Wow. What a day. Where do I even begin? The 2012 version of the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF), the largest telescope show and expo in the United States, kicked off with a bang.
Astronomy
magazine Youth Essay Contest winner Jenna Elliott of Sanford, North
Carolina, age 12, poses proudly while enjoying her prize trip to NEAF
(and with her father Jim), NEAF, April 28, 2012.
Several hundred people were inside the Eugene C. Levy Fieldhouse at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, by midmorning to see more than 140 exhibitors and their telescopes, binoculars, cameras, accessories, publications, meteorites, rocks, t-shirts, and outreach organizations. It was a day filled with a blur of almost nonstop talking with dozens of people, the good readers of
Astronomy magazine stopping by to talk with me, Publisher Kevin Keefe, and Ad Sales Manager Jeff Felbab.
I also had the great pleasure of manning the Astronomy Foundation (AF) booth off and on, which was capably covered by Marsie Hall Newbold, the group’s director of publicity, and Karen Jennings, AF’s Astronomy Club Committee chair. Hundreds of people passed by and talked about the group’s outreach activities, which will be discussed in detail at the annual meeting tomorrow and announced shortly thereafter.
Marsie
Hall Newbold, publicity director, and Dave Eicher, president, set the
banner at the Astronomy Foundation booth, NEAF, April 28, 2012.
It was a joy to welcome
Astronomy’s Youth Essay Contest winner, 12-year-old Jenna Elliott, sent to NEAF courtesy of the magazine along with her father, Jim, an avid amateur astronomer. Jenna and Jim came from their home in Sanford, North Carolina, and enjoyed meeting numerous important folks in the telescope business, ending the day with a dinner along with Keefe, Newbold and me. It was a whirlwind day and Jenna relished helping out with shooting some product videos that you will see soon on Astronomy.com.
I spoke with many manufacturers and along with Jeff and Jenna, took photos and recorded movies of some exciting things. Many good friends were here today: Al and Judy Nagler of Tele Vue Optics, Joe Lupica of Celestron, Roland and Marj Christen of Astro-Physics, Fred Metzer of Canon, Scott Roberts of Explore Scientific, Mike Peoples of Adorama, and many others. Active outreach partners seemed to be everywhere: Scott Kardel from the International Dark-Sky Association, Tom Trusock of Cloudynights.com, British astronomy writer Nick Howes, Carroll Iorg and John Goss of the Astronomical League, Editor Chris Bramley of BBC Sky at Night magazine, Astronomy contributor Robert Reeves, and many others.
It was a tremendous day filled with many conversations, a vast amount of astronomical equipment, and good talks, and it will produce much that you’ll hear about over the coming days. Also, be sure to check out all the images from my trip in our Reader Photo Gallery.
Related blogs:
On the road: Northeast Astro Imaging Conference, April 27, 2012
On the road: Northeast Astro Imaging Conference, April 26, 2012