My trip to Bloomington, Illinois, for the North Central Region of the Astronomical League (NCRAL) conference continued into the second day, April 17. I’m here with about a hundred dedicated amateur astronomers who are experiencing a well-run event. For one thing, conference organizers from the Twin City Amateur Astronomers are making sure everything occurs on time. It seems like a simple thing, but not all conferences are so dedicated to timing, and it really helps things move along well.
Friday night, Carl Wenning, one of the conference’s main organizers, and I presented a planetarium program to a group of attendees. In a lecture format that most resembled tag-team wrestling, Carl and I went back and forth for more than an hour. We related little-known myths, obscure facts, and observing tips. What fun!
Saturday, it was my turn to present a solo talk right after lunch. I’ve done lots of public speaking, and I have learned that when one of my talks occurs after a meal, I need to keep the subject matter light. Because the convention theme was “Generations: Past, Present, and Future of the Telescope,” I presented “Astronomy’s Greatest Generation.” This talk is a lighthearted look at a timeline of events that begins in 1889 with the founding of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and ends in 2010.
In my allotted hour, I mentioned the major amateur astronomy groups that had formed in the past century, noted the beginnings of the Dobsonian revolution and the apochromatic refractor, and helped everyone reminisce about events like the Cosmos television series, comet Hale-Bopp, and all of the important star parties.
I had fun preparing and presenting the talk and, judging by the laughter, applause, and comments I heard, the conference attendees had a pretty good time as well.
Mission accomplished.
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