Saturn made people amaze!
“Bring the telescope to the public, share the night sky and the knowledge” is the intention of the International Sidewalk Astronomy Night (ISAN). The purpose is to give the people on this planet a chance to look at the celestial objects through telescope.
We only held ISAN 2008 today due to the mis-forecasted weather on 12 April 2008. (I was the culprit 
).
We carried an 8″ LX90 (same as last year) to the local Giant Supermarket. I was shocked when I was there as the people were a lot. I arrived at 7.30pm. Only until 8.05pm, we started to do alignment. It’s really hard to look for a spot where there were lots of people and the sky obstruction was minimal.
The first object we showed them was the M42, the Great Orion Nebula. We were forced to do so as the Saturn was blocked by the roof by a few degrees. So, we had to wait. Since the weather was below average, the nebulosity of M42 was not that obvious, especially to the untrained eyes of the public. Therefore, we got to explain to them what we could see.
After around 100 people, the Saturn got into view. People were amazed by our most spectacular planet. People kept on coming from the entrance and kept us busy. Of course, we were happy. Some people made funny of us by saying that the Saturn we saw was actually a photo stored inside the telescope. They’re really creative. 
I have a great sense of achivement especially when I saw the people asking questions non-stop, pointing the sky here and there and inviting people around to have a view. Our tiredness was relieved by the public’s satisfaction. We successfully bring the astronomy to the public. We recorded the number of visits at 407 on 10.40pm. This is a great breakthrough comparing to the last year 151.
I hope the people are hooked to amateur astronomy. I will feel a lot better if I sucessfully raise the children’s interest in astronomy. I really love sidewalk astronomy as I can share the telescope, the night sky and the knowledge with the public.
What we can do better during the next sidewalk astronomy night? We’re going to make a signboard which tells a little story about the main objects to be observed, observing tips and the effect of light pollution as well as some telescopic info.
Crowds around the telescope!
Even baby takes a look!
