208 replies to this topic

[DSOGabe]

Nothing major, but I always wind up with several people who want to look through the finder scope. I need to re-direct them to the eyepiece. I guess that SCTs are just to weird looking for most people so they don't know where to look

[GrassLakeRon]

The top three things people have asked me to show them:

 

3) The American Flag on the Moon

2) God

1) A little boys Mom who passed away.  His family said she was "Up there" in the night sky, and he wanted to see her again. 

 

I cried when the boy asked me......

 

Haven't done much out reach since then.

[maroubra_boy]

... A little boys Mom who passed away.  His family said she was "Up there" in the night sky, and he wanted to see her again. 

 

I cried when the boy asked me......

 

Haven't done much out reach since then.

That is a real tough one to suck up.

 

But you got me thinking.  Yeah, hind sight is confounded thing, but if you, me or anyone else comes across this, one way to deal with this in a kind way is to bring up a bright star in the scope, a red one if possible, and say that is their mum.  The red star being for love as a love heart is depicted as red.  Maybe have a quiet word with the parent that is present about this.  

 

You wouldn't be far off though, culture wise.  Many indigenous cultures around the world have the stars as the souls of their departed.  For instance here in Australia, some indigenous nations see the Milky Way as a river containing the souls of their ancestors, meteors being souls rising up to the sky, and even some constellations play a role in this, such as the Southern Cross is to them the canoe that is used to pick up the souls of their departed (it is only a "cross" as a Eurocentric Christian construct).  The stars in the sky are a direct and live contact with their ancestry, being the personification of their lore, much the same as our constellations were the exact same direct link to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.

 

Actually, our astrological constellations are OUR direct cultural link to the Pharaohs and even older cultures that all used the exact same constellations and ideas within the very same astrology done today.  We may think that we have absolutely no link to the ancient Egyptians, but you are very mistaken.  Sure, astrological superstition is nuts, but the cultural connection is a real and direct one, unbroken for over 7,000 years.

 

But this digresses from the premise of this thread.

[maroubra_boy]

To add my own tale of woe, I have actually had one person become aggressive towards me with outreach in some 40 years that I've been sharing my scopes with people.  I showed Saturn to a neighbour through my 5" SCT - first problem being that an SCT does not look like a telescope to most people and from this they were convinced that there was "a photo in that thing!".  They became very agitated and it took some very quick thinking on my part to make them calm down - heck I had set up my scope in my front yard to look at Saturn and welcomed any neighbours who showed curiosity at what I was doing.  Some people are only too quick to reckon you are either trying to con them into something or make a fool of them, such is their ignorance and their suspicion of others

 

Alex.

[GrassLakeRon]

That is a real tough one to suck up.

But you got me thinking. Yeah, hind sight is confounded thing, but if you, me or anyone else comes across this, one way to deal with this in a kind way is to bring up a bright star in the scope, a red one if possible, and say that is their mum. The red star being for love as a love heart is depicted as red. Maybe have a quiet word with the parent that is present about this.

You wouldn't be far off though, culture wise. Many indigenous cultures around the world have the stars as the souls of their departed. For instance here in Australia, some indigenous nations see the Milky Way as a river containing the souls of their ancestors, meteors being souls rising up to the sky, and even some constellations play a role in this, such as the Southern Cross is to them the canoe that is used to pick up the souls of their departed (it is only a "cross" as a Eurocentric Christian construct). The stars in the sky are a direct and live contact with their ancestry, being the personification of their lore, much the same as our constellations were the exact same direct link to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.

Actually, our astrological constellations are OUR direct cultural link to the Pharaohs and even older cultures that all used the exact same constellations and ideas within the very same astrology done today. We may think that we have absolutely no link to the ancient Egyptians, but you are very mistaken. Sure, astrological superstition is nuts, but the cultural connection is a real and direct one, unbroken for over 7,000 years.

But this digresses from the premise of this thread.

You are right. It caught me by surprise, that little boy. Astronomy is a personal, spiritual, cultural thing. It can and does touch us in many different ways. The little boys grandparents were not close enough to talk to....in the end I showed him many things that night and he kept coming back.

[aviey]

Hmm.. doing outreach with kindergarten and when I distract by answering questions from students, other kids rotate the telescope while it was in GOTO mode. And voila... since then the gear broken and it can only work on manual mode. 

[CltFlyboy]

That is a real tough one to suck up.

