Sidewalk Stargazing

A few times a year, we head out to a busy pedestrian street with our telescopes to provide views of the heavens to the public. These events are considered "guerilla astronomy" since they are explicitly targeting everyday people who are just going about their lives, a very different group than the science-enthusiasts who attend our advertised events like public lectures and Astronomy on Tap. Because our goal is to have maximum cross-section with the public, we choose busy pedestrian streets, potentially under street lights, for our observing locations, not dark out-of-the-way places.

We usually schedule these events for a Friday or Saturday evening, as those are the times we interact with the most people. Events are scheduled to coincide with the first quarter moon, which makes a good stargazing target. Deep-sky targets are usually too faint to use, so we typically restrict our targets to planets and the Moon. Depending on the number of volunteers and astronomical targets, we will take between one and three telescopes, usually the 6" and 8" Dobsonians. Sometimes we also bring the small 4" to which we attach the smartphone adaptor so people can take images of the Moon without getting in the way of normal viewing.

In addition to the telescopes and eyepieces, we bring our Caltech Astro Sandwich Boards, which provides us some authority. We also bring flyers for our regular public lectures and Astronomy on Tap events, and some NASA swag to hand out.

The schedule of the event is pretty informal. We just arrive at our destination around sunset, when it becomes possible to observe our targets. Setup takes a few minutes, and then we usually remain for 2-3 hours depending on the interest of our audience, how long our targets remain visible, and the patience of our volunteers.

These are among the most fun events in which to participate because people get really excited at seeing things through a telescope for the first time. Usually we'll interact with ~100-300 people over the course of a couple of hours, and it's awesome. A lot of people may walk by thinking we're trying to sell them something, so it is important to have a volunteer act as a sort of carnival barker to invite people to view the stars for free with astronomers from NASA and Caltech.

Locations

The best locations to do Sidewalk Stargazing have good pedestrian traffic, a decent view of the ecliptic, and enough space that we're not blocking storefronts or foot traffic. Other considerations are proximity for volunteers, maximizing interactions with underrepresented groups, and finding a place to park relatively nearby.

• Old Town Pasadena -- our past events have found success on the North side of Colorado Blvd at Miller Alley (Google Maps Link). It has a great view of the ecliptic and decent space on the sidewalk so we're not blocking anything.
• Hollywood Blvd -- We have considered this, but haven't yet figured out details. Parking will be a challenge.
• Santa Monica Pier -- We have considered this, but haven't yet figured out details. Driving there/back will be a challenge.
• East Los Angeles

Instructions for Volunteers

We typically need 4-6 volunteers for each event.

• 1 Sidewalk Stargazing Captain - Organization of the event
• 3-5 Sidewalk Stargazing Volunteer - Telescope operation and answering questions

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