33 replies to this topic

[izar187]

Lots of great insights here.
Having the quest cover one eye with one hand can really help.
So can a ladder of some kind, that gives people something to hold onto when at the focuser.
Rigging the scope and mount into a lower viewing position than the one we might prefer for ourselves, this helps.
Easy to look through eye pieces are a must.
And targets that they can see, as opposed to those that are really only a showpiece for imaging.
Unless one has the imaging set-up out there ready to share. Then that is the way to go.

The lines and crowd at the computer/laptop with scope presentation are often larger.
Folks are having fun and a great experience at the same time.
I encourage anyone I meet out beside my alt-az mounted newts to be sure and check them out.
We are not making the same presentation of the night sky. We all can benefit from both.

I also encourage every one I meet who has any telescope to join the club and bring their scope out to public viewing.
Scopes have to be sorta matched for the best kind of targets, sure. But any scope they have will show other people things they would not ever see without a telescope.
Showing people stuff at public outreach is one the best reasons to be member of an astronomy club.

[markseibold]

Hello Matthew

I commend you for your sidewalk astronomy outreach. As I have provided several thousand hours of solar sidewalk astronomy over the past decade, I can sympathize for many of the unforeseen pains that can occur at the eyepiece with first time observers. On the contrary, I found that rather than the children, it was many adults that I encountered who had the most difficult time to see the sun through a large h-alpha telescope that I set up for over six weeks while traveling nearly 10,000 miles across the continent in 2000. I realized myself at first when I encountered this instrument, that the exit pupil was very narrow but that it was a quick process to learn to see through it if an experienced observer would encourage the new observers to be patient- something I believe our modern society is trained away from today and that this is partly due to the technology speeding us up. I also found that it was especially certain adult women that complained of not seeing the image. There was much to learn about how we are trained to use our eyes- or perhaps misuse them. As an artist, I am usually seen in the CN Astronomy Sketching forums here where I currently hold the record for the most monthly sketching awards and also over the photographers more than any other. > http://www.cloudynig...5/o/all/fpart/1


I concur with many of the sentiments here in the comments as I just read a handful of them. I had also spent much time taking John Dobson to local schools while he was staying in the Portland area to provide his telescope building and cosmology classes in 2003 ~ 2004, as we provided solar sidewalk astronomy for the public and schools.
http://s10.photobuck...04_cd028fb2.jpg

I’ve had many conversations with Dobson about how we as a society are trained into certain conventional wisdoms and “how we learn to see,” and how artists are seeing more than the general observers. I drove a 3,600 mile road trip in late 2010 from my home in Portland to Hollywood fro Dobson’s 95th Birthday at Griffith Park Observatory. >
http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

In another video of Dobsons 90th birthday, he speaks of having observers standing on a city owned garbage can (at 1:20 on the time bar and at about 5:00 minutes and after as he describes his parents as educators and what the American public does not understand about simple physics through scientific observation.) >
http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

You and others here might find this interesting as I recorded over one hundred hours of the public and schools, while I interviewed them as they observed the sun through the h-alpha telescopes that I provided on that 10,000 mile solo road trip in 2000 and then three trips to the Fiji Islands [not recording in audio though while in Fiji] (although this is only an edited fifteen minutes excerpted from those hundred hours of audio recordings, it took ten years to finally edit it and then another three months to add the actual images, many as actual to the locations, newspaper and TV news images, my own pastel sketches of the sun as observed through the telescopes, other public photographers, etc. onto an interesting video slide show to accompany the audio recording. > http://www.youtube.c...=3&feature=plcp

*Note the very young four year old girl speaking- starting at 1:50 minutes on the time bar. (This was a Toronto Ontario Canadian though and not an American.) Just listening to her patient and succinct description; she is quite aware and willing to describe in fine detail of what she is observing on the face of the sun. I noticed that many children seemed to be seeing more than some adults or that the children in some cases had more patience than adults. *Also refer to the Oregonian News article and others from the Fiji Islands (scroll down this page to see the news) > http://markseibold.s...pace.com/about/


Some of the responses were amazing and at other times humorous as the conversations evolved. Several are in foreign languages- Several times in French as I spent a week alone in Eastern Canada, other languages were German, Bulgarian, Russian, Vietnamese, Greek. Also note hope involved some of the observers became. You’ll hear a gentleman and I in Toronto Ontario Canada discussing the definition of the word ‘science’. Also note that women found the image as more biologically connected to us.

