Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/15/watch-people-react-to-lookin.html
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Why was that so delightful?
That video was incredibly well done. Has everybody in Los Angeles attended film school or something?
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There used to be more street corner astronomers when I was a kid, then everyone moved to the suburbs. Astronomy was done in back yards, in private. Now, people are living in cities again, and the astronomers are back. Granted, the big city lights make it hard to see the heavens, but what one can see is still pretty amazing.
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Just explain to them it’s done with mirrors.
Couldn’t have done that in the 1970s. I lived there for a month until there was a clear day. There were mountains at the end of the Street !!!
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This is very nice.
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I did not get the same reaction when I showed people the moon - telescope makes the difference, I guess.
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A wonderful thing!
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Cop looking through telescope: "Damn! Too far away for the big beat down!
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One “near” to LA viewing area is Mount Pinos (~9000 ft elevation in the Los Padres National Forest). Excellent viewing. Even just laying back there with a pair of binoculars is a trip.
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Clair de Lune! 
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“Hmm… it is flat. 
”
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The video for this post I am seeing is, The Origin of Saint Patrick’s Day.
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I need to spend more time doing amateur astronomy. I grew up with this sort of stuff – my Dad being an engineer – but it makes me sad to think there are people than never get a chance to look through a telescope even at the Moon.
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Great short piece. I was surprised for many of those people this seemed to have been a first encounter. Must have been searingly bright with that large aperture; the woman at 1:08 looks like she has a flashlight pointed at her eye 
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Any astronomy-loving people out there know what type of telescope that is?
Edit: Instead of being lazy I looked around, found a youtube commenter asking the same question and the answer provided was “Sky-Watcher collapsible dobsonian reflector, most likely between 10 to 14 inches for mirror diameter.”
And here it is: http://www.skywatcherusa.com/collapsible-dobsonians/
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Bonus points if he had put shoe polish around the eyepiece
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No! Then you get people who don’t trust astronomers any more than the dog and the sliding glass door!
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Cop: Hey! What are you doing? Taking big pictures? You got a permit for that?
Guy: Looking at the moon through my telescope.
Cop: Ok. Just as long as it’s not a tripod. Or a camera.
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