AstroRealtor
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/26/08
Posts: 539
Loc: Terra Firma
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We were doing a program at our local Science center and we had a 6" refractor pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy. The Astronomer at the time was also pointing out when The Hubble Space Telescope would be able to be seen as a satelite overhead. As he finished pointing it out and given a brief talk about some of the recent things Hubble had imaged, one patron asked "what are the chances of hubble crashing into any of the objects it is looking at? 
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Clear Skies, Jim
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Discovering: Messier objects, Deep sky treasures, NGCs, Double stars, & Nebulae of all kinds.
Televue 85 "Polaris" Mount
Custom Crafted Newtonian Dob 8" f7 w/Feathertouch
Celestron Cometron Reflector 114mm f8
Zeiss Diafun 8 X 30 Binos
Zeiss 10 X 56 Binos
 Aldrich Astronomical Society
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 5065
Loc: Illinois, US
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Sorry, the only funny question I've gotten is "how far can you see with that..." 
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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orion9
sage
Reged: 11/08/07
Posts: 202
Loc: North Carolina
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Before dawn at work once, I pointed out the planet Venus to some co-workers. One guy became very adamant that not only could you NOT see a planet with the naked eye, but furthermore the object in question could only be the North Star because it was the brightest light in the sky. Logic made no dent in this idiot even when others pointed out that "if it's the North Star then why is it rising in the east". It just goes to show that you can't fix stupid.
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FarrOut
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 925
Loc: Tampa
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Rain greeted visitors on a scheduled night of observing at the local museum. The visitors were treated to a show in the planetarium to reward their persistence in making the trek.
During the show, two rain soaked visitors loudly entered the domed room demanding to know why the telescopes were not set up as advertised.
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Criterion RV6
NEXSTAR 11-GPS
HyperStar
Starshoot CCD
Sky Scout
A wonderful wife that let's me do this stuff
Telescopes are for after you learn astronomy.
http://www.farrout.org
http://www.marsastro.org
Astronomy is looking up!
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GeorgeDuke
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/24/03
Posts: 1585
Loc: PARADISE! (So.Florida)
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This may be slightly off topic but still funny. I shop at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart on a regular basis and they frequently have telescopes for sale. Often they are Reflectors and they ALWAYS set the display up with the OTA backwards in the mount and the eyepiece end pointing to the floor! I have spoken to them many times about it but I am sure they think I am crazy. Sometimes I re-assemble the display myself but the next time I am there it has been changed back to their concept of how it should be!
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George
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SkyShed POD XL-3
LX200GPS 203mm f10
StellarVue SV102ED2 Feathertouch Ser#0018
LXD75 GOTO with Orion 16" pier extension
Baader Hyperion 8mm ,13mm, 21mm + FTRs
2" GSO ED barlow, 2" SV Dielectric and Orion Prism Diagonals
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InkDark
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1837
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Quote:
We were doing a program at our local Science center and we had a 6" refractor pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy. The Astronomer at the time was also pointing out when The Hubble Space Telescope would be able to be seen as a satelite overhead. As he finished pointing it out and given a brief talk about some of the recent things Hubble had imaged, one patron asked "what are the chances of hubble crashing into any of the objects it is looking at?
That's a good one... in so many ways...
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Jimmy
If you could stop time, for how long would you stop it?
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
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john D
All you have to do is ask!!
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 5449
Loc: Midlothian, VA
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Quote:
Quote:
We were doing a program at our local Science center and we had a 6" refractor pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy. The Astronomer at the time was also pointing out when The Hubble Space Telescope would be able to be seen as a satelite overhead. As he finished pointing it out and given a brief talk about some of the recent things Hubble had imaged, one patron asked "what are the chances of hubble crashing into any of the objects it is looking at?
That's a good one... in so many ways...
thats pretty good! 
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Meade ETX-125
Meade LXD55 mount
Philips SPC900NC webcam
Some Accessories!
My Blog
 -Midlothian VA
--Land Of The Free Because Of The Brave--
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Snaproll
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/20/04
Posts: 3824
Loc: Wisconsin
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Gee... no good stories like that to share  At least that I can think of off the top of my head.
I guess I'm always amused with two cliché responses where people think their original. When looking at the moon they always ask, "Can I see the flag?", and of course the other with viewing Saturn is, after the "Wow!" expression, then there is the inevitable "That's not real! You stuck a picture in there!" Saturn is always a site to behold, it does look like it 'can't be real'.
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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II
old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images
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john D
All you have to do is ask!!
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 5449
Loc: Midlothian, VA
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Quote:
with viewing Saturn is, after the "Wow!" expression, then there is the inevitable "That's not real! You stuck a picture in there!" Saturn is always a site to behold, it does look like it 'can't be real'.
that kind of happened to me.i had a friend look at saturn and he thought it was fake but surely it was real! 
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Meade ETX-125
Meade LXD55 mount
Philips SPC900NC webcam
Some Accessories!
My Blog
-Midlothian VA
--Land Of The Free Because Of The Brave--
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Quote:
This may be slightly off topic but still funny. I shop at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart on a regular basis and they frequently have telescopes for sale. Often they are Reflectors and they ALWAYS set the display up with the OTA backwards in the mount and the eyepiece end pointing to the floor! I have spoken to them many times about it but I am sure they think I am crazy. Sometimes I re-assemble the display myself but the next time I am there it has been changed back to their concept of how it should be!
