mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 8913
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Quote:
Uhm...where do you buy a $225,000 telescope?
Takahashi
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Mark
C11, C6, APM/TMB115, and AT80ED - Pier mounted CGE in a POD, and CG-5A, WO EZ-Touch and AT Voyager
25x100s and 8x56s, T-Mount Light, Mark 1 eyeballs - 350Da, DSI-P, SPC900, NexImage, Mallincam
Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should
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RobVG
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/09/06
Posts: 836
Loc: Seattle Washington
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Makes me wanna buy a lottery ticket...
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bluestar
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/06/05
Posts: 1692
Loc: Maryland Eastern Shore
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The article addressed the demographic for which it was intended. I don't have to agree with it or like it, but I DID get a few chuckles. And so much for the theory of the new PODS eating into the Ash and other big dome manufacturers business To each his own I guess...flash and glam and bubbly on ice is nice if you're into posing and astro entertainment (and I do have an appreciation for the finer things in life) but most times my cup holder is filled with an ice cold Pabst Blue Ribbon or Natty Boh.
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Pat Kelly @ Bluestar Observatory
D&G 8" f/12 w/AP1200DA
Previous telescopes A-Z; Astro-Physics to Zeiss
The Classic Refractor - A telescope everybody wants to have used but nobody wants to own.
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Vesper818
Astronomess
Reged: 11/21/05
Posts: 2785
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Quote:
[
I guess I was suprised by the first statement - that amateur astronomy is becoming increasingly popular. It sure doesn't seem that way, and I sure haven't heard this from anyone I buy from. Anyone else know whether or not this is true or not in any sense? (I'd be delighted if it was true.)
Probably this means, that because of the interest in astronomy by the same people mentioned in the article, the media is suddenly swiveled its spotlight. And if the media is interested in anything, the whole world must, by definition, be fascinated with it...
Meanwhile the rest of us long ago turned off the idiot box, and head out after dark for our usual elixir, a quiet night under the clear skies, with no one else telling us where to look, or what to marvel.
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Richard B. Drumm
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 1486
Loc: Albemarle Co. Virginia
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Yup, Carol, yer prolly right there, the self fulfilling media spotlight prophecy. As for the popularity of astronomy, my club is at an all-time high in membership (68).
I came on the NYT article earlier today just after I stumbled on this video clip series on YouTube about Dr. Mario Motta and his fascinating relay telescope. (I had Googled his name, you see.) This is a real Cadillac of a scope that any of us would be only too glad to drool over. Genuine research grade gear. He's one of us, to be sure, just better equipped and able to afford it! (sigh)
Mega home_made telescope
Be sure to watch the whole thing to get the lowdown on the scope design. I've never heard of the type before, but I bet we'll hear about more of them in the future!
I wonder if he'd adopt me?  
Rich
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AKA Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum
Orion Atlas 10 (10" Newt on an equatorial mount)
Celestron 15x70 SkyMaster Binocs
Coronado Ha PST
President, Charlottesville Astronomical Society
IOTA member
38° 10' 57"N, 78° 23' 09"W
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Rodders
sage
Reged: 04/23/04
Posts: 427
Loc: Southland, New Zealand
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"It has a big white dome rising from the top, with a sliding shutter that opens to the sky and a powerful telescope inside."
Ya gota love the whole "powerful telescope" thing. 
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Rodney
Celestron C8 AS-GT
Orion ED80 - EQ3
Canon 20d
"The fact that I have two ears and only one mouth tells me that I should probably use them in that ratio".
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Scott Horstman
Vendor - Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 13088
Loc: Too Far North, USA
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Quote:
"It has a big white dome rising from the top, with a sliding shutter that opens to the sky and a powerful telescope inside."
Ya gota love the whole "powerful telescope" thing.
You can't get much more power-fuller than this baby right here. I'm so glad to be an Astronomist.
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Scott
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180)
www.backyardobservatories.com
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doctordub
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/11/06
Posts: 1402
Loc: New Rochelle, New York
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Quote:
Quote:
"It has a big white dome rising from the top, with a sliding shutter that opens to the sky and a powerful telescope inside."
Ya gota love the whole "powerful telescope" thing.
You can't get much more power-fuller than this baby right here. I'm so glad to be an Astronomist.
If you want the power-fullest just keep stacking them thar barlows! 
