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Friday, July 19, 2002 |
News: Observatory domes are the hot new home accessory:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/18/garden/18NOTE.html
Comment: Interesting article in the NYTimes about the exploding growth of
amateur astronomy. Mostly, it's a hobby of affluent middle-aged guys.
Probably because they can afford the expensive optics. Although, compared to
golf or bass fishing, astronomy is actually pretty cheap.
I'm not sure how many home observatories will be built here in mid-Michigan,
because we mostly have to drive out a ways into the country to get dark
skies. That means we value portable telescopes, not the big monsters that
benefit from a permanent mounting in an observatory.
Lonely young astronomy guys (of which I was once one) always fantasize that
cute young woman will believe looking through a telescopes is a fascinating
way to spend the evening. Rarely happens, although a couple times in high
school, I talked a cute blond (on whom I had a crush) into coming over to my
parent's house so she could look at the planets through my scope. I'm sure
the only reason her parents let her come over is because they could not
imagine her getting into any trouble with a geeky guy peering at the sky
with a telescope.
2:08:52 PM 
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© Copyright 2002 Michael Rogers.
Last update: 8/1/02; 1:13:30 PM.
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