 

But you got me thinking.  Yeah, hind sight is confounded thing, but if you, me or anyone else comes across this, one way to deal with this in a kind way is to bring up a bright star in the scope, a red one if possible, and say that is their mum.  The red star being for love as a love heart is depicted as red.  Maybe have a quiet word with the parent that is present about this.  

 

You wouldn't be far off though, culture wise.  Many indigenous cultures around the world have the stars as the souls of their departed.  For instance here in Australia, some indigenous nations see the Milky Way as a river containing the souls of their ancestors, meteors being souls rising up to the sky, and even some constellations play a role in this, such as the Southern Cross is to them the canoe that is used to pick up the souls of their departed (it is only a "cross" as a Eurocentric Christian construct).  The stars in the sky are a direct and live contact with their ancestry, being the personification of their lore, much the same as our constellations were the exact same direct link to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.

 

Actually, our astrological constellations are OUR direct cultural link to the Pharaohs and even older cultures that all used the exact same constellations and ideas within the very same astrology done today.  We may think that we have absolutely no link to the ancient Egyptians, but you are very mistaken.  Sure, astrological superstition is nuts, but the cultural connection is a real and direct one, unbroken for over 7,000 years.

 

But this digresses from the premise of this thread.

I love the way you handled that! Personally, after reading several of this type of post, I've come up with what I'll say if I get asked. Instead of having one specific, defined "place" (star/planet/etc), I'd find something bright/interesting and tell the child "she was passing this area recently on her way to explore the universe". That way it's not a locked in point where the child might go back to a teacher and tell that "this star is my mom". 

 

That said, again, your response is absolutely lovely!

[Jim4321]

Some years ago, a few of us from the Asheville club were set up along a knee-high retaining wall in Chimney Rock State Park for a rare night-time park event.  The spot we were directed to at the bottom of the elevator to the top had a pretty good eastern sky view, and a _great_ view down along the length of the lake.  But it wasn't drawing many visitors; they all seemed more intent on getting to the top.  We killed time watching the full yellowish moon rise over the lake (spectacular!) and yarning amongst ourselves. I was able to repeatedly check that my few-weeks-old 9.25 Evolution was SCT was aligned and tracking properly.

 

My first visitor arrived.... a pudgy ~9 year old, running full-tilt towards my mount, arm outstretched and hand ready to grasp the convenient "handle" of the diagonal / eyepiece!  I was a few steps too far away to intervene, and sensing a probable disaster in the making, I called on my very loudest USN-working party-schooled voice, and yelled "STOP!!!" Son, lemme tell you, he STOPPED!  His outstretched hand hung in the air for several seconds before dropping to his side. 

 

His grand-dad arrived, and I could tell he was a bit irritated at having his precious grandson denied whatever he wanted to grab.  Thinking quickly, I just said, "He was headed full-tilt for that retaining wall and a big drop-off!" 

 

Jim H.

[RichNH]

Interesting stories, I have been thinking of taking my AT102ED with sun filter to the town ballpark this July 4th for some outreach and I appreciate hearing the stories AND the various silly questions and great answers.  I think that I'll bring a small magnifying glass with me and if anyone insists on looking at the sun without the filter I'll have them focus the magnifying glass on their hand for a bit. 

 

If they do it to themselves it can be chalked up as showing is better than telling, better their hand than their eye.

Really liked the cats pushing everything off the edge comeback.  That's a keeper.

Edited by RichNH, 08 June 2023 - 01:02 PM.

[Bob Campbell]

At another Astronomy Day, one of my old observing buddies, Jerry Knight, was showing off a filtered view of the Sun. One particular gentleman didn't like that and demanded that Jerry remove the filter so that he could have a "real" view of the Sun. The person in question actually argued with Jerry for about 20 minutes, or so, to remove the filter. WOW! Needless to say, the filter remained on the front of the scope.

 

You'll burn your eye out, Kid! (shout out to Ralphie, Christmas Story)

 

Edited by Bob Campbell, 08 June 2023 - 01:06 PM.

[Forward Scatter]

Interesting stories, I have been thinking of taking my AT102ED with sun filter to the town ballpark this July 4th for some outreach and I appreciate hearing the stories AND the various silly questions and great answers.  I think that I'll bring a small magnifying glass with me and if anyone insists on looking at the sun without the filter I'll have them focus the magnifying glass on their hand for a bit. 

