A lot of you have been asking about having star parties organised by the club. Like most of you, I have also been looking forward to this but the COVID-19 situation is something that we will have to keep in mind.
This is what I feel about this. Please feel free to pitch in with your thoughts.
- COVID-19 can spread through eyes. Even if we are masked up and keep sanitising our hands throughout the star party, there’s a very good chance of catching it if the equipment is shared(since people will look through the same eyepiece). This will lead to us organising a star party for only people with equipments and not recommend sharing gear. However, realistically speaking, this is not practical. The whole point of star parties is to learn from each other, compare different gear so that beginners can decide what they want and allow people to look at the heavens through different setups. If that is not done, quite frankly, a star party has very little meaning.
- Vaccines have been opened up for those above 18 from the 1st of May. It has also been open for those with age 45 and above for some time now. When we organise a star party in June/July, I expect the participants to have been vaccinated so that all of us can feel safe while we meet in a physical space with shared gear.
- We will resume our monthly meetings again. The last time we had it, there were only 3 people(including me). Hopefully, more will turn up this time
Please take care of yourselves, mask up and hopefully we will soon overcome this together.