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TeleVue TV102, Intes Alter M703
AstroTelescopes AR152/Chromacor N, Mod. Zhumell Z12/Paracorr II
Meade 10" & 8" SCTs, Jason 60mm
Mod Orion 120ST, 127mm MCT
Vixen SXW & Porta, LXD55, iOptron GPS, Stellarvue MG2
Canon 10x42L IS, 15x50 IS, Bushnell 10x42 UL, Celestron Regal 8X42LX Nikon 7X35AE
Coronado PST, Lunt Wedge, CaK
Olympus E-510, Meade DSI, LPI,
TeleVue Binovue/SiebertPMW, Everbright, Ethos, Naglers, Pans, Plos, Pentax, barlows & filters,
Celestron SkyScout, Astrofix
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mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Posts: 6993
Loc: bellevue ne.
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Probably guaranteed to see "50 miles" too! Mike
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7x35 and 10x50 sears tower binocs, 3" f/10 edmunds reflector, 2.4" f/11.7 manon refractor, 6" f/8 jaegers refractor, 10" f/11 R30 Istar refractor, 3" f/15.8 sans&streiffe refractor, 3.1" f/15 selsi refractor(towa 339), 2.4" f/15 sears refractor, selsi 30x30mm spyglass, criterion 5-draw 25x45x75x spyglass(1957), 4.25" f/14.8 tasco 20te.
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 20063
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Quote:
Quote:
"It has a big white dome rising from the top, with a sliding shutter that opens to the sky and a powerful telescope inside."
Ya gota love the whole "powerful telescope" thing.
You can't get much more power-fuller than this baby right here. I'm so glad to be an Astronomist.
One iluminating quote from that ad:
"Usually, the more you pay, the higher the quality of the magnified image."
All they need now is a coin slot!
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"Truth" is that which confounds our expectations...
Science is a bazaar, not a cathedral
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory Open for Business!
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edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
Posts: 7980
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home observatories
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Edited by edwincjones (10/05/07 12:20 PM)
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Skywatchr
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/03/06
Posts: 2626
Loc: North-Central Pa.
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Well DuH, that's typical of the NY Times trying to razzle and dazzle folks with the glitter of rich people. We commoners don't even exist in their eyes. And Koenig's consulting fees of $500 to $1000 per hour? You've got to be kidding me! How hard is it to run a cable, or even a wireless transmitter to a Big screen TV? This article goes from the rich coast of Gloucester, to the over-bloated rich Left Coast. With barely a mention of anyone who isn't a retired professional.
But at least they did mention "other people" who only spent around $50,000..
I just feel the article was belittling to us "common" folks. YMMV.
Quote:
Diane did two phone interviews with her for that article. She gave a lot of info about alternatives such as plans for DIY projects too. Gave her good all around info not just BYO but POD and ED etc too. This reporter didn't mention a bit of it. Go figure.
Did you know that people put telescopes and refractors in there observatories?
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Synergy
sage
Reged: 11/18/03
Posts: 306
Loc: Reading, UK
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Quote:
thanks in part to the availability of high-tech equipment like digital cameras that filter out light pollution
Gotta get me one of those!! 
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Celestron C9.25
WO ZS80II ED
EQ6 Pro
Canon 350D
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Bowmoreman
Clear enough skies
Reged: 09/11/06
Posts: 9062
Loc: Bolton, MA
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Quote:
Diane did two phone interviews with her for that article. She gave a lot of info about alternatives such as plans for DIY projects too. Gave her good all around info not just BYO but POD and ED etc too. This reporter didn't mention a bit of it. Go figure.
Did you know that people put telescopes and refractors in there observatories?
No surprise THERE! (at least to me). In my career I've done a LOT with the press over the years...
This is MY personal opinion, and is there a "not trolling" graemlin???
but: The NY Times (and other Newsprint media of their background, i.e. their co-owned Boston Globe) are all about "all those evil things that Rich people do to waste their money" - because you can be sure they have an agenda (never to be explicitly stated mind you) that is all about justifying taking money away from people who "waste it"... 
(Nothing per se singling out NYT here; other media on entirely different sides of the opinion spectrum do this also for *their* bias/perspective - its unfortunately the nature of the journalistic corporate beast these days!)
So, NYT clearly had an agenda with this story: show how expensive "toys" can be... I.e. that this was clearly more ways the "idle rich" could "waste" money that could be better (in their opinion) spent on things more appropriate/acceptable (to them). They even rolled out a plethora of Rich and/or "Privileged" examples... The story did a great job if you consider THAT perspective!
