There are so many reasons, but I’ll keep this short and hope you provide your reasons.
In my mind the best reason is the potential for exposing people to a telescope who might not ever get such an opportunity. Who knows where that might lead?
Let me torture an old saying:
Give a man a view through a telescope fish, and you inspire feed him for a day. Teach a man to use a telescope fish, and you inspire feed him for a lifetime.
Here are my reasons:
- Giving people the confidence that comes with finding, on their own, an incredible view through a telescope.
- Family event - mom, dad and the kids can explore the night sky together without a big investment.
- Get kids to stop looking at their damn phones (or the TV or video games) and try looking at something real and incredible.
- A kid might be inspired to become an astronomer, or some other type of scientist. Better yet, inspired to be an amateur astronomer! Getting young people into astronomy is important, as I’m sure all amateur astronomers can see, most of us are not exactly in the prime of our lives.
- Giving an adult a new hobby to spend their free time. For me, stargazing is incredibly relaxing.
- Helping someone to decide if they want to buy a telescope. Learning what it entails before making the big purchase.
- Stargazing teaches patience. You know that all your plans for looking through a telescope can disappear as clouds roll in - despite the weather forecast for clear skies.
- Libraries engage more patrons leading to greater use of all the amazing library facilities and services. Since I started promoting Library Telescopes, I have been amazed by all the things that libraries do. Sure you can borrow books, but there are seemingly endless programs and services provided by the libraries I have dealt with. I honestly had no idea that libraries did so many things.
If you have more reasons, please pass them on to me.