 Now that's good!!
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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Jerry Moore
sage
Reged: 05/23/06
Posts: 311
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We are often asked.."Can you see the American flag on the Moon?"
ROLFMAO
Jerry
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InkDark
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1837
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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I have a similar story but it's not about astronomy, but anyways, here goes:
I was talking with a friend while having lunch at the University one day and we were talking about hyenas. One girl who was sitting near us said: "what's a hyena...Oh that's like in the Lion King?" (the kids movie). Although I didn’t know who she was I replied: Yeah but the real ones don't speak.
Ouch! Don’t quit your day job!
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Jimmy
If you could stop time, for how long would you stop it?
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
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NeoDinian
Experienced Postmaster
Reged: 10/05/05
Posts: 12709
Loc: Rockford Illinois
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Quote:
We are often asked.."Can you see the American flag on the Moon?"
ROLFMAO
Jerry
We get that one a LOT on public nights at our club.. My answer is always the same...
I'll look at my watch and tell them: "No, it's after 5... They took it down."
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Neo... (Jeff)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
10" LX200-GPS/SMT UHTC "Draco"
 Rockford, Il.
NeoDinian's Eye on the Sky!
Coming soon:
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Snaproll
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/20/04
Posts: 3824
Loc: Wisconsin
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Gotta remember that one Jeff
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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II
old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images
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john D
All you have to do is ask!!
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 5449
Loc: Midlothian, VA
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Quote:
Quote:
We are often asked.."Can you see the American flag on the Moon?"
ROLFMAO
Jerry
We get that one a LOT on public nights at our club.. My answer is always the same...
I'll look at my watch and tell them: "No, it's after 5... They took it down."
nice one Jeff!
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Meade ETX-125
Meade LXD55 mount
Philips SPC900NC webcam
Some Accessories!
My Blog
-Midlothian VA
--Land Of The Free Because Of The Brave--
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Jeff in Austin
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/26/07
Posts: 801
Loc: TEXAS
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I was asked by a visitor before he looked through the scope, "How do you know it's Saturn?" All I could think of as a reply was, "It's a reapeat and I watched through the credits the first time it was on."
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There's nothing like having a supportive family, including Second Grader w/ scope, curious toddler, and lovely wife.
Supporter of Austin CSC, Austin CalSky.
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 5065
Loc: Illinois, US
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Now that I think about it, I did get another odd one. "What's the Milky Way?" Tried my best to explain it, but not sure whether the guy got the point or not...
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Snaproll
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/20/04
Posts: 3824
Loc: Wisconsin
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Ohh, I thought of one many, many years ago when I started with a 60mm refractor back in college. I used to get together with another guy who was also very interested in astronomy, but we were both starting out. You know the story, wandering around Lyra looking for the ring nebula visually at about 10 power, not finding it for some reason...
Well, my friend has this 4" reflector that was kind of beat up. He yells, "I GOT IT!!!" and starts hopping around. I run over and sure enough, there is this white donut! Hmmmm..... I began moving the scope around, and... hmmm, all the other stars looked like donuts? I focused the scope, but couldn't get a pinpoint, just a larger or smaller donut, (probably the mirror cell had shifted and collimation was in the twilight zone). Anyway I said, "Jim, I don't think it's the ring nebula, everything looks like a donut?". He rushes over and takes a look... In all seriousness he says, "Maybe I've discovered a cluster of planetaries!"
Don't know whatever happened to him after college but I wonder if he chuckles remembering that night too.
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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II
old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images
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LadyAstronomer
Bookworm
Reged: 11/15/07
Posts: 3195
Loc: Library of Congress
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I was a planetarium director early in my career. Oh the stories I could tell!! Here are just a couple of them.
1) Despite the fact that the projector was clearly visible in the middle of the dome, I showed them the sky from the North Pole and from the Equator, I moved them through a night's worth of sky from evening twilight to morning twilight, and the projector itself produced a 6th-magnitude sky; I, on occasion, had adults think that the dome opened up and they were seeing the real night sky! I WISH there were 6th-magnitude, naked-eye skies in the heart of the city!!
2) A man walked in the door and said to the children with him. "This is the aquarium."  That one still makes me laugh! I imagined flooding the dome and letting everybody swim with the fishes.
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We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, Four Quartets
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Trebor777
Hazy
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 1159
Loc: Connecticut - U.S.
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"So, how much was that microscope?" is my favorite question to get.
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- Randy
Telescopes (Solar too), Eyepieces, Mounts, Filters, CCD Cameras,
Astronomy Accessories, My Eyes, My Mind (Sometimes) and Hopefully Clear Skies.
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InkDark
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1837
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Quote:
Ohh, I thought of one many, many years ago when I started with a 60mm refractor back in college. I used to get together with another guy who was also very interested in astronomy, but we were both starting out. You know the story, wandering around Lyra looking for the ring nebula visually at about 10 power, not finding it for some reason...
Well, my friend has this 4" reflector that was kind of beat up. He yells, "I GOT IT!!!" and starts hopping around. I run over and sure enough, there is this white donut! Hmmmm..... I began moving the scope around, and... hmmm, all the other stars looked like donuts? I focused the scope, but couldn't get a pinpoint, just a larger or smaller donut, (probably the mirror cell had shifted and collimation was in the twilight zone). Anyway I said, "Jim, I don't think it's the ring nebula, everything looks like a donut?". He rushes over and takes a look... In all seriousness he says, "Maybe I've discovered a cluster of planetaries!"