Mark Seibold
www.markseibold.com

Cloudy Nights Forums - My Gallery
DP Review - Mark Seibold's Gallery - *At Gallery, click upper tool bar to "Slideshow-Start", in next window, click to "Fullscreen", wait a few seconds resting mouse, full screen will appear, scroll to access other images and pages at bottom thumbnail index and arrows <left and right> bottom page corners

[S.Boerner]

When I expect to see a large crowd (more than 100) and few scopes at one of out weekly public viewings, I pull out my Samsung SDC-435 video camera on either a CCTV lens or 90mm refractor on a GOTO mount. I get the best results at f/4 or less and a 250-350mm focal length. I'll set up a bit a way from the rest of the scopes, cover my monitor with rubylith and point the monitor away from the rest of the group to preserve as much night vision as possible. Our sessions are from an orange sky area, but I have seen the Horse Head on my monitor with my video rig from the site.

The way I look at it video has one disadvantage--you really don't see the "real" photons from the object. Instead the photons are saved/processed/amplified/or whatever you want to call it. The display on the screen is a representation of what is really seen in the eyepiece. One of the things I usually say to visitors when they look at the output on my screen is "this is what you'll watch for when you look through the other telescopes."

Personally I think video has the following advantages:
1. everyone in a party can see the same object at the same time,
2. age or physical limitations because of eye problems or other challenges are minimized,
3. the party members can freely discuss the object on the screen,
4. I can be sure everyone can see the image because I can point to it,
5. less dead time vs. standing in line to view through an eyepiece
6. fainter detail can be captured/seen because of extended integration times
7. objects can be seen around bright moon conditions
8. color is more obvious vs. eyepiece views
9. you don't need a monster scope to see a galaxy on a bright night

The bottom line is that video isn't the be-all/end-all/do-all for public outreach, but it can be an important part.

[StarStuff1]

Amen, brother!

I have a SDC 435 also. I removed the factory IR filter. We have a Meade 12-in go-to S/C. Using a .5 focal reducer and a small monitor folks are often blown away by galaxies, bright planetary nebs and M42. BTW, the guy in charge doesn't like the monitor being used on Moonless nights (even though it is in an orange zone) but still, this inexpensive cam does a great job. As mentioned earlier, a whole family or small groups can see at one time...even the little tykes can see a TV screen.

A memorable night a couple of years ago I put the first quarter Moon in a little AT66. The Moon barely filled the fov of the monitor. A fellow club member came over and gave an impromptu talk of the various Apollo Moon landings. The crowd grew and people were delighted to look at the Moon overhead "live" with naked eye and then at the monitor to see details.

[archer1960]

I'm more of an AP'er, so on nights when a lot of people are expected, I'll leave my DSLR connected to my AT6RC, and hook up a computer monitor to the laptop and use that as a live video display. The FOV is about 55' by 37', which is just about perfect for lunar and solar observing since the disk nearly fills the screen. It lets me point things out without having to describe where to look, and then people can go inside the dome to look through the 16" or to the 10" dob for a closeup view. Works great, and lets a lot more people get a good look at things than if they had to line up at an eyepiece.

[cheapersleeper]

I am so very conflicted when I read about outreach using video, computers, CCD and such. I believe these are wonderful tools but I am seriously concerned that they will actually dissuade people from buying telescopes and if they DO buy a scope, they may be sorely disappointed.

[desertstars]

Different tools for different situations. I would not advise the use of any one system or approach to the exclusion of others. I've been to school star parties where fainter objects were shown by enhanced electronic means, while I have the 'Newt on a fat crescent Moon, and someone else was showing the Double Double. All three scopes drew equal crowds, had folks coming back for "seconds," and received loads of compliments. I'd say mix it all up and show folks the amazing range of options available to people who might take more than a momentary interest. That's one of the strength of amateur astronomy, really. There's no single "best" way to do this, and you can chose the tools and techniques that best suit you.

[cheapersleeper]

Agreed.

[izar187]

I agree as well.
Use anything you have.
The most important part is to do the outreach. With what ever targets show well in whatever instruments one has.
Including naked eye.