At the Texas Tech University Observatory the normal crowd for a star party
is about 50-100. Wednesday night, August 27, after local TV and radio
announcements more than 2500 people attended. Besides the university scope
we had about ten individual scopes. When I left at 3:30 AM the line for the
16" scope was still about 50 yards long. Some people waited 6 &1/2 hours to
see Mars. Especially satisfying was the joy of the young and the old at
seeing Mars for the first time. Don





Mark & Roslyn Elkington" wrote in message
...
A few impressions I've picked up having been at or heard about various
public viewings...

After queuing for half an hour:
- "That was so not worth it!"

Having seen Mars through a 30 inch:
- "I feel all tingly"

On a bad seeing night:
- "It's jumping around a lot"

Through a dob without tracking:
- "Gee it's moving fast"

Through an unknown 70mm refractor:
- "It's just a blob! It's worse than just looking straight at it!"

After a private viewing:
- "Well, I've done my duty" [re once in 60,000yr opportunity]

That's more like it:
- "Wow, I'm actually looking at another planet"

People having been turning up in droves at local observatories to view
Mars.
As much as I've enjoyed viewing Mars regularly myself, I can see why the
casual observer might be underwhelmed, and a bit disillusioned with
amateur
astronomy. In retrospect, circumstances permitting, I think people should
also be treated to a side-serving a nice globular, open cluster, double,
filtered nebula, and optional galaxy or moon view.

Part of the problem is that there's quite a knack to planetary observation
(I'm told :-) -- eking out detail, pausing for those snapshots of seeing.
Bright clusters and the moon, for example, are much more obvious to the
untrained eye.

Your mileage may well vary -- I'd be interested to hear.

Mark