Oh that's a good one...Oh my, these stories are great...keep 'em coming...
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Jimmy
If you could stop time, for how long would you stop it?
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
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msholden
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/21/05
Posts: 1187
Loc: Connecticut
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A couple of years ago at the CPTV Family Science expo - a daytime indoor event. I had my scope aimed at a dead bug in the rafters of the hall.
A teacher asked "Why are you wasting our time with this when you could be showing us the Moon or a planet?"
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Life is too short to look through bad glass.
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AstroRealtor
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/26/08
Posts: 539
Loc: Terra Firma
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It never ceases to amaze me that in such a public setting; people don't think before they speak. It reminds me of the story of the guy who after acknowledging that we had the technology to go to the moon asked why we don't go to the sun? When it was explained to him how the temperature wouldn't allow it he asked "why don't we just go at night"?
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Clear Skies, Jim
--------------------------------------------------
Discovering: Messier objects, Deep sky treasures, NGCs, Double stars, & Nebulae of all kinds.
Televue 85 "Polaris" Mount
Custom Crafted Newtonian Dob 8" f7 w/Feathertouch
Celestron Cometron Reflector 114mm f8
Zeiss Diafun 8 X 30 Binos
Zeiss 10 X 56 Binos
Aldrich Astronomical Society
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 5065
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
"why don't we just go at night"?
Oh wow... why didn't I think of that? 
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Or the "moon conspirators" who always ask "why don't we point Hubble at the moon so we can see the flag or the rover". I always tell them that they are located on the opposite side of the moon where Hubble can't get to.....  
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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Nils_Lars
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 3385
Loc: Santa Cruz Mountains , CA
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Well At least you dont work with a bunch of auto techs like I do who think it is hillarious to say that im always looking at Uranus.
I chuckled the first time to play along but the joke is still funny to them a year later , I shouldnt expect too much of them but am I still in 5th grade?
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Erik
Orion Atlas Self Hypertuned (EQMOD)
Orion ED 80
Williams Optics VII reducer
Celestron 8" SCT
Orion Starshoot Autoguider
PHD guide
Canon 400D Hap Griffin Mod w/Baader filter
Astronomik clip-in LP filter and 12nm Ha
Stilleto CVF and Bahtinov mask
Tamron 75-300mm&28-80mm lenses
NexImage webcam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31986095@N05/
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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And if I get one more person who asks me if I can "read their sign"........... 
It's "Astronomy" people.... not "Astrology".... geez... 
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Quote:
Well At least you dont work with a bunch of auto techs like I do who think it is hillarious to say that im always looking at Uranus.
I chuckled the first time to play along but the joke is still funny to them a year later , I shouldnt expect too much of them but am I still in 5th grade?
You were looking at MY WHAT????  
I'm sorry....I couldn't resist....
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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saxmaneagle
super member
Reged: 08/21/07
Posts: 184
Loc: Saint Francis, MN
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chuckling at Rhonda...
....someone once told a friend "Scotts into Astrology" -- I just replied and said, "You both should come over and look through my horo-scope some night !"
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Meade 16" Lightbridge
TV Paracorr
Howie 2" laser & BLUG
Many Many EP's
20x80 standard Oberwerk binoculars
---------------------------------
"Inside us all are such Wonders. Search yourself, find them...share them...and Dream, of a better tomorrow"
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Zebra24601
Postmaster
Reged: 10/09/05
Posts: 11474
Loc: San Gabriel Valley, CA 91770
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Quote:
Quote:
with viewing Saturn is, after the "Wow!" expression, then there is the inevitable "That's not real! You stuck a picture in there!" Saturn is always a site to behold, it does look like it 'can't be real'.
that kind of happened to me.i had a friend look at saturn and he thought it was fake but surely it was real!
We actually did put a sticker in front of our telescope at our outreach event on Saturday:
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2008-3-29-lights-out/
This is what you resort to when your outreach event gets clouded out.
[Click on the photos to read the captions. The last ten or so are where the captions are talking about the stickers. The second to last picture is actually pretty cool.]
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Zebra24601
Meade 8" SCT w/UHTC * Celestron 100ED * Celestron C11 * Celestron Firstscope 80EQ
Meade LXD55 mount * Orion Sirius goto mount
Bushnell Voyager 4.5" Compact Reflector * Barska 15x70 binoculars * Galileoscope * Really cheap Tasco spotting scope
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james royce
member
Reged: 03/28/08
Posts: 28
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the flag question is high on the list! one genteman seeing my 5" refractor commented "i bet you can see all the way to texas with that telescope" i live in s.w. ohio
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vinnie
Latinist
Reged: 01/05/08
Posts: 1753
Loc: Queensland, Australia
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Quote:
This may be slightly off topic but still funny. I shop at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart on a regular basis and they frequently have telescopes for sale. Often they are Reflectors and they ALWAYS set the display up with the OTA backwards in the mount and the eyepiece end pointing to the floor! I have spoken to them many times about it but I am sure they think I am crazy. Sometimes I re-assemble the display myself but the next time I am there it has been changed back to their concept of how it should be!
