A few of us old timers on the list remember an well known amateur astronomer back in the 70s and 80s called Ben Mayer. Ben was an interesting character (just ask Charlie) who enjoyed telling how he first got into amateur astronomy. He lived on a hillside in Beverly Hills and was fond of admiring the "wildlife" that clustered around the various swimming pools down the hill from him during the warmer months. He said binoculars were ok but he wanted to see more detail so he bought a C-8 with no thought of using it for astronomy. But as fall turned to winter there was less and less to look at on the ground so one evening he decided to use it for looking at heavenly bodies above. And he was hooked. Cheers, patrick :) On 14 Apr 2011, at 13:49, Chuck Hards wrote:
What Sobel didn't mention was that all the male guests were crowded around the spyglass once Galileo turned it onto the public baths, from his vantage point on the hill. It was "Ladies Night" at the baths.
One enthusiastic guest suggested calling it a "boob tube".
On 4/13/11, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dava Sobel's 1999 classic _Galileo's Daughter_ (42-43) describes a star party held on another April 14 - in 1611 - on the highest hill above Rome.