Star party etiquette for crumb crunchers and parents
I volunteered to give a pre-star party etiquette briefing to a group of K-6 students and their parents, and was going over my notes regarding things that the little tykes and their parents need to know to help make an evening of star gazing more enjoyable for both the kids and adults. Outside of the obvious things like the meaning of "NO" and "STOP", I am at a loss and therefore appeal to the wisdom of the group for further insight as to what else I might say that will help make this event a success. Here is what I have so far: Watch where you're walking. Look with your eyes, not your hands. Don't touch anything. No running, yelling, shoving or fighting. Stay in line, be still and keep quiet. We'll be watching and if we see anyone with their fingers in their nose, they won't be allowed to look throught the telescopes. This should take care of the parents, now what should I tell the kids??? ;) Guy
Wise Guy wrote: This should take care of the parents, now what should I tell the kids??? ;)
Tell them that each telescope operator has a pocketful of candy, and that every time they ask an astronomy question that the telescope operator does not know the answer too, they have to give the kid a piece of candy... :) And that "billions" means they don't know the answer.... Seriously, sounds like a pretty good list to me. Just emphasize the idea of not touching anything unless the telescope operator tells them too... Jo
Quoting Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com>:
Tell them that each telescope operator has a pocketful of candy, and that every time they ask an astronomy question that the telescope operator does not know the answer too, they have to give the kid a piece of candy... :)
That was sounding pretty good Jo, but then it hit me, when you have grown men offering strange kids candy, that sounds more like Liberty Park than a School function! ;) On the other hand women telescope operators can do it and get away with it. Of course women can get away with holding hands and hugging each other too. Not that there's anything wrong with that! ;)
Hey, Who said anything about telling the telescope operators about the rule :) I was trying to be funny, and even if it were made as a serious rule, I would be out of candy in 3 minutes. They always ask such good, but tough, questions... At 09:05 PM 9/26/2004 -0600, you wrote:
Quoting Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com>:
Tell them that each telescope operator has a pocketful of candy, and that every time they ask an astronomy question that the telescope operator does not know the answer too, they have to give the kid a piece of candy... :)
That was sounding pretty good Jo, but then it hit me, when you have grown men offering strange kids candy, that sounds more like Liberty Park than a School function! ;)
On the other hand women telescope operators can do it and get away with it. Of course women can get away with holding hands and hugging each other too. Not that there's anything wrong with that! ;)
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Forget the kids, if I had a pocket full of candy I would eat the stuff myself... Quoting Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com>:
Hey, Who said anything about telling the telescope operators about the rule :)
I was trying to be funny, and even if it were made as a serious rule, I would be out of candy in 3 minutes. They always ask such good, but tough, questions...
At 09:05 PM 9/26/2004 -0600, you wrote:
Quoting Josephine Grahn <bsi@xmission.com>:
Tell them that each telescope operator has a pocketful of candy, and that every time they ask an astronomy question that the telescope operator does not know the answer too, they have to give the kid a piece of candy... :)
That was sounding pretty good Jo, but then it hit me, when you have grown men offering strange kids candy, that sounds more like Liberty Park than a School function! ;)
On the other hand women telescope operators can do it and get away with it. Of course women can get away with holding hands and hugging each other too. Not that there's anything wrong with that! ;)
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It is a good list, maybe something about not shining white flashlights into people's eyes. Siegfried ----- Original Message ----- From: <diveboss@xmission.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 4:57 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Star party etiquette for crumb crunchers andparents
I volunteered to give a pre-star party etiquette briefing to a group of K-6 students and their parents, and was going over my notes regarding things that the little tykes and their parents need to know to help make an evening of star gazing more enjoyable for both the kids and adults.
Outside of the obvious things like the meaning of "NO" and "STOP", I am at a loss and therefore appeal to the wisdom of the group for further insight as to what else I might say that will help make this event a success. Here is what I have so far:
Watch where you're walking. Look with your eyes, not your hands. Don't touch anything. No running, yelling, shoving or fighting. Stay in line, be still and keep quiet. We'll be watching and if we see anyone with their fingers in their nose, they won't be allowed to look throught the telescopes.
This should take care of the parents, now what should I tell the kids??? ;)
Guy
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oh yeah, ... and not throwing those glow in the dark loops around the telescopes. Siegfried ----- Original Message ----- From: <diveboss@xmission.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 4:57 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Star party etiquette for crumb crunchers andparents
I volunteered to give a pre-star party etiquette briefing to a group of K-6 students and their parents, and was going over my notes regarding things that the little tykes and their parents need to know to help make an evening of star gazing more enjoyable for both the kids and adults.
Outside of the obvious things like the meaning of "NO" and "STOP", I am at a loss and therefore appeal to the wisdom of the group for further insight as to what else I might say that will help make this event a success. Here is what I have so far:
Watch where you're walking. Look with your eyes, not your hands. Don't touch anything. No running, yelling, shoving or fighting. Stay in line, be still and keep quiet. We'll be watching and if we see anyone with their fingers in their nose, they won't be allowed to look throught the telescopes.
