The PST and making money

Do ya think having a PST and charging people to see the sun as it should be
seen is a good idea?

Yes I do---on a street corner or street fair or perhaps a country fair but
it should be really, really cheap. This group will flame up on the mere
suggestion because few of them do any thinking---but, museums and
planetariums charge---why shouldn't you? If you shell out the $500 plus
mount plus whatever---a good handout would be nice---then yes, charge 50
cents a look. Or just put a hat down and take donations---the decent people
will donate more than 50 cents and you'll probably come out the
same---especially if you work with them a little and tune the filter as
necessary to see cool stuff. Do it. The more people exposed the better and
if you need to recover some money, no problem.

Doink

SunSeeker wrote:
Do ya think having a PST and charging people to see the sun as it should be
seen is a good idea?



You are fortunate to have the resources and knowhow to view the
sun... share both freely with your fellow man. Inspire people!

What was the last thing you did for free that cost you something Sam? Just
curious. It's usually the ones that make the most "giving" noise that
actually do the least---remember Bill Clinton feeling our pain and then
taking a huge write off for donating his used underwear to charity. Then he
set up a hotline so we could donate money to him to pay for his sexual
assault and perjury legal expenses. Libs are funny! Better to charge the 50
cents.

Doink



"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
news:Ioyqg.19877$FQ1.12459@attbi_s71...
SunSeeker wrote:
Do ya think having a PST and charging people to see the sun as it should
be seen is a good idea?

You are fortunate to have the resources and knowhow to view the
sun... share both freely with your fellow man. Inspire people!

Doink wrote:
Yes I do---on a street corner or street fair or perhaps a country fair but
it should be really, really cheap. This group will flame up on the mere
suggestion because few of them do any thinking---but, museums and
planetariums charge---why shouldn't you? If you shell out the $500 plus
mount plus whatever---a good handout would be nice---then yes, charge 50
cents a look. Or just put a hat down and take donations---the decent people
will donate more than 50 cents and you'll probably come out the
same---especially if you work with them a little and tune the filter as
necessary to see cool stuff. Do it. The more people exposed the better and
if you need to recover some money, no problem.

I'd do the donation hat rather than charging outright. The reason is,
as you say, the more people exposed, the better. If you charge for a
view, people might shy away from that. But if it's a donation, they
might say, well, it can't hurt to take a look, and then when they see
how fantastic it is, *then* they might donate--possibly more than they
would have paid for the view beforehand. They feel better, you feel
better, and you might come out ahead in the income game, too.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

On Tue, 04 Jul 2006 17:36:42 GMT, SunSeeker wrote:

Do ya think having a PST and charging people to see the sun as it should be
seen is a good idea?


What do you think, MICK?


PLONK!

Doink wrote:
What was the last thing you did for free that cost you something Sam? Just
curious.

Just about everything!

o photography
o astronomy
o public lectures
o contributed articles
o etc.

Even in the work place of Iowa State University--serve the students
and the people of Iowa and the world. Of course they paid me for
that work... but the culture is one of service.


It's usually the ones that make the most "giving" noise that
actually do the least---remember Bill Clinton feeling our pain and then
taking a huge write off for donating his used underwear to charity. Then he
set up a hotline so we could donate money to him to pay for his sexual
assault and perjury legal expenses. Libs are funny! Better to charge the 50
cents.

Doink

On Tue, 4 Jul 2006 11:31:28 -0700, "Doink" wrote:

What was the last thing you did for free that cost you something Sam?

How does letting somebody look through your scope cost you anything? Do
you amortize the original cost of the equipment into every moment at the
eyepiece? That seems a little extreme unless your primary purpose in
buying it in the first place was to operate as a business.

There's nothing wrong with giving away the view. There's nothing wrong
with charging for it, either. I think than most amateur astronomers are
more than happy to share the view without charging, however. Ask
yourself this: if you couldn't make any money off of it, would you still
buy a scope and take it to a public place?

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

SunSeeker wrote:

Do ya think having a PST and charging people to see the sun as it should be
seen is a good idea?

Probably not, but you might do a lot better by allowing people to look
through it and then make a donation. After seeing the sun in H-alpha
they are *much* more likely to pay up. You also need to explain to them
what it is they are seeing and why you must never look at the sun
directly through a normal telescope (or expect lawyers on your
doorstep).

The main astro-soc fund raisers I am aware of are selling cute pictures
of the moon at various phases. Even postcards of the observatory itself
can sell...

I expect a really nice prominence or narrow-band H-alpha full disk
colour image might sell well too, but if you demand money to look
through a scope you are likely to be very lonely and also at the mercy
of what is happening on the sun during your open day/event.

You should also have a white light scope at the event to show the
difference.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Sounds like a teacher---
"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
news:qVyqg.63789$1i1.7896@attbi_s72...
Doink wrote:
What was the last thing you did for free that cost you something Sam?
Just curious.

Just about everything!

o photography
o astronomy
o public lectures
o contributed articles
o etc.

Even in the work place of Iowa State University--serve the students
and the people of Iowa and the world. Of course they paid me for
that work... but the culture is one of service.


It's usually the ones that make the most "giving" noise that
actually do the least---remember Bill Clinton feeling our pain and then
taking a huge write off for donating his used underwear to charity. Then
he set up a hotline so we could donate money to him to pay for his sexual
assault and perjury legal expenses. Libs are funny! Better to charge the
50 cents.

Doink