Miałem zablokowany dostęp do tej strony na telefonie (nie jestem pewien dlaczego, ale w nietrudny sposób znalazłem opcje “odblokuj”), ale na komputerze mogłem wchodzić normalnie.
I was wondering if anyone else has done any kind of astronomy public outreach and if they had any advice to help keep the engagement up when folks are taking turns peeking through the scope.
About 20 years or so, yup. Star parties, observatories, planetaria, etc.
My plan has been to teach the basics of star finding, telescope use, etc.
Don’t do this. The people who are going to show up to look through a telescope at the park do not GAF about how to use a telescope. They want to look through it and be awed by what they see. The work it takes to get to that point is of zero interest to 99.999% of them. Very often, the actual visual image you see is not awe inspiring, though, so you want to spend the time while people are looking through the lens explaining to them what they are seeing, and doing so in very awe-inspiring tones and terms.
Lead them to the feelings that they want to feel. Weave the story that reflects those desires back to them. Do everything you can to make them feel the scope of what they’re seeing. Use the fact that it’s an unimpressive smudge to hammer home just how god damn far away it is they are seeing. Trot out the big numbers. Tell them how far away it is in in light years, and then switch to miles. Reference what was taking place on Earth at the time the light first left its source. Relate it all to the things they relate to or care about.
And treat the telescope like it’s the least important thing of the night until someone asks about it.
Thanks, that all makes sense! I noticed in hindsight that people were a little less jazzed about Trapezium than I was expecting. I mean, they appreciated it, but compared to my own initial reaction in seeing it (I had to go and tell someone right away), it was pretty muted. Sounds like I’ll have to do some homework.
That last line really grabbed my attention.
And treat the telescope like it’s the least important thing of the night until someone asks about it.
Can you elaborate a bit on what you mean here?
Also, I should probably make clear that this is going to be a weekly recurring class that happens at different city parks. I’m trying to get people interested in actually doing amateur astronomy.
Imagine going to a public class on… let’s say playing the electric guitar, and the instructor just keeps going on and on about tuning forks, gear maintenance, and music theory. You were just hoping to learn how to play Stairway to Heaven, despite never having touched a guitar in your life.
The telescope is actually a hurdle to most people who will ever look through one. Introducing people to amateur astronomy by talking about making the sausage doesn’t whet the appetite. It’s dry, it’s small, and it’s boring. And it’s not relevant to 90% of people who will ever show up – they’re not going to race out and spend hundreds of dollars on a worthwhile telescope. It’s the kind of thing you talk about once people are hooked, want to view things independently, and are actually ready to invest their time, energy, and money into the hobby.
Amateur astronomy happens first in the mind. The imagination is accessible; the nitty gritty of operating a manual telescope is actually quite exclusionary, and fails to meet people where they actually are.
This is great advice, I’m very grateful that you responded! I did start out pointing out the constellations and the different features we would look at, but after reading this, I realize now that I got people looking into the scope way too early, and there was basically nowhere left for me to go after that. This also makes me think about doing a separate thing just for helping people get astronomical league certs, then.
I live half a world away so I can’t attend but I think it’s a cool concept. I have no idea how long it takes to re-align the scope between takes.
There is definitely some magic in that, I don’t know if you have both scopes, then you can set an automatic up for people that just want to take a quick peek, and use the manual to explain your story.
It doesn’t take too long to adjust unless somebody really headbutts the scope, which happens. Typically it’s just slewing targets back into frame because of the Earth’s rotation, which at 110x and a good RACI, is pretty easy. I think it takes maybe 15-20s every third guest to make sure they’ve got a good view (takes a bit longer sometimes if they’ve pushed the focuser in). I’m definitely thinking that a GOTO/PUSH TO modification kit might be in my future, but I’m trying not to spend more money at the moment.
I’d love a new Wolfenstein-style game that diverges from the simple divide of giving them helmets.
It’s simple morbid truth that these people are human beings, who have committed their minds to unimaginable cruelty. It’d be fun to have more games about reciprocating that cruelty.
Mortal Kombat’s fatalities gave me a big ick factor when they leaned into cruelty and pain (and thankfully turned towards looney creativity to be entertaining). But I could see the former being a bit more valid when there’s universal reasoning behind why it’s being applied.
Jeżeli nie widzisz żadnych postów coś jest nie tak z twoją aplikacją/przeglądarką. Wejdź przez jakąś inną przeglądarkę. Chyba, że subskrybujesz z innego konta np. na serwerze mastodona, który wcześniej nie łączył się z tą społecznością - wtedy zobaczysz dopiero kolejne posty.
@dj1936, a czy Ty czasem nie masz tej społeczności zablokowanej? (Ikona użytkownika/awatara; u mnie prawy górny narożnik)/Ustawienia/Blokady/Zablokowane społeczności?
bin.pol.social
Gorące