Yeah George, been there done that (apologies, this is a little off topic, but not a great deal)
I was in a major city last year and there was a 114mm Newt in pride of place in the centre of a Camera Store. Complete with finder on back to front, open end down, focuser pointing to the floor and mirror cell pointing up at the ceiling. Well I couldn't help myself, and started turning the bugger around when the salesman came up and told me that this was the latest thing in Astronomy, the "back to front telescope". He truly believed that you looked in through the open end, and somehow saw something other than a carnival mirror view of your own face. So I commented on how sloppy the EQ mount was, and he got a bit stroppy and said that it was OK to start, but too many people had come in and fooled around trying to turn it the wrong way round, and so had worn it out.
Vin
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Silicon Owl
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 949
Loc: Waimea, Hawaii
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I have a personal bet that I can not show Saturn to a crowd and not have somebody, usually a kid, ask if I have a photo, slide, sticker, or similar in the 'scope. I will invariably have it suggested, usually as a joke, that the image is fake. I have NEVER lost this bet.
Considering I have shown Saturn to thousands of people at dozens and dozens of events this never fails to amaze me. Last week was no exception as we looked at an absolutely gorgeous Saturn with nearly perfect seeing. The summit reported 0.4arcsec seeing, I suspect we had 1arcsec or better down a few thousand feet at the Mauna Kea VIS. I will be trying to lose this one every other week for the next couple months until we lose Saturn to the sunset.
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Andrew Cooper
Personal Website and CN Gallery
Handmade 18" Dob / NS11GPS / 6" RFT / 90mm APO / TV-76 ...and a twin 10m
"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." --Sarah Williams
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John Carruthers
Skiprat
Reged: 02/02/07
Posts: 2267
Loc: Kent, UK
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One public night I was showing Mars to 2 young ladies, explaining about the dust storms and how they partially obscure the surface. I can't have explained it very well, one said she'd found the red dust on her car
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Jc
ATM 10" F6.1, 1/25th wave spec (max wavefront error +/- 1/12.6 in zone 4 of 6, sodium light )
6" F7 spec
127mm F9.4 Refractor
10 x 50 bin
ETX80 (finder)
Canon 20D
PST
DSI 1
and a curious mind
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David Culp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/10/07
Posts: 1177
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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Quote:
Well At least you dont work with a bunch of auto techs like I do who think it is hillarious to say that im always looking at Uranus.
Hey, thats nothing, at least you're not a science teacher who has to put up questions such as:
"Hey Mr. Culp, how big is Uranus?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, I heard Uranus is blue, is that true?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, is Uranus full of gas?"
I hate that planet.
Edited by David Culp (04/03/08 06:49 AM)
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InkDark
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1837
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Once, at a public thing, the animator was explaining how Jupiter is large relaive to Earth. A lady then asked:"Is Jupiter much bigger than the Sun?".
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Jimmy
If you could stop time, for how long would you stop it?
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
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jayscheuerle
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 4064
Loc: S. Philadelphia, PA
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"Can you see aliens on the Moon with that?"
Seriously folks.
Welcome to South Philly... - j
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Fight indignorance!
The Green Goblin - 12" of dobsonian excellence!
The PortaBowl-a $100 4.5" f/8 ball-scope YOU can build!
Eero2-a 6" f/5 ball-scope you probably can't.
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Snaproll
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/20/04
Posts: 3824
Loc: Wisconsin
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Oh the Uranus thing... not really a "story" but a photo somebody sent me that was kind of amusing. In Hong Kong there is apparently the 'Titan' tugboat fleet. They apparently name their boats after the planets. So this friend sends me a photo of the nameplate on one of the boats... I assume the others were names like, "Titan Mercury", "Titan Venus"... I guess they had at least seven tugboats from the photo...
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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II
old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3591
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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You guys have hit most of them already--- my most frequent funny questions are about the same---
1. How far can you see with that?
2. How did you get that picture inside the telescope(Saturn) while they look into the front of the scope!
3. See that "star" it's really the planet Jupiter---- "NO WAY!" is the reply.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
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DoctorNoodle
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/14/07
Posts: 904
Loc: Lawn Guyland, NY
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You guys all get the good questions. All I get is, "I'm a Sassitafrian. What's my horrorscope?" 
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Orion Astroview 120ST and a bunch o' goodies to go with it
Alanoodle's Model Portfolio
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GeorgeDuke
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/24/03
Posts: 1585
Loc: PARADISE! (So.Florida)
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I guess the "how far can you see?" question is probably the most asked. On occasion I have told them that space is curved and if they look very closely they can see the back of their own head!
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George
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SkyShed POD XL-3
LX200GPS 203mm f10
StellarVue SV102ED2 Feathertouch Ser#0018
LXD75 GOTO with Orion 16" pier extension
Baader Hyperion 8mm ,13mm, 21mm + FTRs
2" GSO ED barlow, 2" SV Dielectric and Orion Prism Diagonals
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stefanj
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/15/07
Posts: 1755
Loc: Western New York State
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These are all too funny- But it leaves me wondering what the public REAL thinks is out there- Anyway- my story- I took my daughter and a few other girls from Camp to see a metor shower last August. Well the metors were few and far between- but we were having a blast spotting satallites- The 2 girls suddenly became very concerned because it appeared that a satallite and an airliner were about to crash! My daughter and I still get a good chuckle over that one!
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Life is a circus- and I'm stuck in the FREAK TENT
If these are blue- it means the moon is full!
