What was your most embarrasing moment at a public or group viewing night?

h0ughy (David) · #1 27-06-2005, 10:46 PM

Probably for me it was just after I got my new LX200 (1999) and we had a public viewing night at the oblisk in Newcastle. I set up and thought I had everything working well before sunset, then turned everything off. 30 minutes later, the sun had just set, several eager people had lined up behind my 12" LX200 goto buzz click whirr machine, I turned it on and not knowing exactly what happened the motherboard failed on bootup (& that is a completely other story Eh Mick P!

). i tried several times and in the end i manually slewed it around the whole night, to have a child say," Hey Mister, has your battery gone flat? hey mummy lets go to that other scope it makes a noise, this one doesn't so its broken."

I bit hard to impress the young EH.

asimov (John) · #2 27-06-2005, 11:02 PM

Yep! That 'whirr-buzzz-clickkk! gets them in. Years ago, if a telescope made a noise like that, it would of been 'hey mista.. I think you got crook bearings in your telescope'

Never been to a group viewing night so I cant contribute there. funny story though. thanks!

fringe_dweller · #3 27-06-2005, 11:21 PM

LOL Houghy, a smart kid! :p
Ok I have a story i dont know if it was super embarressing tho.
Heysen trail/trackl mid north SA, 2001 leonids meteor storm. It was a group session with other 3 friends. One friend who tagged along, a non-astronomer who didnt dress for the cold despite advice to (naturally). he was in and out of car all night due to feeling cold. At one stage I noticed his silouhette in the pitch black, 3 or 4 feet from me, I thought he must of got out of the car again. I started chatting to him on and off about the show "did ya see that AAAARRR WHHHOOOAAAA WOOOHHOOO" ect.- i was distracted by the show a bit

- after I had been talking and standing near him a little while , i was saying Ross? Ross is that you? whats the matter? silence i thought he must of been POed from the cold? then my friend Ross turned and started to gently hop/skip away slowly into the dark? i was confused as to his behaviour - then i yelled ROSS at him as padded away, louder, and the real ross answered me from the car "YER WHAT?" I had been thinking and talking to a large Kangaroo as if he was indeed my friend Ross for maybe as much as 10 min!. LOL I can never figure out how the kangaroo got so close without me noticing?? and why it stayed still so long?
Kearn
EDIT i remember another reason why I confused Ross with the roo in the dark - Ross had borrowed a large blanket out of my car and had wrapped it around himself all night to keep warm, and so resembled that amorphous shape a bit - and correction number two - It cant of been 3- 4 feet that would of been very close, must of been more like 5-6 feet away - sorry! i didnt get time to measure the distance LOL!

astroron (Ron) · #4 27-06-2005, 11:27 PM

I once went to a public field night at Rainbow Beach which is about 125kms from where I live and took the clubs 10" Dob but when I got there realised that I had left the base behind, luckely I had my trusty 2ocm SCT with me ,but had to show about 40 people, about three objects because thats all we had time for astroron

h0ughy (David) · #5 27-06-2005, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fringe_dweller

LOL Houghy, a smart kid! :p
Ok I have a story i dont know if it was super embarressing tho.
Heysen trail/trackl mid north SA, 2001 leonids meteor storm. It was a group session with other 3 friends. One friend who tagged along, a non-astronomer who didnt dress for the cold despite advice to (naturally). he was in and out of car all night due to feeling cold. At one stage I noticed his silouhette in the pitch black, 3 or 4 feet from me, I thought he must of got out of the car again. I started chatting to him on and off about the show "did ya see that AAAARRR WHHHOOOAAAA WOOOHHOOO" ect.- i was distracted by the show a bit

- after I had been talking and standing near him a little while , i was saying Ross? Ross is that you? whats the matter? silence i thought he must of been POed from the cold? then my friend Ross turned and started to gently hop/skip away slowly into the dark? i was confused as to his behaviour - then i yelled ROSS at him as padded away, louder, and the real ross answered me from the car "YER WHAT?" I had been thinking and talking to a large Kangaroo as if he was indeed my friend Ross for maybe as much as 10 min!. LOL I can never figure out how the kangaroo got so close without me noticing?? and why it stayed still so long?
Kearn

Obviously you must have had its ear with the knowledge you were dispensing

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #6 28-06-2005, 12:36 AM

Has the kangaroo bought a scope yet? LOL!

Mine isn't embarrasing either Houghy, more frustrating (I have mentioned it in PM to Gazza).

It was my first Star Party at a fellow members farm way north of Ballarat (unfortunately my friend has limited eyesight so he stayed inside).

I turned up at Dark and as I was making my way to his back paddock lugging my 4.25" EQ Reflector I could make out about 20 people in the dark.

Being a sociable type of person, as I entered the paddock I said a hearty "G'day everyone".

As if on cue all 20 turned to me and went "Shshshshshsh!"

I couldn't believe it! What was I going to do? Scare the stars away??

They whispered all night. Needless to say I have never been to their star parties again.

cahullian · #7 28-06-2005, 07:16 AM

My was just last week. I was at the Great Aussie Bush Camp and had the top off the scope for about 5 hours when the boss asked " can I have a look at Jupiter?" After me telling him it looks fantastic and you could see 4 of it's moon clearly. looked through the eyepeice and HORROR OF HORRORS my secondary mirror was dewed over. Nothing to see but smudges. He had a look though and was impressed with the smudges anyway.
I was glad it was dark as my face mush have looked like a beetroot with the embarrassment of it all.

