Joe Delfausse, a leader of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, promotes the joy of stargazing by setting up his telescope in public spaces and inviting passers-by to get a close-up look at the heavens.
BY COLIN MIXSON
You can see a lot further than Jersey from Wagner Park.
A group of hobbyist astronomers offered locals the chance to spy on distant worlds from the unlikely vantage point of Battery Park City’s Wagner Park last week, where they set up high-powered telescopes and invited passers-by to discover the beauty of the heavens.
“I’ve had people who look and say, ‘Oh my god, you’ve changed my life forever,’” said Joe Delfausse, 75, a longtime stargazer and member of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. “And when you see Saturn with its rings, that’s exactly how you feel. It’s incredible.”
Conditions in New York City are far from ideal for stargazing. In fact, the light pollution is about as bad as it gets. For most people, the bright lights of the big city aren’t so much a problem as an essential aspect of the city that never sleeps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make the challenge of viewing cosmic spectacles — distant beyond reckoning — any easier.
But beholding truly distant sights is not what the Amateur Astronomers Association is all about. These starry-eyed hobbyists are more concerned with sharing with the uninitiated the dazzling sights that populate our own celestial backyard.
“There’s two kind of philosophies to stargazing,” said Delfausse. “One is you bring your telescope out into the middle of nowhere where the sky is really dark and you get to see all types of neat clusters that you wouldn’t normally see. But there are a gazillion people in NYC that have never seen the planets through a telescope. Even if we just limit ourselves to the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars, we can do a lot of good by bringing our telescopes to the people. That’s what I’m all about.”
People strolling along the esplanade in Wagner Park on June 9 got a chance to get a close look at some heavenly bodies.
Wagner Park is a relatively new spot for the group, which regularly meets up on the High Line and at Lincoln Center to share the celestial view. This was only the second time they’ve set up shop in Battery Park City. But they found the view spectacular — as far as NYC goes — with a sweeping, unrestricted view to the west and fairly good sightlines to the east as well.
The only disappointment for them is that by sundown at around 8:30 p.m., the crowds clear out and Wagner Park becomes a veritable ghost town.
“It’s fantastic and there’s very few places in NY like that, but the problem is there aren’t too many people passing by,” said Delfausse. “We’re hoping that, when it gets warmer, there will be more people passing by.”
This view of the moon was snapped through one of the telescopes.
The stargazers rolled up with a whopping 10 telescopes for their inaugural visit to the Battery Park City green space on May 29. Their second visit was more subdued, with only four telescopes, each turned to a different celestial body, which is about what you can expect from here on out at any given Wagner Park stargazing foray, according to Delfausse.
The astronomers’ next visit to Battery Park City is scheduled for Thursday, June 16 at sundown. For information regarding possible schedule changes and other spots where you can catch Delfausse and his crew, head over to the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York website at aaa.org.