Meade ETX 90RA w/ tripod
Meade AZ 70 (now solar)
Meade DS 2130 AT
Zhumell 10" Dob
Simmons 10x50 Binoculars
GLPx8
LPI
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rocco13
Got Milk?
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 2642
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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I've also been asked the "how far can you see?", and also "how much power does it have?" So I say right around 8000x, and always get a "hmmm" accompanied with a knowing 'nod' or "that's about what I would have guessed".
One thing that happens no matter what the age of the viewer is after looking through the eyepiece, they ALWAYS step back and look to the sky in that same direction, as if they were going to see the object naked eye, too.
Re the astrology confusion...more than once, when my astronomy hobby is mentioned, I've been told that "I don't really believe in that stuff, but it's fun to read my horoscope anyway."
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Rocco
Zhumell Z12
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars
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DaveCPAC
member
Reged: 02/21/08
Posts: 36
Loc: Lincoln, NE
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Speaking of the moon, I set up my scope for the kids (about 12 of them) at one of our family reunions. Oddly enough it was the younger ones (4-7) who were the most intrigued with what I was showing them, which was the Jupiter and the Moon. One nephew (5 y/o) was looking at the moon and I asked if he could see it. He nodded and his cousin asked "what do you see Sam?"
"Holes" was his answer. Interesting perspective I thought
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Dave Churilla
Prairie Astronomy Club
Lincoln, NE
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/
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werewolf6977
Lord High Smasher
Reged: 12/15/03
Posts: 8428
Loc: Hanover, Ohio
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Out of the mouths of babes.....
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Pete
6" Apogee/LXD55
Starhopper 6" Dob
Spaceprobe 130EQ
Black C8 OTA
WO Zenith Star 66 Patriot Edition
Sun Pak Pro 7500 Platinum Edition
8X42 Bushnell H2O Porro
7X35 Tasco
10X50 Nikon Actions (Type 7)
15X70 Skymasters
Dell Inspiron Dual Core 531s
"Science without Religion is lame, Religion without Science is blind" A.Einstein.
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Skip
Starlifter Driver
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 1337
Loc: San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Speaking of "out of the mouths..."
I'm at almost all of the outreach events for our club and we get very few really "stupid" or wiseacre questions. Most people are really thrilled at what they are seeing. But once I had a 7 year old looking at M31 through my scope. I told him it was the farthest thing we could see with our naked eye and that the telescope was something like a time machine looking back in time over 2 million years. He jerked his head back from the scoppe, eyes really big, and shouted "Hey Mom, come over here and see this guy's time machine!" 
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Skip
Celestron NexStar 6SE (Small Caliber)
Orion SkyQuest XT10i Intelliscope (Howitzer)
2 25mm Plossls; 24mm & 13mm Hyperions; 10mm Plossl; 6mm BO/TMB; 2X Barlow
Telrad + 4" Riser
7Ah PowerTank
Starbound Observing Chair
Eagle Eye Observatory, Texas -
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David Culp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/10/07
Posts: 1177
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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One of my favorites goes something like this:
"Hey man, how much will that magnify?"
"Well, that really depends, right now were looking at (insert object) at about 45X"
"That scopes trash man, my friend has one he bought from Wal-Mart that can go up to 550X!"
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Atoka, Ok
Edited by David Culp (04/03/08 02:12 PM)
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Trebor777
Hazy
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 1159
Loc: Connecticut - U.S.
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Quote:
Or the "moon conspirators" who always ask "why don't we point Hubble at the moon so we can see the flag or the rover". I always tell them that they are located on the opposite side of the moon where Hubble can't get to.....
You can't see anything we left on the moon with a telescope. Anysize basically. Even the Hubble can't see anything we left.
You'd need a telescope, in space, over 100meters in size to actually see anything we left... Flags, rovers, etc, etc...
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- Randy
Telescopes (Solar too), Eyepieces, Mounts, Filters, CCD Cameras,
Astronomy Accessories, My Eyes, My Mind (Sometimes) and Hopefully Clear Skies.
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12929
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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I like the "horror-scope" response to the astrology-confused. Whenever someone asks me what my "sign" is, my answer is "No Parking".
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Under Construction: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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Classic8
sage
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 236
Loc: Naperville, IL, USA
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Quote:
Quote:
Well At least you dont work with a bunch of auto techs like I do who think it is hillarious to say that im always looking at Uranus.
Hey, thats nothing, at least you're not a science teacher who has to put up questions such as:
"Hey Mr. Culp, how big is Uranus?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, I heard Uranus is blue, is that true?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, is Uranus full of gas?"
I hate that planet.
I pronounce it Er-in-us now. Why? When I was in college I had a classical mythology class and the professor was talking about the god that the planet was named after. She pronounced it that way, and I figured, well, she would know how to pronounce it.
And it sounds a heck of a lot better than Yer-ayn-us. Or the other pronunciation Yer-in-us, which isn't much better.
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George
8" Celestron SCT
ETX 125PE
SV102
MaxScope 40
"Oral agreements aren't worth the paper they're written on"
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Firewood
super member
Reged: 10/27/07
Posts: 132
Loc: 29°7' N, 95°4' W
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Hi, folks!
I was out camping with some friends a few years ago and pulled out my binoculars to take advantage of the clear, dark skies. I showed the Andromeda galaxy to one friend when another walked up and asked what we were looking at. The first friend pulled the binoculars away from her face, look at him, and said in all seriousness: "The Androgynous galaxy."
