Eric: Welcome to Backfocus, bringing astronomy together. I'm Eric.

Rowan: And I'm Rowan.

Eric: And thank you for joining me for my very first episode. Whether you're an experienced astrophotographer, a visual observer, a telescope maker, a member of an astronomy club, or someone who's just beginning to look up at the night sky, this podcast is for you.

Rowan: I cannot overstate the importance that this is a place of learning. Many of us here are brand new to just the idea of astrophotography. And I myself am still learning every day. And I hope that you'll join me with that process.

Eric: First off, I'd like to talk about what Backfocus is. This is a dream of mine that I've had for quite a while in getting involved in astronomy and astrophotography. I've been doing astronomy and astrophotography for just a little over a year. And when I first got started, I had a DSLR camera. That's all I had. And I went out and bought a nice lens, a Rokinon lens. And I went out and bought a Star Adventure two-eye tracking mount. And I was not happy with my experience. So I joined up with another group of astronomers near me with Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society. After this point, I slowly began to build up both my experience and my equipment to kind of get myself up to a higher level that I was happy with. 

Now, for some people, they're happy with a DSLR and they're happy with not having to process images. Some people are happy with just having a telescope to look at the night sky and see the stars and be able to say, I found that object. I looked up at the sky and that object I was looking for, I actually found it myself that literally puts goosebumps on my skin every single time it happens. And I now have an F4 six-inch telescope. I have a Rokinon entire set up for Nebulae photography. I have an eight-inch Dobsonian. I have several other pieces of equipment, including a 10-inch, 18-inch Newtonian coming as well. And my experience has shown me that being in astronomy is fun, but it's not nearly as fun as being in astronomy with other people.

Rowan: Now, unlike Eric, I did not have the freedom of just being able to buy everything I wanted right from the get-go. My first telescope actually was inherited from my uncle. When he passed away, he left me a decent telescope and a bunch of different sky maps. He had one for every month dating as far back as 2007. He had been doing this for most of his life. And to this point, you know, I've kept up with those star maps even now.

Eric: I can't tell you guys how much fun it was to be frustrated at Observatory Park in Montville, Ohio and not knowing what to do. And turning to the guides on my left and saying, hey, do you know how to work this stupid mount? I can't figure it out. And that guy is saying, yeah, I had that stupid mount before too. This is exactly what you have to do. And he showed me hand and foot what to do with this mount. And it was mind-blowing to me that people like that even existed. And that's something that I see in this hobby over and over and over again is not only are people interested about their hobby, not only are they interested about talking about their hobby, but they're interested in helping others learn about their hobby as well. 

And that is what this podcast is all about. The reason why back focus exists is because of something that happened recently where we have an annual event called the OTAA, which is supposed to be an event for all the clubs in Northeast Ohio. And only maybe two clubs came out to the event. And I remember seeing another YouTuber's video and saying, hey, he's the president of one of the other groups in our area. Let me talk to him and invite him to this event. He said he's never heard of it before. And that blew my mind because I know that I invited their group. I'm the secretary of CVAS now. And I know that I invited their group, but none of them showed up. And that's one of the things that I am frustrated about is that we have so many people who love this hobby, but they have no idea how to connect. 

They have no idea who all is around them, who loves this hobby too. So the mission and the goal and the purpose of back focus is to bring everyone together. And as a matter of fact, that back focus name comes from the aspect of focus when you have a camera and a telescope together. There comes a singular point where light comes to a single focus and that's where your camera needs to be at to get a clear and focused picture. If you're off by just a little bit, you'll get lost. You'll get distracted. You won't be able to take a clear image and you'll get frustrated. And the goal of this podcast is to help you guys find the groups near you, to let them talk about themselves, to let them advertise the events they have going on. 

Do you realize there's a star party near you happening almost every single day or at least every week? Within 30 miles of you probably is a star party where you can go and meet these individual people who want nothing more than to share their fun with you. Now with that said, I wanna talk to you guys about what the future episodes are gonna be like for back focus. I wanna talk specifically about astronomy clubs, observatories, telescope makers, astrophotographers, outreach volunteers, educators, beginners, experienced observers, astronomy events, public star parties, and all that kind of fun stuff. 

While space news is interesting, it's not the core of what astronomy is about. The core of what astronomy is about are the people behind the telescopes. They are the ones that matter. Their experience matters. And you're the one who's out there who's able to make their experience worth doing. I can't tell you the number of times I've almost given up and gone home without a picture. And somebody else said, hey Eric, hang on a second, let me give you a hand. We were able to get my gear set up and I was able to come out with a phenomenal photo. That happens all the time. And it's something I wanna see the rest of our groups do. Invite each other to your clubs, talk to them, help them through their problems, and you know what, we're gonna have a community. That's what this is all about. 

So I want to invite you. Are you part of an astronomy club? Do you run a public outreach for astronomy? Have you built your own telescope? Have you built your own observatory? Do you have access to a really cool one? Do you have a story that's worth sharing? I would love to have you on this show. I wanna talk to you. Thank you so much for listening to my very first episode of Backfocus. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, share it with your astronomy club, and help us build a stronger astronomy community. Until next time, keep looking up and stay focused.