best public star party scope

Hi,

Any thoughts on what the 'best scope' for a PUBLIC star party is? That is, what kind of scope does the general public seem to enjoy viewing through, bearing in mind the kind of objects that are available in often light polluted environments. I have often found that sometimes the public did not seem to be overly impressed with the images through premium instruments, perhaps maybe they weren't as user friendly.

Wingko

I've done lots of public outreaches.

Any scope will do--Last Thursday, I showed up at an elementary school where two of our club guys had already set up, and there was a third scope sitting there--I assumed it was one of the club scopes that the other guys had brought. Assuming that we had only two guys to run three scopes, I did what I often do--I just ran that scope instead of setting up my own. That left the three of us running three scopes. Turns out, that third scope was a $50 newt--4 1/2 inches, I suppose, on an Alt-Az mount that belonged to one of the kid's parents. He had brought it to learn how to use it. He was greatly relieved that I was running it. (And that I corrected how he had put his finder on (backwards).) Point of the anectdote was that I had 75 people look through that scope and be impressed by the moon.

However, when I do have my choice, I take a driven scope. It tracks the stars, thus relieving the operator from sticking the head in every one or two customers. And my most portable scope is a TV-85 on an LXD mount. Any good refractor on a driven mount would be comparable.

I also take my 8 inch Dob sometimes, and teach the first kid that comes by how to use the Telrad and keep it pointed at the object. They get a kick out of that.

Our outreach lead guy comes equipped with a 7 inch Meade Mak, and often his ETX-90. Another guy always brings his TV76 on a Super Polaris, and yet another swears by a club-made six inch Dob.

You do not need much aperture--because you are generally in the city, there is too much light to make it worthwhile, and it is pretty heavy to carry around a lot of aperture.

And you are right--you should schedule these things for the first quarter moon, and when planets are around if possible.

But you do need to know where the globulars, open clusters, and good doubles (Alcor-Mizar, Alberio) are. If you have a LPR filter, then use it, but don't hope for much.

Also very critical is to take a short ladder. Take one about four feet high, two steps, and with a frame that comes up across the top. These are important regardless of the size of the person watching, not just for standing on (for the little ones) but most importantly so that people will know where to stand, and hold on to the top rail of the ladder. It gives them a balance point. Their other choice is to grab the scope for balance--and that is not good.

It is nice if you can bring a somewhat realistic photograph of what your objects will be (Planets, maybe Orion Nebula), and definitely a moon map.

By the way--having said all that about small scopes and portability--the biggest draw will be the biggest Dob.

Alex

A 10" Dob with a short focal length, like the Orion 10" f/4.7. This makes it short enough that kids can reach the eyepiece and adults can sit on a nice stool and relax. Plus it is relatively difficult to knock over, fairly closed up and resistant to kids. Cost is low even with a DSC locator installed to make it easy for others to find the object themselves which is a real turn on for folks.
My $.02 worth.

Well, the 14.5" Starmaster is always a hit, though Ed's story is a little disconcerting.
Psst, hey kiddies, you want to see a far away galaxy?
Tracking would make it easier though...
Sometimes I take my 8" LX-90, as well, and set it up
to track on something, while I'm following another object with the Dob.
It's sure rewarding though, sharing the heavens with the curious, but unequipped public!
Linton

I]wingko yung said:[/I]

Hi,

Any thoughts on what the 'best scope' for a PUBLIC star party is? That is, what kind of scope does the general public seem to enjoy viewing through, bearing in mind the kind of objects that are available in often light polluted environments. I have often found that sometimes the public did not seem to be overly impressed with the images through premium instruments, perhaps maybe they weren't as user friendly.

Wingko

We generally have a fairly good mix of dobs, newtonians and apo refractors at bmas public events.

The two scopes with the longest lines are the 16" F15 Classical Cassegrain under the dome at our observatory, and a TMB 175 owned by one of our members.

Once you get away from those two, the number of folks at a given scope seems to be determined in part by the size and quality of the scope, and how well the operator can work the crowd.

