On the road: PATS 2008, Day Two

Michael Bakich — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:33:00 GMT

I spent Day 2 at the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS) mostly talking. I talked to manufacturers about new products, I talked to amateur astronomers about our magazine, I chatted with astroimagers about their photography, and I interacted with some of the event's keynote speakers.

Everyone thought Day 1 of PATS was a success. About 800 paid admission tickets sold, and people milled about through the whole day. Jen Winter, president of DayStar Filters, said that, beyond the sales the company made, the networking she experienced at PATS would prove valuable to future sales.

David Nagler, president of Tele Vue Optics, said he was glad the event was 2 days long, because it validated the long trip from New York. "Still," he said, "the first day alone would have made the trip worthwhile."

I had great conversations with astroimagers Tony Hallas, Bob Fera, and Ken Crawford. All expressed their appreciation for the high-quality reproductions of their work within Astronomy magazine.

I had a chance to catch up with noted comet-hunter David Levy. And I chatted with, and attended a talk by, Robert Naeye, the brand-new editor of Sky&Telescope magazine. Bob worked at Astronomy for 5 years, but that was before I arrived. His talk, "Behind the Scenes at Sky & Telescope," was quite informative.

All in all, this has been a great trip. Congratulations to the organizers of PATS. Next year, the convention will occur in Pasadena's newly improved convention center, a much larger venue, so I expect this year's 70 dealers to blossom to well over 100. And who knows how many people will attend. I, for one, am ready to return.

Editor's note: We've loaded additional pictures from Michael's trip to an album that you can access:
Astronomy on the road: Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show 2008.

On the road: The Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show, day one

Michael Bakich — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:48:00 GMT

Today, I'm at the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS). Because this is the first time PATS has occurred, I really didn't know what to expect. Wow! There are a lot more dealers here than I thought would attend. Big ones like Celestron, Meade, Orion, Santa Barbara Instrument Group, Tele Vue, and Vixen. Small ones like, well, in many cases I hadn't heard of them. It's nice to attend a show and be surprised.

I've already seen several cool, new products. Take the Nitrogen II (NII) filter from Astrodon Filters. Many astroimagers use red, green, and blue filters. Some add Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen III, and Sulfur II. Astrodon's new NII filter will allow them to show even more details in their images. Don Goldman, president of Astrodon, showed me an image he took of the Dumbbell Nebula (M27). The intricate filamentary detail around the central area really amazed me. I hadn't seen that in any other shot of this object.

Both DayStar Filters and Coronado Instruments had multiple telescopes set up outside the convention center so people could look at some Hydrogen-alpha images of the Sun. And all the scopes had lines.

Which leads me to the most gratifying part of PATS: The place was packed! This is a great sign for future conventions. It indicates the organizers were on top of public relations, a big part of any convention's success. All the vendors I chatted with said how clean the place was, how well laid-out the floor plan seemed, and how busy they were. And busy means they'll be back next year.

More tomorrow ...

Editor's note: We've loaded additional pictures from Michael's trip to an album that you can access:
Astronomy on the road: Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show 2008.

Astronomy.com blog : PATS 2008

On the road: PATS 2008, Day Two

On the road: The Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show, day one