 

If they do it to themselves it can be chalked up as showing is better than telling, better their hand than their eye.

Really liked the cats pushing everything off the edge comeback.  That's a keeper.

"....A burnt hand teaches best...."

 

-Gandalf in The Two Towers

[Autumn]

I really enjoy outreach.  The people are almost always really excited and fun to show around.

 

One night a dad and his daughter came up to my scope (a four inch ED at that party) and wanted to look.  The dad looked and then the little girl did.  She identified my target as " The Pleiades"   Impressed I asked her how old she was and she said, "10".  She went on to say, "I have a telescope that my dad bought for me on my birthday."  "I asked her what it was.  She said, "It is a five inch telescope."  I asked, "Celestron?"  She said, "No.  Takahashi."  I stopped asking dumb questions for the rest of the night.

LOL My jaw just dropped to the floor after reading that. Thanks for sharing!

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

A couple of years ago, I was doing outreach with a bunch of 7-8 years old kids from school.

 

We were looking at the half-lit Moon through a Celestron 100 AZ (by the way, it's a great instrument for school outreach)

 

One of the kids suddenly leaves the waiting line and starts staring downwards through the objective (?!)

 

Then he asks me ... "Sir, may you, please, show me the little bugs on the Moon ?"

I respond "Well... I'd need you to describe me those little bugs of yours"

 

Thing is that, the day before, teacher showed them microbes on a water drop through the microscope.

He thought that the refractor could also work as a microscope for distant targets.

 

Not so crazy... kids' logic always surprises me

Edited by Sebastian_Sajaroff, 11 August 2023 - 07:46 AM.

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

I really like the idea of bringing a magnifying glass to solar outreach activities.

 

Sadly, I met many people who wanted a "pure" (unobstructed) view of the Sun !

Edited by Sebastian_Sajaroff, 11 August 2023 - 07:48 AM.

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

To add my own tale of woe, I have actually had one person become aggressive towards me with outreach in some 40 years that I've been sharing my scopes with people.  I showed Saturn to a neighbour through my 5" SCT - first problem being that an SCT does not look like a telescope to most people and from this they were convinced that there was "a photo in that thing!".  They became very agitated and it took some very quick thinking on my part to make them calm down - heck I had set up my scope in my front yard to look at Saturn and welcomed any neighbours who showed curiosity at what I was doing.  Some people are only too quick to reckon you are either trying to con them into something or make a fool of them, such is their ignorance and their suspicion of others

 

Alex.

That's true.

Many people expect telescopes to look like XIX century brass refractors or like Captain Hook's spotting scope. 

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

Hmm.. doing outreach with kindergarten and when I distract by answering questions from students, other kids rotate the telescope while it was in GOTO mode. And voila... since then the gear broken and it can only work on manual mode. 

That's sad !

[wrvond]

Interesting stories, I have been thinking of taking my AT102ED with sun filter to the town ballpark this July 4th for some outreach and I appreciate hearing the stories AND the various silly questions and great answers.  I think that I'll bring a small magnifying glass with me and if anyone insists on looking at the sun without the filter I'll have them focus the magnifying glass on their hand for a bit. 

 

If they do it to themselves it can be chalked up as showing is better than telling, better their hand than their eye.

Really liked the cats pushing everything off the edge comeback.  That's a keeper.

So did anybody try to look at the Sun through your magnifying glass and burn their eye out?

[Skylook123]

Most of my observing is public outreach with my 10" Meade SCT using a MallinCam live video camera and a 24" monitor.  I can set it up so that the scope and equipment is not easily accessible other than looking at the monitor.  Still, it was involved in one of my two major public "interactions" with equipment.  I've been doing outreach for about 30 years, for the last 20 years as often as 10 times a month, plus 8 straight nights every year at the Grand Canyon Star Party.  Lots of opportunity for the public to get adventuresome, but only two significant happenings.

 

The first was long before I got involved with live video astronomy, and when using my 18" truss dob.  About 10 of us were set up down in a side area for larger equipment that could remain set up at the Yavapai Point observing area at the Grand Canyon.  A quiet night with about 30 visitors.  I was showing M57 at about 45 degrees elevation, and my "visitor" was about 8 years old and four steps up on the ladder.  He looked up and hollered "Holy S..t Mom, it's a G.. D.... Cheerio!"  Many in the crowd laughed, and mom hollered back with "JEFFREY, GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW!"  Jeffrey immediately jumped from the ladder to my Featherlite focuser and eyepiece. I grabbed him around the waist and saved an unfortunate crash and burn.  The crowd liked the show.

