Telescope sales are off the chart

I saw this myself, at my first star party.

my partner and I took our 127 mak to a small local school's mars-viewing
party. there were a handful of 'scopes there, from a pair of binoculars on a
tripod to a nextar11 to the resident scopezilla, a handbuilt 8" refractor in
an enormous wooden tube. the n11 had the aperature advantage (my partner
said he couldn't approach the eyepiece without pain from the light pouring
out), but otherwise our mak had probably the most visually pelasing image,
and certainly the most readily identifiable surface features. but while we
took the opportunity to look through the variety of instruments there, maybe
five people came to take a look through the little blue mak.

we had the opportunity to explain a great deal to the few who did show,
though, and met a fun older gentleman who proudly discussed his new hobby --
cosmology (I was suitably impressed since it's my new hobby too).

"David Nakamoto" wrote in message
...
And it extends to another thing. I've noticed the quite expected
behavior of people lining up for hours behind an 11-inch refractor
while a smaller refractor and a C-14 stand with a minimal wait time and
at the same magnification. Even when told of this, and that the view is
identical in those scopes, people don't want to listen.

Richard DeLuca wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Myriadimage) wrote:

SNIP_

"This is how they (customers) usually start: 'I want to see Mars. What do I
need to do to do that,' " says Eric Wilcox, associate manager of a Discovery
store in Albany, N.Y. Telescopes selling for $300 to $1,000 were gone by early
this week.

"We're getting all different kinds of people," Wilcox says. "It's even people
that wouldn't normally look at a telescope, because they couldn't afford one
are coming in here to buy."



It's a mixed bag. I feel sorry for anyone who went out on a limb to buy
a scope for themselves or a child. Most will be very disappointed at
what they see (or don't see).

And how many will actually stay up till 1 a.m. to see Mars at it's highest?
Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman

Richard DeLuca wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Myriadimage) wrote:

SNIP_

"This is how they (customers) usually start: 'I want to see Mars. What do I
need to do to do that,' " says Eric Wilcox, associate manager of a Discovery
store in Albany, N.Y. Telescopes selling for $300 to $1,000 were gone by early
this week.

"We're getting all different kinds of people," Wilcox says. "It's even people
that wouldn't normally look at a telescope, because they couldn't afford one
are coming in here to buy."



It's a mixed bag. I feel sorry for anyone who went out on a limb to buy
a scope for themselves or a child. Most will be very disappointed at
what they see (or don't see).

And how many will actually stay up till 1 a.m. to see Mars at it's highest?
Clear skies,
Shneor Sherman