How has cycling contributed to your astronomy outreach ?
What equipment do you carry with you ?
How has cycling contributed to your astronomy outreach ?
I ride a cargo bike produced by Surly Bikes . Surly calls the design the Big Dummy , but the Dummy moniker upset my local bike-shop owner ’ s young son , so he scratched off the Dummy portion of its decals . I ’ ve since come to know it simply as the Surly Big or the Big . The Surly Big is much longer than standard bikes and when in full astrolab mode , people are compelled to stop and ask about it . Bottom line : It makes for a great introduction into conversations about astronomy . I camp out most nights , so I usually stop where people are already gathered outdoors . Bike tourists are fairly rare at most campgrounds I visit , and bikes like the Big are even rarer , so it doesn ’ t take long to get folks ’ attention . Once I set a solar scope up on the bicycle , gathering interested guests pretty much takes care of itself . When I can , I also travel established bike-touring routes , such as the Natchez Trace from Natchez , Miss ., to Nashville , Tenn ., the Missouri Katy Trail and the East Coast Greenway . This ensures that I meet a lot of cyclists , none of whom have seen a telescope mounted on a too-long bicycle because , well , as far as I can tell , it had not been done before , at least not in such a public way . As with my fellow campers , once cyclists realize what the project is about , their curiosities are piqued , and indepth conversations about astronomy naturally result .
What equipment do you carry with you ?
I carry solar glasses provided by the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project and hand them to everyone I meet . The glasses are printed with information on the August 21 , 2017 , solar eclipse , so
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COURTESY OF Gary Parkerson
The Surly Big sparks an impromptu observing session in Apple Valley , Calif .
they make a great tool for continuing conversations about the eclipse specifically and about astronomy in general . We coordinate the project with local bicycle shops along my routes , which serve as shipping points for such things as resupplies of the solar glasses . I pick up packages of 250 , which is about all of those I can carry along with everything else , and I go through them pretty quickly . As a side benefit , bike shops are natural gathering places for avid cyclists and thus are also excellent environments for sparking conversations about astronomy and sharing views of the Sun . I also carry Lunt Solar Systems SUNoculars , which I hand to guests while setting a solar telescope up on the Big . Most folks have used center-focus binoculars , so handling and focusing the SUNoculars are comfortably familiar . First magnified views of the Sun through the SUNoculars reliably yield “ OMG !” reactions . Following up with hydrogenalpha telescope views seals the deal . I ’ ve been carrying a DayStar Filters Quark Chromosphere , because it ’ s no larger or heavier than high-end , widefield eyepieces , yet converts a standard 80mm or smaller refractor into a fullbore Ha solar scope , freeing me to use the same refractor for sharing views of night-sky objects , as well . We ’ ve had an abundance of planets during the trip so far , and views of the Moon through a quality refractor always thrill . As for which refractor I carry , I ’ ve actually tested several in the early months of the project , but recently received one of Explore Scientific ’ s ultra-lightweight 80-mm carbonfiber apo refractors , which serves the project ’ s peculiar application perfectly . I also carry a variety of Explore Scientific ’ s wide-field eyepieces , although only in the 1.25-inch format accepted by the DayStar Quark . The fact the ES eyepieces are nitrogenpurged really helps , given that I ’ m out in the elements 24 / 7 and have no way to protect the equipment I carry from humidity , much less the occasional downpours I ’ m caught in . I ’ d love to carry some of Explore Scientific ’ s even wider 2-inch eyepieces , but the bike is already loaded beyond my ability to comfortably pedal it up even slight inclines . I mount the refractor on one of Sky-Watcher USA ’ s Star Adventurer
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