 

The second was about seven or eight years ago, the first year I had set up the newer site behind the visitor center to accommodate live video.  We were along the entry path, and a rope isolation line was set up so we could be behind the line with our monitors against the rope so Looky, no Touchy..  I was giving a walk around the sky around 9 PM one night.  I could see my setup from the area where we did the laser tour for visitors interested.  I had shut everything down at my setup, not worried.  All of a sudden a visitor, thinking the parking lot down a hill behind the video units was where he had parked his car, crawled under the keep-out rope and tried to run three feet to the hill.  Unfortunately, he tripped on a cable holding my camera in the OTA as well as the cable to the monitor, pulling the camera out of the focuser and the small monitor off the table, both doing a hard landing on the asphalt pavement.  I would later find no damage in anything as my visitor made a break for the parking lot.  He was wrong, we had barricaded that lot, he was about a mile away in another direction.  But there was some unfortunate after effect.  I had my first stroke observing this!  But it was a short transient; nothing external, but I forgot every piece of Greek knowledge on the sky.  Fortunately, I was teaching some Native American and other multi-cultural looks at the sky, so I just did a half hour on Navajo, Cherokee, Hindu, Celtic, and other cultural aspects of the night sky.  I did forget where my wife was in our lodge room but found it by luck.  Next morning my daughter-in-law noticed the right side of my face sagged, but it all came back by 11 AM, remembered where the room was and remembered the Greek.   I always wondered if the lost visitor ever found his car, and what kind of kid Jeffrey became, if he survived.

Edited by Skylook123, 13 August 2023 - 01:54 AM.

[lwbehney]

Hmm.. doing outreach with kindergarten and when I distract by answering questions from students, other kids rotate the telescope while it was in GOTO mode. And voila... since then the gear broken and it can only work on manual mode. 

Same experience here last night. Some children just like to test their strength on objects which move; they don't understand at a young age, the mechanics or the limitations of the mount. This happened in my presence; I had no expectation the boy would do this, because he was quite enthusiastic about his views of Saturn and various stars last night. This had never happened to me before at an outreach event.

 

After I spent several tedious minutes realigning the mount, things were quieter and I was called away to look at a target through a neighboring scope at the same event. I had capped my objective and eyepiece before I walked over, but while distracted some passerby had attempted to view through my scope and I guess they thought they needed to move it to a better target. I am grateful that I did not engage the clutch very tightly. I think the mount escaped damage, but I will know the answer very soon, when I test its alignment accuracy. 

[hardwarezone]

Initially I didn't want to whine about this in a public post but for our equipment safety I guess it's better to share info and stories.

It happened right infront of me earlier this month , the boy ignored his dad's shouting commands and ran for the scopes because it look similar to the heavy duty painted steel at the playground.

The 2 scope eyepieces were occupied by other adults so the boy cupped the refractor lenshood with his face while the scope owner quick reaction to hold onto the mount body against tip-over.

Next he came over to my scope to wrestle the eyepiece out of the observing adult and pull it down to his height , my scope is a plastic focuser on photo tripod pan-tilt head , the clutch wasn't tight.

My heart sank when packing up as the diagonal had rattling sound , upon checking it wasn't the mirror getting loose but the eyepiece holder threads getting twisted halfway out , could have fell to the ground.

 

Key takeaway is don't setup when there is a rush of people when an event end , as it can overwhelm 1 operator to 1 scope.

 

 

I've read the FAQ of the Solar Eclipse April2023 event at a local observatory , they fence up the location with a dozen scopes for proper control of entry/exit and forbid the public to setup their personal scope on their premises even the carpark , no tripod for photography purpose.

Now I understand.

Edited by hardwarezone, 14 August 2023 - 03:36 AM.

[RichNH]

So did anybody try to look at the Sun through your magnifying glass and burn their eye out?

I did not set up a public viewing at the July 4th parade.  I'm retired and don't have a lot of $$$ to put in for equipment.  Saw enough stories here about over excited kids & rude, obnoxious adults to wave me off from trying this at that particular venue.  I have in the past brought my 10" SN on a scout camping trip and that was very successful.  Even managed to "WOW" one scout who had one of these "I know everything" personalities.

