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I originally planned to share this brief observation/analysis among fellow amateur astronomers, specifically those who from time to time, let the general public have glimpse into a telescope's eyepiece and view celestial objects in the night sky. But I realized that this tidbit of information could be useful for the general public as well, so here it goes.

Oftentimes when I'm involved in a public astronomy event, which includes telescope viewing, the fact that you're standing beside the telescope automatically tags you as "the guy in-the-know" and thus you see these eager faces looking at you, all lined up for their turn to take a peek at the marvels of the heavens, perhaps with lots of questions in their minds. Among the most common questions asked by these people who are within arms reach, i.e. those who get to view first, are:


"What are we going to view tonight?" or "What am I going to see when I peek?"


I smile back and gladly reply with "Oh, Jupiter is out tonight! We're gonna see the Planet Jupiter and its moons!" And they smile back enthusiastically and some even let out expressive "Ooohs!" and "Ahhhs!" And then the viewing starts, and you look at their faces, expecting them to be thrilled out of this world...but you oftentimes see puzzled or blank expressions, and even expressions of disappointment? These people have just seen an object more than 900,000,000 kilometers away, and they gave you the "Duh..." Where does this seeming lack of interest or feeling of letdown come from? Very simple. Refer to this image:



As you can see from the above set of comparative images, the one on the left is the image they picture in their minds when you mention the word "Jupiter"...and this naturally comes from books, encyclopaedias, National Geographic magazines, and what they see on CableTV and the internet. We have been spoiled so much by images made by interplanetary probes such as Pioneer, Voyager and Galileo, that we actually forget how far Jupiter really is. And yes, that's the reason it looks tiny through a telescope--it's about 900,000,000 kilometers away! And for a simple device like a telescope to bring that image all across 900,000,000 kilometers right into one's eye...now isn't that something?

AND THAT, is how you should bring back wonder to these people--tell them of the ability of the telescope to gather all that feeble light, from that great distance, to be brought front stage, in front of the observer's eye--that is the grandeur of amateur astronomy.

Now on to another typical example, very similar to the "Disappointing Jupiter" phenomenon. Ok, you then tell them, "Next, we're going to view a lovely gas cloud called the Orion Nebula!" And yet again, out come the expressive "Ooohs!" and "Ahhhs!" And then the viewing starts, and you look at their faces, expecting them to be thrilled out of this world...but like before with Jupiter, all you see are puzzled or blank expressions, sometimes even mutterings of "This guy must be fooling us or something...I don't understand what I'm looking at!"



Like with the Jupiter example, their expectation of a nebula is already been "pre-fed" to them by books/literature and media--they truly expect that that is what a common telescope will show to them, which again (most of the time, because yes there are indeed exceptions) gives them a letdown feeling.


Yet another example, perhaps my favorite one, esp. when I'm dealing with kids. I tell the kids we'll be pointing the telescope at a star, and some even gasp and scream with joy. And then they take a peek at the eyepiece and...you guessed it...



...same phenomenon. Some of the braver, more intelligent kids ask, "I thought the stars are faraway suns...why do they still look like stars?"Only when you suggest to them that they are perhaps BIGGER than usual stars do they realize that indeed, the telescope made it a tad bigger, but not as big as they EXPECT it to be.

This is why public astronomy events do not only need the presence of people learned in the science of astronomy--there should be people there who are into astronomy but also have a level of sensitivity towards how the public perceives astronomy, the night sky, celestial objects, and the use of a telescope, if only to guide them and feed their curiosity by stamping out these sorts of wrong notions about what can be seen through a telescope. It is quite an exhausting task, but I personally do this, because I believe it's the only way to make sure that the public understands WHY astronomy is exciting, why it is interesting, and why it is important, for the development of human beings and the expanding of human knowledge and understanding of this universe in which all of us inhabit.

As a parting shot, this is my "counterstroke" to all these "letdown" experiences...but this can only be done on certain specific times of the month, when the moon is present, and a particular type of moon phase is necessary to acheive the desired effect. I then tell the crowd, "Ok now we're going to point the telescope at the moon!" And then they remember those drab, textbook images they have of the moon (because we've known the moon since Kindergarten right? hehehe)...so they have this expectation...and what I let them see...



Imagine their shock and awe, especially those who haven't seen lunar craters for the very first time That's why, for me (but only at certain times of the month), the crescent/phased moon is always the "show saver", and I always present it last--never fails to draw their breaths away

-RODION