Alright, this is for sharing of your observation experience. Or, if you are arranging gatherings, star-gazing expeditions or just want some company to go observing together, you can shout it out here.
rlow wrote:Interestingly enough, my wife and I were not allowed entry into this observation area at first...
Oh dear! I wonder why they would turn away people with their own scopes. Fear of breakage or wrong usage perhaps? Or to prevent liability should someone show up with an improperly filtered scope thus causing eye damage to the unsuspecting public?
This morning looking at the 100% cloud cover from the office, I assume the sessions were a disaster but apparently, it was not so! Great show guys!
And rlow, very sad you had to endure that. Really crazy an institution that is promoting astronomy should turn people away who wants to help. And from the photos, its not like tis too crowded too. Senseless. Should have done an outreach at your place instead. or join Gary or Sam Lee at their respective venues.
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R United Federation of the Planets
Considering the SSC does allow amateur scopes in during Friday evening observing sessions, maybe the concern was to ensure that no unsafe scopes were let in (thus "officially" the responsibility of the SSC) since this was solar viewing after all?
"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
Relax guys ... this is maybe just a one-off incident
The young lady who stopped us is probably a student volunteer who just blindly follows orders.
Later I informed her that we had regularly brought our own 15-inch scope to help out at the Science Centre on Friday evenings...she disappeared again to look for her boss, and after that we finally got 'approval'.
When I gained access to took those few photos, a few guys from TASOS asked me "where is your scope?" and I told them about this earlier incident. They seemed to be puzzled about this new restriction policy too.