T.T. wrote:
Saw some doting grandparents buying a primitive Tasco scope for the
grandchild today. They were really excited, and spent a lot of time looking
at the box. And an impressive box it was too. Courtesy of Hubble, I imagine.
And I thought about the thousands? of kids who would get one of these under
the tree, would take a quick look at the moon and see something nowhere near
as exciting as a hundred views they had seen on TV or as glossy photographs
somewhere. Then a look at the stars. Pinpoints of light exactly as they see
without the scope, but more of them and not so bright. Where are the
nebulae? Where is the colour?
And the beginning of an antipathy towards anything to do with astronomy that
will last for years.


Did you intervene and educate?

Shawn