Not winning hearts and minds 26/10/19

[domstar]

Ten seconds to impart the wonders of the universe. No moon, no planets, no eyepiece changes. What would you do? 

I slipped out for an hour ready to be back at 8.30 for an evening with the wife. I drove about 10 minutes to a darkish place and the sky was beautiful although there was a lot of moisture in the air. Not much of a plan except for a nostalgic look at M102 the Spindle Galaxy. After a look at that, Bodes and the Cigar, I was unsuccessfully tracking down the Dumbbell when two men with head torches wandered past. With no time for deliberation, I showed them the Andromeda Galaxy. My eyepiece showed 45x magnification and it's so much better at 30x. The first man couldn't see it (he'd knocked it out of view) and the second gave a bit of a shrug. I resisted the temptation to blow their minds by telling them that it was really far away. What's the Czech for averted vision anyway?

Not long after, a middle-aged man and his wife parked up on this deserted farm track. Usually this is a decent place for lovers' privacy but these two seemed to have come to look at the stars. As I offered to show them something as the woman got back in the car. The man told me I was observing in the wrong place due to the light from the town I'd driven from. I showed him the Double Cluster to a shrug and then I tried to show him the Andromeda Galaxy. Pressured by listening to him tell me where it was, I couldn't find it. In my haste, I'd been hopping from Almach as if it was Mirach. After hearing that I was observing at 45x his parting words were that his colleague had a telescope that could plug into a laptop and could magnify digitally to 135x (3 times better than mine) and it looked excellent on the moon.

I packed up feeling like a shamed schoolboy but pleased to have spread the stargazing gospel.

Thanks for reading

Dominic

[RobertI]

Well done for trying! It can be demoralising  to get shrugs and blank looks - had plenty of this those in my time too. You never know, you might have planted a seed.....

[carastro]

The last chappie sounds a bit arrogant to me.   The others sound unimpressed.  Well done for trying though.

Carole

[Littleguy80]

You can take the horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Not everyone will appreciate what they’re seeing. Good on you for giving up some of your own precious observing time to share with others. 

[jetstream]

IMHO most people could care less about astronomy and we should adjust our expectations accordingly, unfortunately.

I also could care less what people think about astronomy! I just love to observe.

@domstar no need for negative feelings and congrats for getting out observing!

[scarp15]

Heck too much unplanned company, that situation is fine if there is a thin crescent moon, a quick fix and the terminator will gain favourable responses, from casual passers by. Going to places that will almost guarantee that it is unlikely any visitors will arrive are not so easy to establish and are quite valued when dark adaption and concentration are priorities. After all we go observing because we have a passion to do so, this attitude is not universally shared, that does not matter, it is great to be in a minority who go out and shiver and look at the night sky for hours on end perhaps in some remote spot and then share their experiences on here. By the way the double cluster was mesmerising last night.

[domstar]

I just thought it was funny, especially not being able to find the Andromeda Galaxy. It felt like 'Mum, look at me ride my bike'-crash. It's really true that I had about 10 seconds. I wanted to blow minds but actually, what we do is very subtle apart from the moon Jupiter and Saturn. 

[jetstream]

45 minutes ago, domstar said:

I just thought it was funny, especially not being able to find the Andromeda Galaxy. It felt like 'Mum, look at me ride my bike'-crash. It's really true that I had about 10 seconds. I wanted to blow minds but actually, what we do is very subtle apart from the moon Jupiter and Saturn. 

Wanting to show a fantastic view of something is a nice idea, sometimes this desire can put extra pressure on, but really we (well me) are only observing for ourselves and if someone else likes it great. A neighbors grown children from far away expressed honest desire to see my equipment and outdoor obs, which I showed them. Next year they are invited to come over to look up and they are excited!

In truth the only jaw dropped on the ground I care about is mine lol! if someone elses does bonus!

[domstar]

42 minutes ago, jetstream said:

In truth the only jaw dropped on the ground I care about is mine lol! if someone elses does bonus!

Very true. Had a great night on Thursday looking at the Veil. Amazing but not a great object for a quick look with unadapted eyes. 

[jetstream]

31 minutes ago, domstar said:

Very true. Had a great night on Thursday looking at the Veil. Amazing but not a great object for a quick look with unadapted eyes. 

Dominic, which fl eyepiece are you using on the Veil with the VG SW 100mm?  filter? one more how dark is the sky do you figure?

I ask because there are "tricks" to get better views of things like this.

[domstar]

@jetstream I use my 32mm plossl with a UHC. I have an Aero 30mm which shows a larger field but is 2 inch so I can't use my filter. It actually showed up non filtered on Thursday, which surprised me. I wish my Baader plossl had a bigger FOV. The sky is Bortle 4 - east is good for nothing but the Milky Way is clear. 

The Veil gives me a real thrill and is the dso I linger longest on. Maybe not the first thing I'd show a passing stranger, though, especially because it involves fiddling with a filter. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[jetstream]

30 minutes ago, domstar said:

@jetstream I use my 32mm plossl with a UHC. I have an Aero 30mm which shows a larger field but is 2 inch so I can't use my filter. It actually showed up non filtered on Thursday, which surprised me. I wish my Baader plossl had a bigger FOV. The sky is Bortle 4 - east is good for nothing but the Milky Way is clear. 

The Veil gives me a real thrill and is the dso I linger longest on. Maybe not the first thing I'd show a passing stranger, though, especially because it involves fiddling with a filter. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Bortle 4- I just cant get on with the bortle scale, SQM or NELM is what I relate to but so is the appearance of the Milky Way, so we'll use that.

Can you see the spur that goes into Cepheus from that location, just above Cass?

Overall I feel that a tight OIII that catches both lines and gives high transmission (high 90%'s) works better in most situations, in particular from rural but not truly dark skies.

Your 30mm-32mm is a nice spot for the low end of eye illumination and you can benefit from more ie a higher fl eyepiece, a 38mm-42mm would be good and work very well with the tight OIII.

Can you easily see Pickerings Wisp in your scope/UHC/32mm?

 

[Marvin Jenkins]

I recently had a pizza with a friend. Said friend has been on this planet 75 years and is an award wining architect, so not a dull flame.

He asked this question..... You do Astronomy? Yes. How do “they” with the fingers in the air, know how far away things are in the universe?

I explained Parallax. Tried to show the idea with a finger in front of the face and alternate eye open close, should have sensed danger, his hands stayed on the table.

Second question.... But, when “they say” (remember the fingers in the air) 25.000 light years how can they know that? I go on to explain Edwin Hubble’s ground breaking work with Cephid variables as a standard candle.

No question this time.... ‘Rubbish, they are always contradicting themselves’ even everything Einstein came up with is wrong!

I made a note in my diary that night to just keep it to myself unless pestered. The human race is something I find more palatable at a great distance.

A quote to sum it up. A person with a small amount of information is very dangerous.

[JamesF]

12 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

‘Rubbish, they are always contradicting themselves’ even everything Einstein came up with is wrong!

Which is why GPS doesn't need to take account of relativistic effects at all.  Oh, hang on...

James