Gazza/Irish

ving (David) · #8 28-06-2005, 11:24 AM

I turned up to my very first asto soc observing night without a seat/chair, map, light and warm clothes (well it had been a warm day). after seeing if anyone had a spare seat and drawing a blank I grabbed a small cussion out of my car, someone had a small planisphere but no spare torches.
by the end of the night i had a sore back, sore knees from kneeling alot and didnt really find anything of interest despite the good seeing because i couldnt read the plainsphere in the dark.

hope i dont forget anything on the 2nd!!

fringe_dweller · #9 28-06-2005, 02:23 PM

LOL Houghy - those roos are good listeners

Ken - i do wonder if it was looking up with me and counting the shooting stars

also Ken you sure it wasnt a librarians convention you stumbled upon?

(I know their are a few amongst the members

LOL sshhhhh!!!)
Kearn

asimov (John) · #10 28-06-2005, 03:34 PM

A bit rude of you Kearn for Hogging the EP! No wonder the roo took off!

ving (David) · #11 28-06-2005, 03:38 PM

oi!
no mocking of librarians here thanks!

fringe_dweller · #12 28-06-2005, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

oi!
no mocking of librarians here thanks!

Very Sorry Ving and Librarian - I hope this apology wasnt overdue? (feel free to groan at this point

)

John - no telescope required for meteor observing

low tech astronomy - love it! (although we did have one with us - and observed comet 2000 WM1 LINEAR in the north early on - and were going to do guided shots with meteors - but only shutter release cable we had with us broke at the start

)
Kearn

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #13 28-06-2005, 08:58 PM

Hehe! I just remembered one!!!!!

Not embarrasing for me but certainly for the person I embarrased!

At one of our Society 'Special Nights' we had an advertised open night for anyone wanting to learn about astronomy and the usual viewing through the scopes. I was chosen as the M.C. for the night (their mistake).

The night started with one of our female members giving a lecture to the attentive (yawn) crowd about finding directions and working out time by using the Southern Cross when lost in the bush.

Apart from explaining where North, South, East and West are, she was also using the method of the Southern Cross being like a clock but in different positions according to the month for working out the time.

You know the run down: "If you face South in January the Southern Cross is in such and such position so you know it's 9pm, February it's in such and such position at 9pm, March it's in this position at 9pm" and on and on she went whilst everyone struggled to stay awake!

25 minutes later she concluded, with a crowd of very blank faces.

I went to the front and got everyone to give her a clap, then thanked her for a great talk, and I said "That was very informative. Now, if I am ever lost in the bush at 9pm I will know exactly what month it is!"

While the crowd was laughing so much and the room was full of teary eyes she stood back up yelling "No! that's not what I meant at all" but was drowned out by even more laughter.

h0ughy (David) · #14 28-06-2005, 09:06 PM

was that the last presentation she gave Ken

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #15 28-06-2005, 09:19 PM

No Houghy.

She is now the President of the Society!!!!! So we get LOTS of them

and I just bite my tongue.

h0ughy (David) · #16 28-06-2005, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

No Houghy.

She is now the President of the Society!!!!! So we get LOTS of them

and I just bite my tongue.

that'll teach 'ya to laugh at the "teacher".

RAJAH235 · #17 28-06-2005, 10:13 PM

You'll just have to give her a big red apple, Ken.

L.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #18 28-06-2005, 10:27 PM

LOL!

That was 19 years ago and many of the members still laugh about it! She stays clear of me. (sorry Judith, can you forgive me)

I got up 2 weeks back to talk about the IceInSpace website and the Star Camp and I got the evil eye the whole time. Why doesn't she trust me?

I've matured a lot in 19 years. I wouldn't do that nowdays would I!

h0ughy (David) · #19 28-06-2005, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

LOL!

That was 19 years ago and many of the members still laugh about it! She stays clear of me. (sorry Judith, can you forgive me)

I got up 2 weeks back to talk about the IceInSpace website and the Star Camp and I got the evil eye the whole time. Why doesn't she trust me?

I've matured a lot in 19 years. I wouldn't do that nowdays would I!

19 years is a long time to hold a grudge. i still have people holding ones against me longer than that though. I still don't know why?

CosMos (Rich) · #20 01-07-2005, 06:28 AM

Many years ago, I was giving a talk at the Auckland Observatory and had to show the group objects through the 50cm telescope. There was much cloud covering the sky and their departure time was coming up quickly. Anyway, the cloud cleared just enough to allow a peek at Jupiter so leaping to the eyepiece, I attempted to locate the said planet. No luck. The eyepiece field was devoid of anything!! I tried using the focus button backwards and forwards but still no luck. In between wiping my glasses which kept steaming up and apologising for not finding Jupiter and the encroaching departure time, I suddenly realised what the problem was.

Very nonchalantly, I strolled around to the front of the telescope stating in a loud and confident voice, don't worry I know what the problem is. I reached up and grabbed the hinged flaps covering the mirror and latched them back in place with a loud clang that reverberated around the dome. You see, we always covered the mirror when not in use and in my panic to try and get something to see for these people...well you get the picture.

Everybody had about 2 seconds at the eyepiece to see Jupiter and all saw it before the cloud once more rolled in.

Another almost embarrasing moment occured when a mate and I were travelling to a school some tens of kilometers north to show the community through my mate's 60cm dobsonian. We were expected there by a certain time and around 3/4 of the way, my mate turned to me and said, "I have forgotten something".

I went through the usual equipment list...ladder, eyepieces, etc but no, "I have forgotten the mirror". A quick turn around and back to his place where the mirror sat peacefully in its box. Made it back to the school only 5 minutes late...a close call.

Rich