![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Popscope-sidewalk-astronomy-telescope-viewing-submitted-by-Popscope.jpg\")
Courtesy of #Popscope<\/p>\n Courtesy of #Popscope<\/p>\n
Imagine walking to the store for ice cream and running into a free opportunity to view Saturn\u2019s rings. That\u2019s what\u2019s happened for thousands of lucky pedestrians, thanks to #PopScope, the urban astronomy movement.<\/p>\n
Now in its 11th year, the volunteer-run group just hit a major milestone: Completing 500 pop-ups that have brought 26,000 people closer to the night sky.<\/p>\n
Founded in Ottawa, Ontario in 2014, #popscope (short for pop-up telescope) has expanded to include volunteers in cities across Canada and the U.S. and has hosted pop-ups in Ireland, Malawi, and India.<\/p>\n
From the beginning, their urban astronomy model has been simple and powerful: go to a public area, set up an entry-level telescope, point it at an object in the sky, and invite passersby to take a look.<\/p>\n
What happens next is magical.<\/p>\n
Jaws drop, eyes widen, and whispers are uttered when they encounter our awesome universe.<\/p>\n
After initial disbelief that a stranger could be offering something for free, the passerby\u2019s eyes light up when they peer through the eyepiece and see Jupiter\u2019s moons through a light-filled city sky coming into focus.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Founding-members-and-friends-at-start-of-the-Popscope-journey-in-Ottawa-Ontario-2014.jpg\")
Founding members and friends at start of the #Popscope journey in Ottawa, Ontario in 2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project has been a labor of love\u2014and deep friendships have formed among the group\u2019s volunteers,\u201d co-founder Michael O\u2019Shea told GNN. \u201cWe\u2019re motivated by the look of awe on a stranger\u2019s face when they see Saturn\u2019s rings for the first time, or hear cries of delight when someone views the Moon\u2019s bumpy craters in vivid detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
What may start as a conversation about the object in the telescope often turns to other topics, like the phases of the Moon, or how the neighborhood is changing, or maybe just the name of their dog.<\/p>\n
Often times guests and volunteers become new friends and offer to stay in touch.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we celebrate 500 pop-ups, we remember the many snippets of conversation from guests as we huddled around our telescopes. One person even said his uncle was on Apollo 12\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHere are some of our favorites that made us smile\u2014and think\u2014as we gazed up into the night sky together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am 55 years old and I\u2019ve never seen anything like this before. Thank you for coming!
\n\u201cSaturn rings! They look like an emoji! A Saturn emoji!
\n\u201cYou made my night\u2026Best thing that happened to me all day.
\n\u201cThe Moon\u2014It\u2019s like cheese!
\n\u201cI might be late for my train, but it was worth it to see the moon!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Black-kids-with-telescope-SQUARE-Courtesy-of-Popcscope-submitted.jpg\")
Courtesy of #Popscope<\/p>\n
CHECK OUT:\u00a0Man Finds Meteorite After Seeing Green Light in the Sky: It was Warm and Burnt and \u2018May Be From Halley\u2019s Comet\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Special donors have supplied funding and equipment over the years, including Celestron, the Awesome Foundation, and the Social Innovation Lab\u2014helping to provide science to communities that are often underserved by academics and institutions.<\/p>\n Chapters have been set up in Montreal, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Florida.<\/p>\n Who knows whether these encounters will inspire kids to start thinking about becoming astronauts. #Popscope just hopes the kids\u2014and adults\u2014keep looking up.<\/p>\n Visit the group\u2019s website, popscope.org<\/a>, for updates or to volunteer.<\/p>\n Check out the photos and videos from their 500 events<\/a> on Flicker\u2014and learn more about the goals and history of the club in this recent article<\/a>.<\/p>\n SPREAD THE IDEA to Science-Lovers, By Posting on Social Media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courtesy of #Popscope Imagine walking to the store for ice cream and running into a free opportunity to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[800,49,48,1050,3872,1111,2540,66,6299,22064,22063],"class_list":{"0":"post-27926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-free","13":"tag-fun","14":"tag-learning","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-stargazing","17":"tag-urban","18":"tag-volunteer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}