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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A Stargazer Who Exhorts the World to Gaze With Him

Submitted by fellow Adler telescope operator Linda...

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Come see the moon," John Dobson entreats passers-by on the streets of San Francisco as he encourages them to peer into his telescope in the opening frames of "A Sidewalk Astronomer." "Come see the moon!" With similarly passionate enthusiasm, this digital-video documentary, directed by Jeffrey Fox Jacobs, which begins a weeklong run today at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater in the East Village, invites viewers to pause for a moment and consider their place in the solar system, the galaxy and the universe.

Mr. Dobson is the inventor of the Dobsonian telescope mount, which revolutionized astronomy by making powerful and inexpensive telescopes available to amateur stargazers. At 89, he spends his days traveling from college lecture halls to astronomy clubs to a convention of telescope makers in Vermont, spreading his gospel of curiosity about the stars.

Mr. Dobson defines himself as a cosmologist rather than an astronomer, noting that he is interested not only in the stars but also in "the whole ball of wax." He is also a kind of spiritual teacher, having spent more than two decades as a monk in a Vedanta monastery of the Ramakrishna order in San Francisco before leaving to start the Sidewalk Astronomers, a worldwide group of hobbyists who build their own telescopes and congregate for "star parties."

Mr. Dobson has a gift for explaining scientific concepts in the form of wry one-liners. Noting that our bodies contain the dust of exploded stars, he points to a photograph of a nebula, saying, "If you give this cloud another 10 billion years, it will go to school and chew gum."

Mr. Dobson also holds some beliefs that are unconventional in the astronomy community. He rejects the Big Bang theory, for example, sneering: "You try to persuade some little kid that something came out of nothing. There's no way. He has to graduate from high school before he can possibly be stupid enough to think like that."

As Mr. Dobson philosophizes in voice-over, we see stunningly beautiful images of the planets, stars and galaxies he describes. Unfortunately, the film fails to make clear which of these images come directly from satellite or spacecraft photographs, and which have been enhanced by computer animation. But this quibble aside, "A Sidewalk Astronomer" is an inspiring film about an inspired teacher. It should leave all viewers with an ounce of curiosity eager to hit the streets with Dobsonian telescopes of their own.

A Sidewalk Astronomer

Opens today in Manhattan.

Produced and directed by Jeffrey Fox Jacobs; director of photography, Mr. Jacobs; edited by Jeanne Vitale; music by John Angier; released by Jacobs Entertainment Inc. At the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East Third Street, at Avenue A, East Village. Running time: 78 minutes. This film is not rated.

Here's the Trailer: telescopepictures.com/
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This is rather cool. In that someone thought it important enough to document John's efforts in amateur astronomy.

I hope it comes to Chicago...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A Sidewalk Astronomer: The Dobson story

Together with Chicago Astronomers Steve & his wife Margie, Rajasi, Linda & her husband Alfred, I saw the John Dobson film Saturday afternoon.

It's done in videotape, so I wouldn't refer to it a "film", but as a amateur production of a very short time of Dobson's activities. It starts out with Dobson doing what he has been doing for decades...providing the public with free views of the heavens. And like we all have experienced with public sessions, the reactions from the people run from idioticy to outright astonishment of viewing the Moon through a 10" "Dobsonian" telescope. And the scope he was using was rather beat up and the focuser had no focusing knobs, but rather a crude slide in/out technique, held together with tape. Looks like a Joe Magyver set-up... But it worked, and that's all that counts.

Dobson is portrayed as an eccentric, curmudgeon ed lover of the skies, intolerant of smart-asses and fools, and has his own theories of cosmology and refutes mainstream thinking such as the speed of light and the big bang. But, his theories do make sense and I must agree with his questioning. He is shown in various venues, sometimes by himself, at times in planetariums and in dining activities...talking about his experiences, opinions and regaling followers with jokes that sometimes fall short or some don't get. I chuckled a few times myself...

The production value is lacking, the editing was high school level and spends much too much time lovingly caressing NASA/Hubble imaging..often not relating to what's being discussed.

But I did enjoy the movie and learned about his start, his beliefs and his almost Dojo status. Any one who has had their scope out and sharing views with the public can strongly relate to his barking of " Come see the Sun spots!" and "Come...come see the Moon!" He also hands out his flyers like I hand out my business cards at the sessions... ;D

Here's a short snippet review of the film from another site:

"Yet he's also something of a crackpot, disbelieving in the Big Bang theory and preferring his own ideas; a sizable chunk of the movie shows him explaining them, but I never really managed to figure out what he's suggesting. His Buddhism is certainly an influence; he seems to suggest that matter is recycled (reincarnated?) and that all events and locations are actually the same. I wondered what most amateur astronomers thought of his notions -- do they just nod politely, or take them as words of the Great Man -- but the movie doesn't really show us what people think of him."--------------------

I would have liked more imagination in this video, perhaps through different observation sessions, see his equipment and maybe his very first mount. But it skims the surface and we really don't know Dobson too well, and maybe that's the way he wants it, as he is shows his opinionated side often and to anyone...who ever likes it or not.

I liked the piece and forever grateful for his contribution in amateur astronomy. Great that he is still out promoting his passion, and still going strong at 90 years of age. There's a special place in astronomer heaven for him I hope.