As an European it is hard to describe, what ALCON actually is since there (at least to my knowledge) is nothing comparable in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Basically it is a meeting with lots of interesting talks, combined with expositions of vendors from all over the USA and display of interesting astronomy pictures. Unlike in Germany, there were tons of valuable door-prizes to give away like a 60mm Ha-Solar Telescope and an 8 inch Celestron with Hyperstar. At the end of the first day, a star party at the TAAAs TIMPA Ranch took place. Considering that TIMPA is roughly an hours drive from the Hotel, the talks were scheduled for the next day as early as 8:30 am and the moon phase was 100% (actually later that night there was a partial lunar eclipse), a number of 29 people participating (16 members of TAAA and 13 ALCON) is more than I expected.
Featured guest speakers were Roger Angel (award-winning inventor of a procedure to cast 8.4m mirrors) and David H. Levy (do I really have to explain who he is?).
It would be too much to describe everything I witnessed in those three days so I keep it short and just exchange my very personal experiences of this convention:
Compared to Germany and maybe the central European culture, Americans (and people living in America) are in general really open-hearted people. I got in touch with several astronomical "celebrities" (Erich Karkoschka, Dean Koenig, David Levy, Glenn Sanner and George Kepple to just name a few) and they were just - well - normal. Many interesting conversations evolved during those three days and it was amazingly easy to get in touch with others. A lot of people (not only at ALCON) give me their hands and say "Welcome to America". Compared to that, I lived in complete isolation in Switzerland for the last 3.5 years...
As in Europe, professionals can´t live without amateurs and vice versa. This has been made clear in that convent and it was shown, how and in which fields amateurs can and are still contributing to actual scientific problems.
The IDA has to deal with the same sad problems as we do in Europe. People think, that more light is better and they would life safer. IDA does an outstanding job to convince officials and people per se that this is not true.
Tucson is the astronomical capital of the world - so I was eager to listen to Richard Green´s talk about the Large Binocular Telescope. They managed to achieve a Strehl ratio of 85% with this splendid instrument - the textbook-like image received spontaneous applause.
Lunt Telescopes (a producer of high-class solar telescopes) displayed several decent telescopes which showed nice details on the still not very active sun. It was thrilling to compare the view with different apertures, ranging from 60mm to 152mm. Guess, which one was most spectacular...
To sum it all up: ALCON 2010 was a huge success and I am happy that I attended it.
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In diesem Jahr fand das ALCON (ein Akronym für Astronomical League Convention, also Versammlung der astronomischen Liga) vom Freitag, den 25. bis Sonntag, den 27., im Hilton East Hotel in Tucson statt. Es war eine Zusammenkunft der Astronomischen Liga, der Internationalen Dark Sky Association (IDA) und den Tucsoner Amateurastronomen (TAAA).
Als Europäer ist es schwer zu beschreiben, was ALCON tatsächlich ist, da es (zumindest meines Wissens) nichts Vergleichbares in Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz gibt. Im Grunde genommen ist es ein Treffen mit vielen interessanten Reden, kombiniert mit Ausstellungen von Händlern aus der ganzen USA und interessanten astronomischen Bildern. Im Gegensatz zu Deutschland gab es hier Unmengen an wertvollen "Door-Prizes" (Händler verschenken per Losentscheid Sachen), wie beispielsweise ein 60mm Ha-Sonnenteleskop und ein 8" Celestron mit Hyperstar. Am Ende des ersten Tages fand eine Starparty auf der TAAAs TIMPA Ranch statt.
Berücksichtigt man, dass TIMPA etwa eine Autostunde vom Hotel entfernt liegt, die nächsten Reden am nächsten Morgen um 8:30 angesetzt waren und die Mondphase 100% betrug (tatsächlich gab es später in der Nacht sogar noch eine partielle Mondfinsternis) war die Teilnehmerzahl von 29 Leuten (16 Mitglieder der TAAA und 13 von ALCON) mehr als ich erwartet hatte.
Gastredner waren Roger Angel (preisgekrönter Erfinder eines Verfahrens zum Herstellen von 8,4m Spiegeln) und David H. Levy (muß ich wirklich erklären, wer das ist?).
Es wäre zu viel zu beschreiben, was ich in diesen drei Tagen alles erlebt habe, daher fasse ich mich kurz und tausche nur meine persönlichen Erfahrungen dieser Veranstaltung:
Verglichen mit Deutschland und vielleicht der Zentraleuropäischen Kultur sind Amerikaner (und die Leute die in Amerika leben) grundsätzlich sehr offenherzige Menschen. Ich habe mehrere astronomische "Berühmtheiten" kennengelernt (Erich Karkoschka, Dean Koenig, David Levy, Glenn Sanner und George Keppel, um nur einige zu nennen) und sie waren alle - nunja - normal. Es entwickelten sich viele interessante Gespräche während der drei Tage und es war erstaunlich einfach, mit anderen ins Gespräch zu kommen. Viele (nicht nur während ALCON) haben mir die Hand gegeben und gesagt "Willkommen in Amerika". Verglichen damit habe ich in den letzten 3,5 Jahren in der Schweiz in kompletter Isolation gelebt.
