Telescope Reviews: The Astronomer Looks at 55

Thanks Rod. An interesting and thought-provoking piece, as usual.

Demographically, I'm considered "Generation X", being born in 1966. My interest in astronomy was kindled not by Apollo or Sputnik, which were old news by the time I was in elementary school, but by watching reruns of Star Trek and Lost in Space. A trip to our school district's planetarium in first or second grade sealed the deal.

One encouraging trend I've noticed is that there seem to be a lot more space-related shows and movies coming back for kids. Right now in theaters, for example, there's WALL-E and Space Chimps, and I saw trailers for a new movie coming out this fall called Fly Me To The Moon. While some may scoff that these don't have the documentary qualities of Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff, at least they are interesting and engaging to today's kids. It remains to be seen if this is just a coincidence or if it represents space exploration coming back into vogue in American popular culture.

Curiosity about the stars is human nature. As long as people are able to look up and see the stars, there will be new generations of amateur astronomers. Astronomy club memberships may be getting older and declining, but that doesn't mean younger people aren't interested. Let's not forget the web, and sites like Cloudy Nights, which make astronomy clubs less critical to an amateur astronomer's ability to learn than they were 20 years ago.

Cloudy Nights tends to be dominated by people in their 50s and older. Also, Cloudy Nights is an equipment-heavy site (remember, the full name is "Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews"), and the discussions tend to gravitate toward high-end equipment. "Which Nagler should I buy?" "Should I get the 18 inch or the 20 inch Obsession?" "Is the SV102 better than the NP101?" There's nothing wrong with this, but teenagers generally don't have that kind of disposable income, so are not likely to participate in these discussions. On the other hand, I've seen plenty of posts from teenagers and 20-somethings. They're here, and they're very active in amateur astronomy.

About three years ago, I had my SCT set up at a public viewing night at a local park. It was a hazy summer night, so the only thing worth seeing was Jupiter. A young man of 9 or 10 years old came by with his father to have a look. He was amazed to be seeing Jupiter, for real, with his own eyes. All he could keep saying was, "cool!" Later I showed him how he could use the "pointer" stars in the big dipper to find Polaris, which, again, he thought was "cool." I'll never forget that young man. Here was a kid who had no doubt been overloaded with Hubble and Voyager pictures for his entire life, and yet he thought the view of Jupiter through a 9.25" SCT on a night of lousy seeing was "cool." He got it! This is where the next generation of amateur astronomers is coming from.

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Mike
Orion SkyQuest XT10

Suburban Washington DC