One equipment tip I'll mention is the BO/TMB planetary eyepieces are great for public events. They're easy for beginners to use because the eye lens is big, and they have plenty of eye relief. They're reasonably priced, and they perform well.

For events with a high ratio of kids to adults, we try to have a second person near each scope as a spotter - to keep an eye on kids. A surprising percentage of kids seems to feel a 10" dobsonian looks like a pony.

Otherwise, we have one of our members act as a "field boss" to help make sure everyone doesn't have their scope aimed at the same things, and to help folks who are there with equipment they need to learn how to use find a qualified member to assist them.

It's hard to define what constitutes the "best" scope for public star parties, but I'd argue that one should use a high quality scope!

I've been involved with the Denver Astronomical Society's monthly open houses for a few years now. These open houses allow members of the public to tour the historic Chamberlin Observatory and take a peek through the 20-inch Alvan Clark refractor, as well as look through any of several DAS members' scopes set up on the park lawn next to the observatory. We generally get anywhere from 70 or so to well over 200 folks attending our open houses each month.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Chamberlin Observatory, it's located in Observatory Park on the University of Denver campus. This puts the park smack in the middle of a major light-polluted city.

That said, each month DAS members have set up next to the observatory building anywhere from 25 to 40 or more scopes of all sorts, shapes, sizes and makes. This gives those who may be considering buying a telescope a chance to evaluate the views through and operation of a variety of telescopes. It also provides high school and college astronomy students a chance to observe through several types of scopes for school assignments. And of course, there are families who come to the open houses just to enjoy some stargazing.

The public's favorite visual targets include the moon (our open houses are held on the Saturday of each month that is closest to the first quarter moon), any visible planets (Saturn and Jupiter are consistent favorites), some of the prettier doubles (e.g., Albireo), and open clusters. The city lights and the moonlight tend to preclude decent views of most DSOs such as galaxies and globulars.

My own experience as a regular participant in the open houses is that most members of the public--perhaps with the exception of small children--really do appreciate those telescopes that provide quality views. I consistently get unsolicited comments about the quality of images in my Takahashi TOA-130.

Something else that goes over quite well at these events is binoviewers. They have a lot of "wow!" factor. 8O

Ron

I've only had it set up a a few public parties, but my NS11GPS works well. It's easy to find where to view (the ep location is sometimes a question for people not familiar with scopes), a little stool is all that's needed to accomodate a whole range of viewers, and it tracks. It has always done well for me when I share. My reflector, even tho alt/az, is harder for most to use and doesn't give the first time viewer the bang they look for. Can't blame the beautiful scope - an 85mm SV - or the newbie - they havn't learned what to look for yet. It took most of us a while to develop good viewing skills.

11 inch aperture, tracking, convenient height. Works for me.

Jim in Texas

For star parties, I really like any scope mounted on my G-11/Gemini. The Gemini has the advantage of being able to align on virtually anything. With a rough polar alignment (by compass), I can first align on the sun (with a solar filter, of course) and then the moon or a bright planet. I can then start showing these objects well before sunset.

As far as scopes go, I find that the aperture of my previous 8" Newtonian or current C9.25 is more appreciated than the wide-field, sharp views of my FS-128. (The FS-128's wide field was a hit during last June's Mercury-Venus-Saturn conjunction.)

A focal reducer or 2" visual back for the C9.25 helps to enlarge the FOV.

Allen

I like bringing my Nexstar 8 GPS running Nexremote on the laptop with the wireless game pad. When I do a goto, I put the object on the edge of the field of view and hand the wireless gamepad to the kids and they can center the object using the joy stick on the gamepad. They get a huge kick out of it since they are used to using a joystick from all their computer games. When they ask me what I am looking at, I hit a button on the wireless gamepad and the laptop starts talking and tells them exactly what they are looking at, that way I don't have to keep repeating myself. The Nexremote software makes you look like a rocket scientist!
Ralph

I'm of the 'any scope will do' camp. I bring 4", 6" or 13"newts on alt-az mounts.
It is a real kick to show folks how to hand track, and how to star hop. Everybody thinks Telrads are really cool when they see how they work. I confess to using garden variety plossls these days at public events, rather then what I usually use myself.