- Jeff
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Clear skies,
Jeff
Nexstar 8 GPS XLT
40mm Optiluxe, 22mm LVW, 13mm Widescan III, 9mm Expanse, 6.7mm S4000 UWA, Plossls
Houston Astronomical Society
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Jason D
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/21/06
Posts: 3291
Loc: California
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Quote:
Quote:
Or the "moon conspirators" who always ask "why don't we point Hubble at the moon so we can see the flag or the rover". I always tell them that they are located on the opposite side of the moon where Hubble can't get to.....
You can't see anything we left on the moon with a telescope. Anysize basically. Even the Hubble can't see anything we left.
You'd need a telescope, in space, over 100meters in size to actually see anything we left... Flags, rovers, etc, etc...
Instead of hitting golf balls, the Apollo astronauts should have taken their time to stack/arrange lunar rocks on the moon's surface to make a huge "X" sign visible to amateur astronomers
Jason
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XT10 classic with premium optics
Tri-knob CR2 with compression rings
Round Table Platform
4.5" StarBlast
6" StarBlast6
TV EPs
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David Culp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/10/07
Posts: 1177
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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Quote:
I pronounce it Er-in-us now. Why? When I was in college I had a classical mythology class and the professor was talking about the god that the planet was named after. She pronounced it that way, and I figured, well, she would know how to pronounce it.
And it sounds a heck of a lot better than Yer-ayn-us. Or the other pronunciation Yer-in-us, which isn't much better.
I actually pronounce it "You-ron-us" to try and avoid the chuckles from kids in class.
I really hate that planet.
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Atoka, Ok
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Quote:
Quote:
Well At least you dont work with a bunch of auto techs like I do who think it is hillarious to say that im always looking at Uranus.
Hey, thats nothing, at least you're not a science teacher who has to put up questions such as:
"Hey Mr. Culp, how big is Uranus?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, I heard Uranus is blue, is that true?"
"Hey Mr. Culp, is Uranus full of gas?"
I hate that planet.
I just laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair!
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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RussL
Music Maker
Reged: 03/18/08
Posts: 1925
Loc: Cayce, SC
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Quote:
at least you're not a science teacher who has to put up questions such as:
I had a science teacher in high school (also the golf coach) who once pronounced Copernicus as "Copper Nickus." I corrected him after class. Not good. I was also on the golf team. Uh oh. 
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--Dawg, the Russell
"Akita mani yo." Observe everything as you walk. (--Lakota)
Celestron Celestar 8 Standard SCT, f10
Celestron 80mm Wide View ref., f5
Orion 120ST ref., f5
Criterion RV-6 Dynascope, Newt., f8, (c. 1962)
Sears Discoverer 60mm ref., f7, (c. 1973)
Celestron Ultima DX 10x50, 6.5 TFOV
Tasco 7x35 wide
Several mediocre eyepieces
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David Culp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/10/07
Posts: 1177
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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Quote:
I just laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair!
I see you live up to your tag line of "easily amused"
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Atoka, Ok
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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You have no idea....
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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larrymax
super member
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 179
Loc: Orting, WA
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Had my first "question" last night.
I was setup in the front yard last night and my neighbor came out and said "Are you looking at the sky?" I stepped back from the Ep and stared at her for a second then I looked at the scope and then back at her and said "no". She got a puzzled look on her face and walked back in her house. I started laughing so hard I had to call it quits for the night.
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Trebor777
Hazy
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 1159
Loc: Connecticut - U.S.
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Quote:
Had my first "question" last night.
I was setup in the front yard last night and my neighbor came out and said "Are you looking at the sky?" I stepped back from the Ep and stared at her for a second then I looked at the scope and then back at her and said "no". She got a puzzled look on her face and walked back in her house. I started laughing so hard I had to call it quits for the night.
You should have said you're looking for angels to shoot down. 
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- Randy
Telescopes (Solar too), Eyepieces, Mounts, Filters, CCD Cameras,
Astronomy Accessories, My Eyes, My Mind (Sometimes) and Hopefully Clear Skies.
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larrymax
super member
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 179
Loc: Orting, WA
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Quote:
You should have said you're looking for angels to shoot down.
 
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David Pavlich
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/05
Posts: 8631
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA 30.22 X 90....
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The most often asked question I get, expecially if I've set up my CGE/SC is "how much does that cost?".
And the other that will invariably come up is, as Andrew said earier, "that isn't Saturn, that's a picture, isn't it?". I actually had to slew my scope around for a lady to look at. She refused to believe me.
David
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Proud Member; PAS NOLA,
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research..."
A. Einstein
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Quote:
Had my first "question" last night.
I was setup in the front yard last night and my neighbor came out and said "Are you looking at the sky?" I stepped back from the Ep and stared at her for a second then I looked at the scope and then back at her and said "no". She got a puzzled look on her face and walked back in her house. I started laughing so hard I had to call it quits for the night.
And I thought my neighbor was clueless.... yours has mine beat!
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Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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Ryus
sage
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 200
Loc: Near Washington DC, Northern V...
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I'm sitting outside in the day using my PST and have two neighbors (each on a separate occasion) stop to ask what I'm looking at. I told the first the sun. They flipped and would not shut up about the risks of going blind. I explained that this scope dims the light so I won't go blind. In the end I had to pull a solar observing book out of my supply bag to convince them that I was safe.