Genau wie in Europa können professionelle Astronomen nicht ohne Amateure leben und das gleiche gilt umgekehrt. Dies wurde während der Veranstaltung deutlich gemacht und es wurde gezeigt, wie und in welchen Feldern Amateure nach wie vor zu aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen beitragen können.
Die IDA muss mit den gleichen traurigen Problemen kämpfen wie wir in Europa. Menschen denken, daß mehr Licht besser ist und man damit sicherer lebt. IDA macht eine herausragende Arbeit indem sie Beamte und Menschen davon überzeugt, daß das nicht wahr ist.
Tucson ist die astronomische Hauptstadt der Welt - daher war ich gespannt, den Ausführungen von Richard Green über das Large Binocular Telescope zu folgen. Mit diesem tollen Gerät konnte ein Strehlverhältnis von 85% erreicht werden - das lehrbuchmäßige Bild erhielt spontanen Applaus.
Lunt Telescopes (ein Hersteller von hochwertigen Sonnenteleskopen) stellte mehrere nette Teleskope aus, die schöne Details auf der nach wie vor nicht sehr aktiven Sonne zeigten. Es war spannend, die Anblicke mit verschiedenen Öffnungen von 60mm bis 152 mm zu vergleichen. Man darf raten, welcher Anblick am spektakulärsten war...
Um alles zusammenzufassen: ALCON 2010 war ein riesiger Erfolg und ich bin froh, dass ich teilgenommen habe.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Pictures from top to bottom:
1) The vendors salon
2) Setup at the Star Party on the TIMPA Ranch
3) Lunt´s Solar Telescopes ready to explore the Sun
4) Auditorium
5) Remeber that face. This guy is the most outstanding astro-dealer on Earth: Dean Koenig from Starizona. Satisfaction is guaranteed.
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Bilder von oben nach unten:
1) Ausstellungssaal
2) Aufbau auf der TIMPA Ranch zur Starparty
3) Lunt´s Sonnenteleskope bereit, die Sonne zu erforschen
4) Auditorium
5) Merken Sie sich dieses gesicht. Dieser Kerl ist der herausragendste Astrohändler der Erde: Dean Koenig von Starizona. Zufriedenheit ist garantiert.
Hi Christian! Sounds pretty much like ITV, BoHeTa and DST at once. Must have been great. With respect to the "celebreties" (I'm sure they don't like to be called like that): I had the same impression from my few e-mail contacts that I had the pleasure to have. Very down-to-earth, very nice guys. Read'ya, Frank
ReplyDeletefrom asterythms.net
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteyes, the comparison with ITV, BoHeTa and DST at once is perfect. Was great, indeed! Wish, we had such events in Germany as well. The AME might be the closest one.
I know some guys now that polish the 8.4m primaries. Boy, am I jealous! Wish,I had a primary with a diameter of the ho,e of such a giant...
Best,
Christian
It seems that Continental Europeans (we!) could learn a lot of the kindness and openness to "foreign" people or people from other parts of our own country, our own continent or the rest of the world from the US-Americans.
ReplyDeletehttp://schafwoelkchen.blogspot.com
I agree partially. But let me add, that I had positive experiences as well as negative ones.
ReplyDeleteThe positive ones are (and I know that from the AAG and from the VAA) that I do not feel as a foreigner (with respect to my origin and as being a new member) in the club or even in the US. From the very beginning I have been accepted and that was just overwhelming.
Another example: I was shopping in the Home Depot (comparable to OBI in Germany) two weeks ago. Usually, someone will help you if you look helpless. They will ask you, if you need help (you´ll find that in literally any store here). What was new to me is, that as soon as the employee found out that I just arrived in Tucson, he gave me his hand, saying "Welcome to America!".
Those are the positive aspects of (lets call it) social life.
But there are negative ones as well. I am still deeply disappointed and kind of sad, that some workmates (!), just working 3 or 4 doors beneath my own office, obviously don´t see any reason to greet or at least bow back at me when I greet them. Some just look at me, as if I´m a complete retard, bending brows. And I had contact to somebody (even visited him several times) who just doesn´t answer any of my mails now. Again, I do not know the reason. He got my mails (I know that from an independent source).
Well, if I had to make a decision between Switzerland and USA, then I´d probably chose the latter one, since the people in general are a lot more open and not quite as reserved as Swiss people. Also, I haven´t been victim of racism at all (compare that with Switzerland where I more than once got told, that Germans don´t have any business there and where you can read almost any week in the newspapers, that foreigners are the root of any evil).
In my opinion, there are a lot of parallels between US Americans and Germans. You find all sorts of personalities - maybe it depends on what you make out of it.