The ‘wows’ of outreach

[RobertI]

I helped out with an outreach event last night run by the Dedham Vale Society at Flatford. Skies were clear and I met a lovely group of fellow astronomers who also had their kit available. When night fell around sixty people turned up to look through our scopes, at one point I had a large queue of people waiting to see Saturn. Without fail each person peered into the eyepiece and let out a loud “Wow”. Saturn really is a memorable object to see and some people came back for a second and third view. We packed up at 10:00, by this time the dew was heavy and the mists hanging like a ghostly should over everything. Fortunately the dew heaters worked perfectly to keep the eyepieces and corrector plate free of dew. A very enjoyable evening all round. 
 

 

 

[DirkSteele]

I really enjoy doing outreach.  It is great to see and hear the reactions to amazing views (like Saturn or the Moon) in the eyepiece.

[Zermelo]

Excellent.

What sort of ages were the punters?

[callisto]

Excellent, I was going to do something similar a few years back next to Hadrian's wall but the weather was pants at the time... shame as it would have been fun 😪

[RobertI]

3 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Excellent.

What sort of ages were the punters?

The youngest was around 7 years old, there were also a group of teenagers on a field trip nearby who turned up (I loved their noisy enthusiasm), and also adults all the way to their 80’s I would guess. So a good cross section. 🙂

[Peter Drew]

It's the WOWS in these circumstances that keep me motivated.  Keep up the good work!       🙂

[Paz]

Great report, outreach is a rewarding thing to do, I've enjoyed the few occasions I've been lucky enough to do it.

[mikeDnight]

On 15/09/2023 at 23:08, Peter Drew said:

It's the WOWS in these circumstances that keep me motivated.  Keep up the good work!       🙂

It's comments like "Why does Saturn look so much better in this 4" refractor than through all those big telescopes?" which keeps me smiling.😊

Sorry Peter, I can't help myself! 

Edited September 17, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Nicola Fletcher]

20 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

It's comments like "Why does Saturn look so much better in this 4" refractor than through all those big telescopes?" which keeps me smiling.😊

Sorry Peter, I can't help myself! 

People have said that to me too!

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

It's comments like "Why does Saturn look so much better in this 4" refractor than through all those big telescopes?" which keeps me smiling.😊

Sorry Peter, I can't help myself! 

I also hear people ask "why do the planets look so much bigger, brighter and colourful in this telescope (when using a medium Newtonian) than through one of those small pointy telescopes over there " ( small refractors)  😉 😂

Can you see any colour in the GRS with your 100mm pointy thing Mike?  🙂

[mikeDnight]

2 hours ago, paulastro said:

I also hear people ask "why do the planets look so much bigger, brighter and colourful in this telescope (when using a medium Newtonian) than through one of those small pointy telescopes over there " ( small refractors)  😉 😂

Can you see any colour in the GRS with your 100mm pointy thing Mike?  🙂

I can see colour in the GRS Paul. 😆 For the silly high price I paid for my little 100milli' pointy thing, I'd expect views of planets to be in colour. It's time you came to play, and rekindle your passion for real telescopes, and the little Newt'! 😈

[Knighty2112]

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! 😉🤣😉🤣

[RobertI]

I think the people in my queue would have been happy to see Saturn through a toilet roll tube! 😆

[Peter Drew]

The second Saturn "WOW" is when you point out that the dot in the sky is actually Saturn and that you can actually see it naked eye.     🙂

[badhex]

On 17/09/2023 at 17:34, mikeDnight said:

It's comments like "Why does Saturn look so much better in this 4" refractor than through all those big telescopes?" which keeps me smiling.😊

Sorry Peter, I can't help myself! 

I did an outreach thing last year and almost everyone who came to view through my ZS73 compared it favourably to the C14 and other massive scopes nearby, saying that the image in the other was bigger but not very sharp 😂

A couple of folks even said that it was the best scope they'd looked through all night! 

[John]

I am usually the only member of our society that brings a refractor along to outreach events (apart from the solar ones of course). I find that folks are often rather surprised at the quality and contrast of the views that my ED120 puts up even when deep sky objects are the target.

I don't envy anyone trying to show folks galaxies at an outreach event though. Apart from M31 and perhaps the M81/82 pairing, even with the larger scopes the reaction is often "well I think I can see something there ????" when showing a galaxy to someone new to scope use.

 

 

[Roy Challen]

1 hour ago, John said:

well I think I can see something there 

That's my reaction to almost all DSOs too!

[badhex]

1 minute ago, Roy Challen said:

That's my reaction to almost all DSOs too!

My partner is very supportive of the hobby but there is now a running joke about searching for yet another grey smudge 😂