Sky & Telescope - July 2022 - 84

LEAH TISCIONE / S&T
FOCAL POINT by Cristina A. Montes
From Street to Streaming
The Manila Street Astronomers' pandemic-induced switch to virtual has been a surprising success.
FOR MANY YEARS, the Manila Street
Astronomers (MSA), a local astronomyoutreach
organization I'm involved
with here in the Philippines, set up
telescopes in public places and invited
passersby to enjoy free viewings of
the Moon or one of the planets. We
witnessed joy and wonder in the people
who peeked through our telescopes, we
relished answering the crowds' many
questions, and we enjoyed the camaraderie
among us volunteers.
Sadly, COVID-19 halted all these
events. But the itch to share the beauty
of the heavens simply wouldn't go away.
In one of our online discussions, we
MSA volunteers thought of doing a
livestreamed broadcast of the June 2020
partial solar eclipse.
We formulated a plan - a Zoom
meeting that we'd stream to the MSA
Facebook page. Two volunteers would
give talks about eclipses and how to
view them safely. Four others would
project their view of the Sun through
their telescopes (equipped with solar
filters, of course) and, using video
cameras connected to their computers,
share the live images with the Zoom
meeting. Another volunteer and I would
act as anchorwomen and monitor the
Facebook page for viewer comments and
questions. Still other volunteers would
prepare publicity materials that they'd
circulate through social media.
Unfortunately, at the time of the
eclipse itself, clouds covered the sky
where our four telescopes stood. But
as the saying goes, the show must go
on. We pushed through with our plan,
airing lively conversation
about
eclipses for the
entire three hours
of the partial
solar eclipse, with
our telescope-wielding volunteers on
standby in case any gap appeared in the
clouds above them. To help our viewers
visualize the eclipse, we projected simulations
from astronomy software.
Fortunately, other telescope users
scattered throughout the country who
had cloud-free skies overhead shared
images with us of the partial solar
eclipse from their scopes, allowing us,
in turn, to display these pictures on our
livestream.
Judging from the questions and
comments we received during and after
the livestream, our plan succeeded. Our
viewers experienced the fascination for
the eclipse that we'd hoped to convey.
Since then, we've undertaken several
other similar livestreams that have
included live viewings, including one
we held on International Observe the
Moon Night. Our livestreams acquired
a name: Since we conduct most of these
events on Saturday evenings, we call
them AstroSabado ( " Sabado " being the
Tagalog word for Saturday).
Producing our AstroSabado episodes
takes work, but we value the outlet
it gives us to share our passion for
astronomy. I, for one, think that taking
our viewers' minds off the pandemic for
just one hour and reminding them that
beauty exists beyond this world and its
problems make it worth all the effort.
At the same time, we live for the day
when we will once again be able to set
up telescopes in public places and share
the views in person.
¢ CRISTINA MONTES is an attorney, law
professor, and writer in Manila, the Philippines.
She has been an avid amateur
astronomer since childhood.
84 JULY 2022 * SKY & TELESCOPE

Sky & Telescope - July 2022

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