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That one guy at a star party who argued about Jupiter's moons
I was at a public viewing night at the Griffith Observatory in LA last spring, just showing people the rings of Saturn through my 8-inch dobsonian. This one older fellow in a Hawaiian shirt kept insisting that what I was pointing out as Io was actually Europa, and he started quoting some blog he read from 2018... I just handed him the eyepiece and let him look for himself, and he finally went quiet. Has anyone else had to politely deal with someone who was totally wrong but very confident at a star party?
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the_felix3mo ago
...and honestly I read somewhere that Io and Europa can look almost identical in a smaller scope depending on the atmospheric conditions that night. I remember a Sky & Telescope article that talked about those moon transits and how easy it is to mix them up in mediocre seeing. The guy in the Hawaiian shirt probably skimmed that blog and thought he was an expert after reading one paragraph. But you did the right thing, just let him look through the eyepiece. Nothing shuts down the overconfident folks faster than real world experience with your own two eyes.
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faith273mo ago
Wait, a Hawaiian shirt at Griffith Observatory in LA? Like a loud floral one with palm trees and stuff? Honestly that detail is wild, I'm picturing this guy arguing with you about moons while looking like he just walked off a beach in Maui. Tbh I had something similar happen at a star party in Arizona where this dude kept insisting Venus was a UFO and started waving his laser pointer at my telescope tube. Ngl I just handed him my collimation eyepiece and said "prove it" which shut him up pretty fast.
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