Report from Alan Giltinan, BCO:
| Number of telescopes and binoculars: | 11 |
|---|---|
| Number of amateur participants: | 1 |
| Number of public observing (best estimate): | 21 |
During the telescope amnesty session, we had a total of 21 persons with 11 telescopes. For this they brought their telescopes to Blackrock Castle Observatory as they had either never used their telescopes or had left them unattended for sometime and were unsure how to operate them.
There were 2 telescopes that were new. They had been purchased for some time but had not taken them out o the box as they were completely unsure how to operate them. These telescopes were both German Eq. mountings but were manual tracking and pointing using rods.
I showed both parties how to both assemble the telescope, point it, focus it, changes eyepieces and track it.
The remaining telescopes were previously used telescope that had been boxed and put into storage for sometime. They consisted of a mixture of both German Eq. and push and point telescopes. Some had tracking capability while some had not. Some only had 1 eyepiece and were not in great condition but still very usable.
Most had the ability to assemble them to almost completion.
I instructed all on the requirement and tricks of how to find objects in the sky using both terrestrial and non terrestrial objects as points of reference and for focusing.
By far the most common problem was in trying to find objects in the night sky and focusing on them. Having spoken to each group for approx 10-15mins, they all went away with a good background on how to operate their telescopes and they were all very pleased and complimentary of the time and expertise given to them by the team at BCO.
Many great comments were made such as тАЬBrilliant idea and very well doneтАЭ and тАЬGreat to have a local resource like this. Long overdueтАЭ