Not wanting to go through that again a week later I say "I'm looking at just what's out."
They stopped to think of something smart to say and finally pick something to say to my evasion.
They told me "That I once had a friend with a scope bigger then your's."
I thinking bigger then a PST, really? Never would have guess that.
Instead of saying that, I say "Oh! You must mean one of those white ones!"
They say "Yep, they had three of them!"
They go on and on about a million times magnification. That when I stopped listening but they went on...
Well then the conversation ended I go to look back through my PST and next thing I know I'm leaping in shock of them screeming "What type of Idiot astronomer are you!?! You can't look at the sun!"
Even with my heart racing at the unexpectedness of it, I was laughing by apparently being "Saved" by my hero. Then I had to explain it to them too, it ended with me pulling out the same book followed by a "can I look"?
From then on I just say "Here have a look and see." (I did have to Idiot "proof" my set up before I did that).
Upon thinking about it I'm glad that both of them knew that looking at the sun is dangerous.
--------------------
Clear skies,
Jonathan
Started amateur astronomy summer 2005.
8x30, 8.5x44, 7x50, & 9x63 (main) binoculars.
5.1" reflector; Coronado PST; &
4" refractor (with optional Solar Filter) (use all equally).
Currently planning on bigger scope (5"-6" refractor, 10" Dob (most likely), or 8" SCT (second most likely)).
Eyepieces: Meade 5000 UWA, Meade 4000 Plossls, TBM Planetary, and CEMAX for PST.
Barlow: TeleVue Powermate 2.5x, CEMAX 2x, and Meade #126 2x.
And a Binoviewer.
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Jerry Moore
sage
Reged: 05/23/06
Posts: 311
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Yes, I know what you mean about the looks you get when solar observing. Our group does this once a month at our space museum. When we stop people before entering the museum to ask if they'd like to take a look at the sun, we get the weirdest "You must be a freakin' nut" looks.
ROFLMAO
Jerry
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perfessor
sage
Reged: 12/30/07
Posts: 499
Loc: Northern Illinois
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Regarding showing the sun: I saw a film about John Dobson, he had made an elegant solar scope with the sonotube cut at 45 degrees, and a plate of welding glass covering the front. No secondary per se, just the back of the glass. He was showing people at a state park, getting ooohs and ahhhs.
"Thank You for showing me that!" one person exclaimed.
"Oh, don't thank me," said Dobson. "It's your sun."
--------------------
Tom
"Don't always know what I'm talkin about"
8" f/7
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Snaproll
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/20/04
Posts: 3824
Loc: Wisconsin
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One thing I have is an 8' Exploradome on a trailer. It tilts up and lays on the trailer, and looks pretty close to an ICBM warhead. Well, you can imagine all the comments I've gotten. "Gee, ever get a call from Homeland Security?", that kind of thing. Everytime I stop for gas, "Excuse me, but what is that?"
Well, I was coming back from a star party and pulled into a burger place for lunch. I get out of the truck and as I'm walking in, this kid, about 20 comes over and good naturedly says, "What is that?" After the hundreth time of being asked I decided to joke with him a little bit, I gave him one of those, 'did you just grow a third eye or something looks' (the guy knew I was kidding) and said, "It's an observatory, haven't you ever seen one before?" Absolutely without missing a beat, the kid comes back with, "Sure, just never one that smaaaaaaaalllll". We both laughed, I then explained what is was, why someone has one, yada, yada, but the whole rest of the ride home I just chuckled, it made my day.
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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II
old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images
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fastrudy
sage
Reged: 04/09/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Long Island, NY
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"why don't we just go at night"?
Believe it or not, that is exactly what Carl Sagan proposed to do!! He wanted to get a probe very close to the sun by sneaking up to it in the shadow of an asteroid or comet.
Whenever somebody asks me "What sign were you born under?" I always reply, "I don't know, but I was conceived under "No parking after dusk.".
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"The authorities are not interested in Truth, merely in Authority"
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AstroRealtor
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/26/08
Posts: 539
Loc: Terra Firma
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Then there was the guy who asked what toilet paper and the Star Ship Enterprise have in common? I shrugged Then he said they both circle Uranus searching for Kling-ons 
--------------------
Clear Skies, Jim
--------------------------------------------------
Discovering: Messier objects, Deep sky treasures, NGCs, Double stars, & Nebulae of all kinds.
Televue 85 "Polaris" Mount
Custom Crafted Newtonian Dob 8" f7 w/Feathertouch
Celestron Cometron Reflector 114mm f8
Zeiss Diafun 8 X 30 Binos
Zeiss 10 X 56 Binos
Aldrich Astronomical Society
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janehoustonjones
sage
Reged: 10/21/07
Posts: 400
Loc: 34 N 118 W, 637.0 feet
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Quote:
Regarding showing the sun: I saw a film about John Dobson, he had made an elegant solar scope with the sonotube cut at 45 degrees, and a plate of welding glass covering the front. No secondary per se, just the back of the glass. He was showing people at a state park, getting ooohs and ahhhs.
"Thank You for showing me that!" one person exclaimed.
"Oh, don't thank me," said Dobson. "It's your sun."
