“The technology during the last 10 years has progressed so much that it’s reached a point where you can stick a camera on your telescope in the backyard, run a cable from it to your laptop or computer, and take pictures while you’re inside, watching a movie,” he says, noting that type of scenario would have been tremendously cost-prohibitive, as little as 25 years ago. From there, he says it isn’t that big a stretch to station one’s telescope in a darker, more desirable location, say a farm property, and, by going through the internet, doing the same thing, saving yourself a two- or three-hour commute.
Richard Konrad’s photograph of the galaxy Centaurus A. (Richard Konrad photo)
“It’s all about convenience, right? Under the old way of doing things, if it was cloudy in your backyard, there wasn’t much you could do except try again the next night,” Young says, explaining his own interest in the heavens started precisely at 11:16 a.m., Feb. 26, 1979. (If you know, you know.)
“Nowadays, however, there’s more than likely a telescope out there that will offer a perfect view of what you’re interested in, and you’ll get all the data you’re looking for from the comfort of your living room.”
Back at the coffee shop, Konrad smiles when asked how he decides what to set his sights on next, given there are an estimated two trillion galaxies in the observable universe. That can be a problem, he concedes, noting it’s mostly a case of doing his homework, then telling himself, “ooh, I really want to have a look at that, next.” (Our fave of his? One nicknamed the Statue of Liberty nebula, because of a star formation that strongly resembles the New York City landmark at its centre.)
“But you’re right, with that number I’m never going to run out of things to target, and that’s fine by me. I totally feel like a kid again when I’m doing this, and can’t imagine tiring of it any time, soon.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
