by Dan Wright
I was planning to come to MB last night, but opted for the Palo Alto Foothills public party instead, since (1) I'm a citizen of Palo Alto, and (2) I'd never done Foothills before and (3) I'd gotten the impression enough people had already volunteered for MB. In hindsight, I'm sorry to have missed Jay's impromptu talk, the good TAC company, and the "select 25" smart public.
But Foothills was a success, too. Showed up early with picnic dinner and met a lot of PAS people I'd never known before. Got to try a Vixen zoom eyepiece in my scope. I might decide to buy one. "Quick, Chewie, the jump to light speed!"
Set up next to Rick (embarrassed-to-have-forgotten-his-last-name), as friendly as they come and very experienced and knowledgeable. He was about as PAS as a guy could be, sporting his PAS shirt and PAS laminated card/nametag and his Key to the Foothills Front Gate. He had a C11 mounted on a G11 (a poetic and functional combination). We also had two Tele Vue refractors, a small cute seemingly custom-made dob belonging to a charming Swiss lady, a couple other scopes, and then everybody had binoculars hanging around their necks.
Fabulous sunset, then Venus, then the moon, then skipping around trying to find entertaining objects for the pubic. The Ring Nebula, the Wild Ducks, the fireworks at the Stanford game, Polaris, the Dumbarton Bridge, Albireo, M13, Eta Cassiopeia, the Shoreline Amphitheater, the moon again, etc. People were fascinated with the skypointer, as much or more than with any object I showed in my scope. For pointing out asterisms and orienting the public with the night sky, there's nothing better.
Relatively small public crowd, but very interested and asking sharp questions. A couple darling kindergarten girls enthusiastic to see a star in a telescope. More than one young married couple saying they were ready to buy a scope, and asking advice about buying.
Temperature was comfy the whole time with no wind to rustle my papers. Party thinned out about 10:30 and the skies weren't getting better, so I packed up. Wife was stunned to see me back from observing at a reasonable hour! That's the advantage of Foothills for me, I guess: the proximity.