"Who could possibly NEED this stuff"? - hidden message!
Nothing so explicit or blatant, mind you, but that bias was clearly evident throughout - I bet they had to try HARD to actually FIND observatories that were THAT expensive... all the references to sums with 5 zeros before the decimal point cements it! A balanced story would have spanned the spectrum; they simply weren't after balance.
A message that would be all about how one can truly enjoy astronomy on a budget (yes it requires SCOPES!), and within reach of, shudder (to them!) the "common person" wouldn't fit their story agenda...
Now, I *BET* if Diane had given them examples of how people used their frugally built observatories and telescopes to aid in the fight against global warming (and maybe even using the $$ they *could* have spent on expensive, glitzy observatories) to help in that cause... or how they were benefiting the poor, homeless, or any other currently politically correct cause de celebre... then that would have been run...
Sorry to sound so cynical here, but the press ALWAYS have an agenda, and if your quotes and examples don't fit their agenda, they simply don't get covered. Editors, and hence reporters, have a preconceived agenda - bet on it. And even if they don't have an explicit one in the case of every single story, their philosophical approach nonetheless guides them in that same direction subliminally... they just can't help it... sometimes they don't even see it!
The worst part of this story is that now there will be a whole new crop of folks who, not knowing any better, simply assume that ALL who are into Astronomy and have their own observatories must be rich!
The truly SAD part is that those who might be interested, will be turned off before they start due to unfounded assumptions. How many potential Astro-noobs have been lost because of this???
I think it behooves each/every one in our community to always try to make sure that folks know it CAN be enjoyed, at reasonable cost, and has innumerable benefits intellectually and spiritually.
Clear Skies
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Dave
MI250 SBS mounted: C11Hyperstar,FSQ106ED,TOA130NFB;Lunt60THaB1200FT/DS50
Visual:DM6, XT10i w/ZambutoMirror,RTP
EP: 31T5, Ethos (21,17,13&8),10XW,5XW,3.5XW; Paracorr T1
MallincamColorHyper+,QSI583WS,QHY8
SBIG STV eFinder
Denk II: (2x24Pan,2x10XW)
Gerbings Heated clothes, Wilder Skies Observatory (BYO#90), Speco9"Monitor
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Scott K
Non-standard Title
Reged: 09/13/07
Posts: 2247
Loc: Dallas, TX & Eufaula, OK
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Quote:
but: The NY Times (and other Newsprint media of their background, i.e. their co-owned Boston Globe) are all about "all those evil things that Rich people do to waste their money" - because you can be sure they have an agenda (never to be explicitly stated mind you) that is all about justifying taking money away from people who "waste it"...
So, NYT clearly had an agenda with this story: show how expensive "toys" can be... I.e. that this was clearly more ways the "idle rich" could "waste" money that could be better (in their opinion) spent on things more appropriate/acceptable (to them). They even rolled out a plethora of Rich and/or "Privileged" examples... The story did a great job if you consider THAT perspective!
While I don't disagree with most of what you said about media bias in certain cases, I guess I figure it's better not to attribute to malice that which can be more simply explained by stupidity.
The reporter in question probably felt that regular folks with regular observatories weren't as exciting (or photographed nearly as well) as some of the ones they covered for the story. This is really dumb - from our perspective - but probably smart from a business perspective. (People actually *are* interested in seeing crazy expensive stuff - even if they'll never be able to have it.)
Anyway, I'm not sure it was the sort of political bias you suppose - just plain being kinda dumb and catering to the lowest common denominator. (And maybe not so low - I think a lot of us were drooling over some of the stuff in the article!  )
I am, of course, ignoring the obvious situation where malice and stupidity go hand in hand, so maybe you are right after all!
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Bowmoreman
Clear enough skies
Reged: 09/11/06
Posts: 9062
Loc: Bolton, MA
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Well, I'm not sure how much exposure you might have to the NYT/Boston Globe "empire"... but they (editorially) really do have a lot of built in biases that pervade much/all of what they do... (I see it all the time living the last 25 years in Boston area...) They really do try and make almost everything "political" which is too bad...
(And again, I'm sure that there are other equivalents in other areas that are completely off the end in the OTHER direction - I just don't have first hand experience with THEM!)
