As much as I still want to call myself an amateur astronomer, it requires you to DO something astronomy-related occasionally. Like looking through my scope, perhaps.

Just as the pandemic started, we were about to host a RASC Ottawa telescope workshop where people could come and see the different scopes, how they were set up, etc. When we cancelled, many people accused us of hysteria and that the virus wasn’t a threat. I wish I had saved those emails. 🙂

Since then? Almost nada. While lots of people around the world turned to sourdough bread, many also turned to astronomy. Purchase orders went out, production waiting lines got longer and longer, and prices went up, but many tried it out. Not me. Oh, I bought two new telescopes at the Black Friday event that year, and they were good deals. I bought a refractor and a reflector, with mostly the intent to try them out, write some “step-by-step” guides on how to use them, and perhaps either donate to the cottage or sell off. I planned some writing, looked at some stuff online.

But since March 2020, the only active thing I have done is to go to one of the first Star Parties in Carp, but even then, only to wander around to talk to people.… Read the rest