I wonder if the lack of interest could be similar to my experience as a kid: My mother was an enthusiastic unaided-eye observer and would take my brother, sister and me (Dad came along, but always seemed a bit bored) to observe the Milky Way, early satellite passes, meteor showers - anything that was easily accessible. Of course in those days, a short trip up the local canyons was as far as one needed to travel to enjoy relatively dark skies. My brother received a Gilbert "80-power!" Newtonian telescope for his birthday one year, but as y'all can imagine, trying to use it was a dismal experience.

From as early as I could read, I devoured every issue of the National Geographic, and I remember the advertisements for Questar telescopes that the Geographic carried every month. Those advertisements convinced me that telescopes were horribly expensive and would forever be beyond my reach. Astronomy as a hobby appeared inaccessible, except for the kind of observing that my family enjoyed. This was my perception until I graduated from architecture school in 1986, when I finally had time to get back into the hobby that I had enjoyed as a child and pursue it more seriously. I was actually surprised to learn that one could build a telescope very inexpensively.

With the newer generations of go-to, GPS-operated, CCD-equipped, whiz-bang telescopes that many of us take to public star parties, I'd be surprised if many of our guests go away knowing that astronomy doesn't need to be expensive and is actually a very accessible science and hobby. Yes, Chuck, I agree that we should be alarmed that there isn't more interest. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 4:55 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Science fair While global warming may be a "hot button" topic, I noticed that nobody commented on my observation that out of literally hundreds of projects- ONE was related to astronomy. There were more projects having to do with popcorn and cookies than physics and geology, for example, combined. And this in an area with a "world-class" planetarium, astronomy clubs -with nice observatories!- out the wazoo, even a couple of nearby universities offering astronomy programs. We see these kids at star parties all the time, why isn't any of the enthusiasm catching-on? Is the star-party just an excuse to get out of the house for a night? Or did mom or dad MAKE them go? Why are they losing their interest as soon as the meeting is over and they are back among their peers? Seth, has teen attendance at the planetarium dropped-off in recent years? Are they going for astronomy, or IMAX 3-D? Where's the astronomy disconnect with our jr. high and high-school students? We seem to be exposing them to it, but it's just not "catching hold". __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net ______________________________________________________________________