By Mark Laurin

Mark Laurin is an amateur astronomer, a member of the Denver Astronomical Society for more than 15 years and has been active in astronomy outreach in the communities around Summit County since 2014. Here he shares what got him started working with the public, and what keeps him going.

Why Do Outreach

The essence of why I do outreach is the very title of this essay. It’s the opportunity to bear witness to that moment when someone sees the rings of Saturn for the first time. It’s hearing that person’s reflexive auditory response to the majesty and pure awe of the sight before them, often the only tangible evidence of the experience because it’s too dark outside to see their face.

Awe can be heard in a sound, a word or short phrases. “Holy cow,” “Wow,” “Can you believe that,” and even the odd explicative, testify to that moment of wonder, amazement and curiosity. Being at that moment when awe or wonderment happens is tremendously satisfying. It usually hits when I’m helping them get oriented to looking through a telescope if it’s their first time at the eyepiece.

We amateur astronomers have the gear, ability, and I hope the desire, to share

what we know and love about the wonders of the night sky with the world. It’s our chance to share our own “awe” with others as they experience beauty of the celestial world above them with the help of our knowledge and equipment.

However, I also do outreach because sadly and inevitability, my amateur astronomy friends, peers, and leaders are like me; we are a group that is getting long in the tooth. My outreach is thus compelled by a need to help in some way to find, encourage and cultivate a younger, more diverse generation of amateur astronomers. I am convinced, that the more eyeballs I can get on eyepieces, the more this increases.

What Got Me Into Outreach

As a teacher I’ve spent my professional career of 39 years in academic education and corporate training. From the outside, it would seem then that doing public outreach would have been a natural extension for me. But initially it wasn’t. With so many brilliant minds resident in the DAS, I was at first intimidated. A part of me I thought I didn’t know enough or wasn’t smart enough to talk about astronomy.

My desire for outreach began at Foxpark, Wyoming in 2011. It was during “Weekend Under the Stars,” a stargazing event sponsored by the Cheyenne Astronomical Society and the Laramie Astronomical Society. Part of the event included an open invitation to all local residents to come to the site that Saturday night and look through the assembled amateur astronomers’ telescopes. I can vividly remember to this day those early moments when I witnessed other people express their awe and amazement. There were many of those moments that night, as there were lots of people wanting to look, experience, and learn. Each person expressed a deep appreciation and gratitude for having the chance to look through high quality optics and experience the awe, wonder, and curiosity of the night sky.

It stuck with me. Sometime later, it was a warm summer night at the Chamberlain Observatory open house and while I was looking through Cathie Havens’ S&S Optika telescope, a man approached Cathie with his son and telescope in tow.

“I was told you were someone who could help us learn how to use our new scope.”

She smiled and then looked at me knowing I didn’t have my ‘scope that night and said, “Can you help ‘em out?”

“Whoa! I’m not…” I started, but before I finished my excuse off we went to set up the ‘scope. I realized then that outreach can be simply helping a new telescope owner get set-up and started at square one. Outreach can be as simple this.

Two years ago, Stephanie Anderson, now at Cloud Break Optics of Seattle but formerly with S&S Optics, approached me.

“Since you’ll be in Casper for the solar eclipse, will you speak at a Solar Eclipse Festival about the different types of telescopes?”

Another chance to spread the word, and I said, “Of course.”

The Outreach I Do

My outreach efforts in Summit County have varied over the last five years. Each one started differently, and shows how opportunity can pop up in sometimes unexpected places.

The greatest reach and impact is through my association with Keystone Science School as a volunteer. When I first arrived, I found their observatory sitting idle because their Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope inside wasn’t working. Unacceptable.

After helping the school get the ‘scope back online and training a master operator and keeper of the keys of the observatory, I helped to train new instructors in basic navigation of the night sky and how to lead private programs.

For two summer in a row, I volunteered my time to design and later co-facilitate a weekly stargazing session. The sessions were open to the public and ran for six weeks, rain or shine, as Keystone Lodge’s Kidtopia Summer Stargazing Program. The total attendance for the program was nearly 100 parents, children and individuals. My entire relationship with Keystone Science School began after reading in the Summit Daily community notices section and found an advertisement placed by the school soliciting volunteers for an upcoming community astronomy program. I replied to the ad.

Next, the super moon of November 2016 led to me facilitating a number stargazing sessions and discussions for Summit Sky Ranch, a residential development north of Silverthorne. As Summit Sky Ranch is designed as a dark sky community, the goal was to show the residences the benefits of a dark sky.

How did this outreach effort begin? A friend of mine told me he read that Summit Sky Ranch intended to build an observatory deep inside the development. Later, after I mentioned this to another friend in real estate, who responded saying, “Yes, that’s being led by Margie, and her office is over in the outlet mall. You should go introduce yourself.”

On my way home from Frisco after lunch, I did just that. Margie’s simple reply, “Let’s talk for a minute,” turned into a great collaboration. My hope is a similar approach of working through a friend-of-a-friend will network me into the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District to put together an astronomy event for the transit of Mercury later this year.

To friends, relatives, and anyone else who signed up, I send out “Astro Mark’s Astro Event Alert” emails. Under my nom de plume, Astro Mark, these emails alert my subscribers to celestial events occurring within the next couple of days. The brief message plant a seed that encourages people to take the time and look up to see whatever celestial event might be happening. The majority of the alerts are about naked-eye events, so no gear is necessary and anybody can see them. Feedback to the alerts is positive and Keystone Science School reposts them on their blog, widening the distribution of the alerts.

Outreach as an “Investment”

An extra perk do doing outreach is an economic one. My astronomy gear wasn’t cheap. While building up my kit, I felt a tinge of guilt and a sense of being unworthy possessing such high quality and expensive astronomy gear. Doing outreach helps me rationalize those astronomy purchases. I promise myself that I’ll have more people look through the new eyepiece which is the ultimate return on investment.

For me, outreach leads back to new astro-gear. This is the logic I used to convince myself it’s okay to get that new 21 mm Ethos eyepiece because it’s all about getting more “eyeballs on eyepieces.”