19 replies to this topic

[Awesomelenny]

My brother-in-law and his wife invited my wife and me to go on a bus trip with a group of seniors at their church. Well we went just to please them. The trip was really boring but....

The leader of this group and I were chatting at one of the stops along the way and he was just asking me the usual curiosity questions about us. I told him about my hobby and his eyes just lit up and he excalimed to my brother-in-law, "Where have you been hiding this guy?" He insisted I give a talk to their group at one of their monthly group meetings during the winter.

I did just that a couple of weeks ago. I put together a pretty cool PowerPoint presentation about my hobby and how I got started in it way back in the early 1960's as a little kid! I had photos that I took as a teenager, pictures of my scopes I owned all those years, and how this evolved to what I do today with astro-imaging etc. The latter part of the presentation started off with a really nice easy to understand explanation of what a light year really is. Then I followed that with the many images I have taken with my telescopes recently.

I was so shocked to see just how receptive this was with those elders. They were so impressed with the whole thing and we ended up talking afterward with all sorts of smart questions from most of those folks regarding light years etc. For instance, the thing that really impressed them was how I explained when they look up at the night sky, they are looking at points of history, like how everything we see occurred millions of years ago.

They want me to come back again to give more talks. I even plan on having them all over my place on a "field trip" during the summer where they can have some views through my 16" Meade on a nice clear summer evening.

This was a really personally rewarding excperience for me. I cannot express how good I felt to be able to share this wonderful hobby with the public.

[Ira]

Very neat. It's amazing how enthusiastic neophytes can be.

/Ira

[RobertED]

Sounds awesome!!!

[Skylook123]

Do a night at the Grand Canyon Star Party and bask in the appreciation from hundreds of visitors, one at a time.

[Jim Rosenstock]

For instance, the thing that really impressed them was how I explained when they look up at the night sky, they are looking at points of history, like how everything we see occurred millions of years ago.

Errrr...except that it's not true.

The vast majority of what we see in the night sky is part of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, which is around 100,000 light years in diameter. And our favorite Solar System objects are just light-minutes (or even light-seconds) away!

Yes, most galaxies are in the millions of light years (or greater) distant, and a very few of them are visible naked-eye, and a few more in modest-sized amateur scopes. But mostly, we're looking at much closer, much "newer" objects.

Yes, we're still looking at history....but most of it just isn't quite that ancient!

Cheers,

Jim

[Jason B]

Great job Lenny! It's always fun to give presentations to a group that is really interested and interactive.

[StarStuff1]

Good for you!

[Awesomelenny]

Oooops Jim you're right. I didn't word this correctly in the post! I did mention that the stars we see are all from our home galaxy and that they were anywhere from 4.3 light years away or farther; however, I also mentioned that if we were out in the countryside away from our suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, I could show them a fuzz that's approximately 2.5 million light years distant! Cool stuff, huh?

[oldtimer]

Your lucky you didn't run into any of the '6000 year old universe' belivers.

[Awesomelenny]

Oh that would have been a real trip for a conversation. But these folks were really attentive and interested. That really just kept me going for sure!

[tedbnh]

Fantastic and keep it up! Would you be willing to share your Powerpoint presentation? I have shared mine in the past via Dropbox and they continue to be available to anyone who asks, just send me a PM.

[David Pavlich]

Good stuff, Len! Did you tell them to stay sick and turn blue? Seriously, this is how we get more into the hobby.

David

[Tim Gilliland]

I put on a sidewalk event at a local community center on a monthly basis. It is great fun sharing the hobby.

[killdabuddha]

Len,

What did they think about bein the congealed detritus of many supernovae remnants? Can you identify this as the "dust" of "Adam's" "Genesis?" Maybe the "Let there be light" with the Photon Era of the Standard Model? Etc., etc. I ask as a former seminarian.

Also, do you in yer powerpoint show well-developed (colorful, long-exposure or stacked) DSOs, and do these detract for them from the act of visual observing?

[GeneT]

One is never too young or old to be touched by the heavens and the night sky.

[Awesomelenny]

To a former seminarian...

Just the thought that the logical order of the beginning of time in the Bible, it's in the correct order. Funny that the early man should have had that correct too!

[skybsd]

Awesome!!!!

Looks like you found your calling, there

Regards,

skybsd

[Globularnut]

Isn't that fun? I periodically get invited to talk to various groups about astronomy. While I don't know a lot of about the scientific stuff, it's enjoyable to share what I do know, and especially show them things in the telescope. I've done talks with school groups and seniors, and everyone in between. Nice to be able to share your passion.

[killdabuddha]

To a former seminarian...

Funny that the early man should have had that correct too!

Or that lotsa primitive peoples shoulda ascribed gold to the sun...well, not our sun or its class, to be sure, but all the same...I look for agreement, not ways to further alienate myself or exclude others. And I always wonder whether today's scientists have any sense of history, even within their own fields. It's said that a freshman engineering student today will find by their fourth year everything from their first year obsoleted. CP Snow spoke of the divide between the two cultures. I try to avoid such broad generalizations lest I be constrained by any, or lest I perpetuate it by any kinda participation in it. I love science because of the wonder and awe it engenders, and astronomy, the first science, is where I find the inexhaustible, the sublime, and that in which there's room for everyone to swim. No pun intended, but where else is there such space in which everyone can live and move and have their being? So I'm always lookin for parallels and bridges, which was why I asked what I did.

[uniondrone]

Your lucky you didn't run into any of the '6000 year old universe' belivers.

Yeah, that can be a sticky situation. You don't want to put down anyone's belief, yet at the same time there is a strong urge to correct them.

I think that the best resolution is to say that the facts you're presenting are "according to the current scientific understanding". That makes it a matter of them disagreeing with the science and not with the presenter (you). Also, it allows for a least a semi-productive conversation to occur, as they don't dispute whether scientists believe something or not, they only dispute whether it is true.