York AS - Christmas "new" scope workshop

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

The York AS is holding a workshop aimed specifically at "new" telescope
owners after Christmas (details below). The aim is to explain the basics,
and more advanced areas if required, and show people the best way to use
their new scopes and get the best out of observing with them. We plan to
encourage and educate, and hopefully recruit new members too.

Maybe some of the other UK ASs might like to think about something along
the
same lines if they are not already doing so?

Please spread the word :-)


Just a thought, Paul, but might it not be more productive to try to inform
people _before_ Christmas what scope they _should_ be buying, so as to avoid
the disappointment that inevitably results from much of the trash which is
out there?

Regards,

Chris

Hi Chris,

Hope you are well.

That is an excellent thought, and one which went through our minds too.

It would be a wonderful thing to be able to achieve, but sadly, in reality
it is not easy to accomplish. We do advertise in local libraries and other
locations, YAS events and contact details, and we do from time to time
receive enquiries from prospective scope buyers asking for advice. If we
advertised a "learn what scope to buy" workshop, we might get some people to
attend, but it is more likely that most Christmas purchases will be either
spontaneously bought, or received as gifts. The new owners will then wonder
what they can do with them.

What we are hoping to do is to be able to encourage all "new" scope owners
to learn more about what is out there ready to be observed, and rather than
tell them they have a poor quality scope, encourage them to use it to the
best of its capabilities, and nurture a desire to learn more about
astronomy. In the future their next scope purchase will hopefully be made
with a more informed perspective.

Hopefully we will be able to fan the flames of hunger in those who want to
know and learn more.

We are planing to explain the basics of observing, such as finding your way
around the sky; finding the Moon and planets; other objects to observe such
as OCs, nebula, etc; using sky map s/w (including yours of course! );
Internet resources, etc.

We will also cover the set-up of telescopes and how to use them and look
after them. For more advanced owners, we will help them with things like
filters, imaging, DSO observing, etc.

If you have any ideas of suitable topics to cover, we would love to hear
your thoughts.

Very best wishes and clear, dark skies.

--

/Paul B, York, UK.
http://homepages.tesco.net/paul.buglass/astrohome.htm


"Chris Marriott" wrote in message
...

"Paul B" wrote in
message
...
Dear all,

The York AS is holding a workshop aimed specifically at "new" telescope
owners after Christmas (details below). The aim is to explain the
basics,
and more advanced areas if required, and show people the best way to use
their new scopes and get the best out of observing with them. We plan
to
encourage and educate, and hopefully recruit new members too.

Maybe some of the other UK ASs might like to think about something along
the
same lines if they are not already doing so?

Please spread the word :-)


Just a thought, Paul, but might it not be more productive to try to inform
people _before_ Christmas what scope they _should_ be buying, so as to
avoid
the disappointment that inevitably results from much of the trash which is
out there?

Regards,

Chris

Chris Marriott wrote:
Just a thought, Paul, but might it not be more productive to try to
inform people _before_ Christmas what scope they _should_ be buying, so
as to avoid the disappointment that inevitably results from much of the
trash which is out there?

See:
http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/firstscope.htm
http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/evaluating.htm

--
Best,
Stephen
http://www.astunit.com