I made one of these Dobsonian Solar scopes in John's class back in 1985. Actually a friend made the mount and I just ground the mirror. The welding glass sits inside the focuser hole. The front is parallel plate glass aluminized on the inside. The mirror is unaluminized. Love it! http://www.whiteoaks.com/sketches/janesketch2.html
--------------------
Jane Houston Jones
New! What's Up Podcast for November (The Crab Nebula)
New NASA web feature: Hunting Leonids
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ForgottenMObject
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/11/04
Posts: 3606
Loc: Maryland, US
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Hmm... back when I started college, the freshmen engineers all had to take a term of English as part of some cross-vocational study or some such silliness. You haven't suffered until you've heard engineers attempt to write poetry or had a paper on the chemical composition of the universe and how it relates to stellar evolution graded by somebody who probably still thinks the sun goes around the Earth.
Anyway, the teacher for this class was a real prize: unable to tell time with a watch, etc. Well, we start talking about hobbies or something as part of some freshman "ice-breaking" session, and I mention astronomy.
Big mistake: she assumes I am interested in astrology. Nope, I explain to her the difference, and she STILL doesn't believe me?! It actually degenerated to the point that she wouldn't even believe the dictionary definitions of the two words. Her last words on the subject where basically that "she believes that they are the same thing, but maybe she's the only one who believes that." Ummm.. yep!
In the end, I got an A in that class either because she had no idea what I was talking about half the time or because she feared I'd somehow change her future with my vast understanding of astrology, mystical signs, etc. Hehehehe...
--------------------
Matthew
IDA member
XT8i, 10x50 binoculars, lots of eyepieces
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 5065
Loc: Illinois, US
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Quote:
Her last words on the subject where basically that "she believes that they are the same thing, but maybe she's the only one who believes that." Ummm.. yep!
You'd be amazed how wide-spread that idea was back in the day -- you know, a few centuries ago...
Chris
--------------------
"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Skylook123
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 4780
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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It was a very quiet night a few years ago at the Grand Canyon Star Party. It's a fantastic week of outreach with public visitors and 50-80 amateur astronomers showing off sky candy. Set up is either in the main parking area for Yavapai Observing Station, or down in a lower area called The Pit. In The Pit, you can leave your scope set up for the whole week, but the visitor traffic is, at best, 10% of the flow in the upper lot.
So there we were, about a dozen of us astronomers in the Pit with maybe 30 visitors ambling through and sampling the views. Very quiet. I've got my 18" on The Ring. I help a 7 year old up the ladder to view. Still dead silence. Suddenly this little guy shouts out "Holy S***, Mom, it's a g** d*** Cheerio."
After 15 years of outreaches, that one really sticks with me!
--------------------
Jim
A Bad Night With A Telescope
Beats A Good Night Doing Anything Else
Tectron 18" Truss Dob/Sky Commander DSCs, "Derrick"
Meade 10" LX-5 SCT/Atlas-G "Ol' Blue Eye"
Orion 90mm refractor,
Meade 10" Starfinder Newt/JMI NGCMax DSCs,
Celestron 10x50 Ultima Pro
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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Quote:
Suddenly this little guy shouts out "Holy S***, Mom, it's a g** d*** Cheerio."
Now this gives new meaning to the "Milky Way" as well!
I'll never be able to look at either without thinking of this thread and chuckling.....
--------------------
Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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David Culp
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/10/07
Posts: 1177
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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Another funny comment made by someone I know.
Back when I was kid (well around 19 or so). I was working my way through college at a local convenience store in the rural town I lived in. Some of the other employees would give me a hard time (all in fun) about my astronomy habit.
One night, one of the employees was asking me if I was taking the scope out when I got home. I told her I was and I was going to be observing Jupiter.
She made a bit of a smart remark then asked where to find Jupiter. I told her it would be the really bright object in the west after sun down - the brightest object in the sky in that part of the sky.
After it got dark Janna comes running in, she was very excited shouting "I see it, I see it, I see Jupiter!!" I was pretty darn proud of myself, maybe I just made another astronomer. So, I go out side and she’s excited and points "There it is, there it is!!!
Now, what I am about to tell you is the truth, not embellished, I’m not making this up, I’m not even stretching the truth a little.
I simply hung my head and said "No Janna, that’s not Jupiter, that's the moon."
--------------------
Atoka, Ok
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Sky_Watcher2007
easily amused
Reged: 07/24/06
Posts: 174
Loc: Belleville, IL
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oh my!  
--------------------
Rhonda~
C9.25 ASGT SCT
Hardin Optical 6" Dob
Pentax 16 x 50 XCF Binoculars
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Ryus
sage
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 200
Loc: Near Washington DC, Northern V...
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Quote:
I simply hung my head and said "No Janna, that’s not Jupiter, that's the moon."
We can't win.  There's too many DUMB people. To make it worse I think they choose to be that way.
However I choose to keep fighting. 
--------------------
Clear skies,
Jonathan
Started amateur astronomy summer 2005.
8x30, 8.5x44, 7x50, & 9x63 (main) binoculars.
5.1" reflector; Coronado PST; &
4" refractor (with optional Solar Filter) (use all equally).
Currently planning on bigger scope (5"-6" refractor, 10" Dob (most likely), or 8" SCT (second most likely)).
Eyepieces: Meade 5000 UWA, Meade 4000 Plossls, TBM Planetary, and CEMAX for PST.
Barlow: TeleVue Powermate 2.5x, CEMAX 2x, and Meade #126 2x.
And a Binoviewer.
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