This should take care of the parents, now what should I tell the kids??? ;)
Guy
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1) If you don't see anything in the telescope, say so. The person before you may have bumped the scope. 2) Turn flashlights on only when you *really* need them and then keep them pointed at the ground. 3) Pointing your flashlight into the telescope when your parent is looking and yelling "SUPERNOVA" is not a good idea. Patrick
What an amazing idea -- really made me chuckle, though I probably shouldn't have. -- Joe
Pointing your flashlight into the telescope when your parent is looking and yelling "SUPERNOVA" is not a good idea.
Patrick
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That is a really good way for a kid to get his a** kicked. (though I chuckled too!) --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
What an amazing idea -- really made me chuckle, though I probably shouldn't have. -- Joe
Pointing your flashlight into the telescope when your parent is looking and yelling "SUPERNOVA" is not a good idea.
Patrick
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Solid tube Newtonian telescopes, no matter how much they look like trash cans or basket ball hoops are not for throwing things into. My very little kids have hammered one of our mirrors on a scope that sits in the corner of our living room by putting toys "down the tube". Luckily it's a demo scope for teaching kids at schools about scopes. Lisa Zeigler www.johnstelescopes.com www.mirrorkits.com
That's not a bad idea Lisa!!! I have a friend who has a black powder canon that looks like a Dobsonian Telescope. I'll bet if I were to glue an old focuser assy on the side, fill it with powder and stuff a life size doll down the tube and touched it off in front of the kids, launching the lifeless doll several blocks, I'll bet that would take care of any questions the kids may have. ;) Just kidding. Actually that would be fun to do at SPOC. Maybe strap a skate board to the feet of the life size doll just for laughs... ;) Still kidding! Quoting John and Lisa Zeigler <john@johnstelescopes.com>:
Solid tube Newtonian telescopes, no matter how much they look like trash cans or basket ball hoops are not for throwing things into. My very little kids have hammered one of our mirrors on a scope that sits in the corner of our living room by putting toys "down the tube". Luckily it's a demo scope for teaching kids at schools about scopes.
Lisa Zeigler www.johnstelescopes.com www.mirrorkits.com
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We took our 12.5" F8 Newtonian Dob up to a crowded camp site on the 4th of July a few years back, we had it sitting in a shady spot by the road with the shroud in place. Every car that came by stopped to ask what it was, and most of them tried to guess before asking. Every single one of them thought it was a canon, and the camp host even came to investigate to make sure we weren't lighting off some sort of explosive. I guess maybe someone didn't believe it was a scope and went to alert the host. I bet you'd scare those poor kids hair white if you launched a doll out of a scope! It might scar them for life. Of course in a twisted way it would be sort of fun to see what reaction you got. Just Joking! What would be really fun would be to make a scope that shot out candy, then all of that giving candy for questions we cant answer problem would be solved, the kids mouths would be too full to ask any. :) Lisa Zeigler www.johnstelescopes.com www.mirrorkits.com -----Original Message----- From: diveboss@xmission.com [mailto:diveboss@xmission.com] Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 9:20 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Star party etiquette for crumb crunchersandparents That's not a bad idea Lisa!!! I have a friend who has a black powder canon that looks like a Dobsonian Telescope. I'll bet if I were to glue an old focuser assy on the side, fill it with powder and stuff a life size doll down the tube and touched it off in front of the kids, launching the lifeless doll several blocks, I'll bet that would take care of any questions the kids may have. ;) Just kidding. Actually that would be fun to do at SPOC. Maybe strap a skate board to the feet of the life size doll just for laughs... ;) Still kidding! Quoting John and Lisa Zeigler <john@johnstelescopes.com>:
Solid tube Newtonian telescopes, no matter how much they look like trash cans or basket ball hoops are not for throwing things into. My very little kids have hammered one of our mirrors on a scope that sits
in the corner of our living room by putting toys "down the tube". Luckily it's a demo scope for teaching kids at schools about scopes.
Lisa Zeigler www.johnstelescopes.com www.mirrorkits.com
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Don't be so sure; I've seen many telescopes (present company excepted, of course) that may as well have been trash-cans... --- John and Lisa Zeigler <john@johnstelescopes.com> >
Solid tube Newtonian telescopes, no matter how much they look like
trash cans or basket ball hoops are not for throwing things into.
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I seem to remember many years back a star party up by Kamas where Brent's monster scope ended up catching a frisbee or two. But then I seem to also remember that later in the day the scope became a chimney when sunlight found its way to the primary mirror and smoke was seen emanating from the tube... Patrick Chuck Hards wrote:
Don't be so sure; I've seen many telescopes (present company excepted, of course) that may as well have been trash-cans...
--- John and Lisa Zeigler <john@johnstelescopes.com> >
Solid tube Newtonian telescopes, no matter how much they look like
trash cans or basket ball hoops are not for throwing things into..
participants (7)
-
Chuck Hards -
diveboss＠xmission.com -
Joe Bauman -
John and Lisa Zeigler -
Josephine Grahn -
Patrick Wiggins -
Siegfried Jachmann