Clear skies!

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

That’s why I always recommend NOT to bring expensive equipment to outreach activities.
A Walmart telescope like the Celestron Astromaster 100 AZ is perfectly fine to share the Moon, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, etc. with the public.
Let’s be sincere : how many people at the event would notice the difference between the Moon on the AZ100 and on the Takahashi 4" with an Ethos EP ? 2% ?

Edited by Sebastian_Sajaroff, 14 August 2023 - 07:48 AM.

[dnrmilspec]

I have to take a contrary view.  For me, having the great equipment is specifically for sharing with others.  The 6" frac and EQ6R mount  or 8" Ultima 2000 are my goto scopes for outreach.  The big frac is impressive looking and attracts a crowd every time.  No one has ever come close to pulling it over.  The shield keeps fingers off of the objective (that and it is seriously tall).  I have used my 31 Nagler and other higher end EPs for outreach and they get the same thrill out of it that I do.  And yes, it has had the odd fingerprint or eye makeup on it but with careful cleaning to harm, no foul.

 

As for little ones touching the scope, I frequently tell them to "focus it for your eyes".  I do not do this because I think it is out of focus (though if we think about it it probably is for them compared to my old eyes) but I also do it so they feel totally engaged with the scope.  Telling kids not to touch is like showing them a puppy and telling them not to pet it.  There is just something lost.

 

I want kids to be immersed in the experience.  They should not be afraid of the scope nor made to feel belittled by the experience.

 

I totally understand if someone disagrees.  For me this is why I have so many of these things in the first place.  I like to share them.  That is what the hobby is mostly about for me.  When I use my scopes alone (frequently) it is just another aspect of the same hobby.

Edited by dnrmilspec, 14 August 2023 - 12:17 PM.

[wrvond]

I have to take a contrary view.  For me, having the great equipment is specifically for sharing with others.  The 6" frac and EQ6R mount  or 8" Ultima 2000 are my goto scopes for outreach.  The big frac is impressive looking and attracts a crowd every time.  No one has ever come close to pulling it over.  The shield keeps fingers off of the objective (that and it is seriously tall).  I have used my 31 Nagler and other higher end EPs for outreach and they get the same thrill out of it that I do.  And yes, it has had the odd fingerprint or eye makeup on it but with careful cleaning to harm, no foul.

 

As for little ones touching the scope, I frequently tell them to "focus it for your eyes".  I do not do this because I think it is out of focus (though if we think about it it probably is compared to mine) but I also do it so they feel totally engaged with the scope.  Telling kids not to touch is like showing them a puppy and telling them not to pet it.  There is just something lost.

 

I want kids to be immersed in the experience.  They should not be afraid of the scope nor felt to feel belittled by the experience.

 

I totally understand if someone disagrees.  For me it is just about why I have so many of these things in the first place.  I like to share them.  That is what the hobby is mostly about for me.  When I use my scopes alone (frequently) it is just another aspect of the same hobby.

This hobby needs more people like you. I, however, am not one of them. I recognize that and plan accordingly. 

[Bob Campbell]

I have to take a contrary view.  For me, having the great equipment is specifically for sharing with others.  The 6" frac and EQ6R mount  or 8" Ultima 2000 are my goto scopes for outreach.  The big frac is impressive looking and attracts a crowd every time.  No one has ever come close to pulling it over.  The shield keeps fingers off of the objective (that and it is seriously tall).  I have used my 31 Nagler and other higher end EPs for outreach and they get the same thrill out of it that I do.  And yes, it has had the odd fingerprint or eye makeup on it but with careful cleaning to harm, no foul.

 

As for little ones touching the scope, I frequently tell them to "focus it for your eyes".  I do not do this because I think it is out of focus (though if we think about it it probably is for them compared to my old eyes) but I also do it so they feel totally engaged with the scope.  Telling kids not to touch is like showing them a puppy and telling them not to pet it.  There is just something lost.

 

I want kids to be immersed in the experience.  They should not be afraid of the scope nor made to feel belittled by the experience.

 

I totally understand if someone disagrees.  For me this is why I have so many of these things in the first place.  I like to share them.  That is what the hobby is mostly about for me.  When I use my scopes alone (frequently) it is just another aspect of the same hobby.

I salute you. Sounds like you project good energy and it makes people at ease. Or, you are just incredibly lucky.

 

signed, grumpy old curmudgeon

 

Bob