Had a busy day

dazcaz · Post by **dazcaz** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:34 pm

I spent the day at my works "Stargazing Live" event.
I took along my 4" refractor and also had my works 4" newt and 5" Mak.
I work for a science centre.

We, myself and colleague Amanda, spent the day talking to the public about telescopes and astronomy in general. The 3 scopes and Stellarium proved very popular.
We were very busy for a daytime, indoor astronomy event

I was amazed by the amount of interest.
I passed on the contact details for First Light at least 7 times. Some of these folk were extremely surprised to find that a workable scope need not cost hundreds of pounds.

I was blown away by the amount of interest from the younger kids. A lot of parents were really keen to get a scope, mainly in the vain hope that it will get their kids off the games consoles

It really was great to see such interest. There is hope for our hobby yet.

It would appear that prof. Cox and his friends are really beginning to get kids thinking that there is more to life than computer games

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:28 pm

Apparently the Cox factor has greatly increased the number of scopes being bought. This fact has even got into national newspapers.

Let's hope most get used.

Regards, David

dazcaz · Post by **dazcaz** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:06 am

One of the things that struck me was the the number of people who said "I've always wanted a telescope but never got one". Stargazing live has given them the push to either go out and buy one, or find out more about where to get one.

Quite a few people said that they bough cheap 'scopes from Amazon or Toys R us etc and were very disappointed by them. This put them off taking the hobby any further.

I'd like to see a ban of rubbish telescopes being sold by reputable organisations (science museum, Nation geographic etc) as good 'scopes.
Over the top magnification promises and pictures of Saturn taken by large observatories on the box.

People buy these and instantly get disappointed.

130 quid is no money at all, it's a family day out at Alton Towers. For this they can buy a 'scope that is not only going to show them something decent, but also last them a good number of years.

If those who said that they were going to buy a 'scope do so but only use it twice a year, then I'll be happy with that. At least they will be able to do so for many years to come and still get a great view.