I know from Scott and Diane's postings and PMs that they did spend a LOT of time asking Diane a LOT of questions, but NONE of what was communicated to them made it into the final story...
I suspect that its partly - "lets report on the stupid rich folks wasting money on observatories - people love this stuff" and partly "lifestyles of the rich and famous" effect, and partly the bias thing... and maybe partly the "simple/cheap is BORING"... - likely a bit of each...
But it is clear it wasn't a "lets report ALL the facts" story! - which is ultimately what is too bad...
I worried before this that people were too hung up on "cost" with those of us involved in the Astro-hobby... this unfortunately only amplifies things...
Ever notice that one of the very first questions after you get somebody excited with a neat view of something - is always "How much does this cost?"...
Sigh - perhaps a letter to the editor from someone on CN who is in the NYT territory and/or a subscriber is in order?
Whenever I'm asked about "cost"; I simply say that to see really nice views, it can EASILY be done for $300 or less, and that the "sky is the limit" 
My goal is to get MORE folks interested, excited and INTO this hobby of ours!
Clear skies
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Dave
MI250 SBS mounted: C11Hyperstar,FSQ106ED,TOA130NFB;Lunt60THaB1200FT/DS50
Visual:DM6, XT10i w/ZambutoMirror,RTP
EP: 31T5, Ethos (21,17,13&8),10XW,5XW,3.5XW; Paracorr T1
MallincamColorHyper+,QSI583WS,QHY8
SBIG STV eFinder
Denk II: (2x24Pan,2x10XW)
Gerbings Heated clothes, Wilder Skies Observatory (BYO#90), Speco9"Monitor
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Scott K
Non-standard Title
Reged: 09/13/07
Posts: 2247
Loc: Dallas, TX & Eufaula, OK
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Quote:
Well, I'm not sure how much exposure you might have to the NYT/Boston Globe "empire"... but they (editorially) really do have a lot of built in biases that pervade much/all of what they do... (I see it all the time living the last 25 years in Boston area...) They really do try and make almost everything "political" which is too bad...
Heh, well you have a point. Several years ago, my wife subscribed to the NYT for a while (even though we aren't in the area.) I read it, would start yelling about stuff that seemed especially infuriating, and usually ended up tossing it across the room. (Why they thought someone in Dallas would care about the NYT still baffles me.) My wife ultimately decided this was more trouble than it was worth...
Quote:
My goal is to get MORE folks interested, excited and INTO this hobby of ours!
1000% agreed - and you are spot on that the article didn't do a good job of promoting our hobby. That is indeed unfortunate. Because sitting out under the stars at night - even without a telescope - is really, really nice.
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cpsTN
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/26/07
Posts: 2387
Loc: Rutherford Co, TN
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---- Did you know that people put telescopes and refractors in there observatories?
I was going to buy a refractor, but now I think I will buy a telescope instead!!
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Charles Sands
Observing since 12/29/86
12" f/5 Apertura AD12 Dobsonian
90mm f/13.9 Sky Watcher Mak Cass
70mm f/5 refractor, Orion GoScope
10x50 binos (Bushnell Falcon)
7x35 binos (Sears Discoverer)
Orion StarShoot Solar System Imager IV
Sky & Telescope's POCKET SKY ATLAS
CyberSky 4.0 astronomy software
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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups - Lewis Grizzard (1946-1994)
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Scott K
Non-standard Title
Reged: 09/13/07
Posts: 2247
Loc: Dallas, TX & Eufaula, OK
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Quote:
---- Did you know that people put telescopes and refractors in there observatories?
I was going to buy a refractor, but now I think I will buy a telescope instead!!
Better make sure it's a "powerful telescope" though! Don't be fooled by one of those imitation weak ones! 
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cpsTN
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/26/07
Posts: 2387
Loc: Rutherford Co, TN
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BTW, where do you get a digital camera that filters out LP? 
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Charles Sands
Observing since 12/29/86
12" f/5 Apertura AD12 Dobsonian
90mm f/13.9 Sky Watcher Mak Cass
70mm f/5 refractor, Orion GoScope
10x50 binos (Bushnell Falcon)
7x35 binos (Sears Discoverer)
Orion StarShoot Solar System Imager IV
Sky & Telescope's POCKET SKY ATLAS
CyberSky 4.0 astronomy software
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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups - Lewis Grizzard (1946-1994)
Edited by cpsTN (10/11/07 10:46 PM)
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