Day 2 at NEAF brought a lighter crowd, more speakers and more new and existing customers.
Today I had the good fortune of speaking to many media people - Charlie from Amateur Astronomy, both Parkersons from Astronomy Technology Today and Tom Trusock from CloudyNights. I enjoyed discussing the show and their particular corner of the astronomy world. All of these gentlemen bring something special to astronomy. If you haven't checked out their part of the world, do so!
A real highlight of the day came when I met Roger Sinnott of Sky & Telescope. I tried to catch him several times at the S&T booth, but always missed him. The word got out and by mid afternoon he came and found me. Roger helped with Deep-Sky Planner questions as far back as 1993. I've always enjoyed our correspondence but had never had the opportunity to meet him in person. We share an interest in the mathematical side of astronomy and of course his stellar cartography skills are well known. He is a gentleman indeed.
Other editors from Sky & Telescope visited as well, including Rick Fienberg. My business dealings with Rick go back to about 1995 - longer than it seems possible. As with Roger, Rick is a gentleman who has played a vital role in astronomy. It was a pleasure talking with him.
The show was a huge success - both from a business standpoint and from a consumer standpoint. I have befriended vendors in neighboring booths, learned about a bunch of wonderful new products (I have my eye on the new SolaREDi telescope from Daystar), and discussed potential uses for Deep-Sky Planner that sound very useful. This has been a long weekend but a very rewarding one. Now to get back into the office and work on these good ideas...
Bill Burgess of Burgess Optical was in the neighboring booth. He might have been the most animated vendor in the building! He and Tammy were lovely folks from Tennessee so surely our paths will cross again soon.
Photos by Mark Lang
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