 to connecting Hawaii business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting and I am your host for this program. Think Tech Hawaii is currently live streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com, as well as on Think Tech Hawaii's Facebook and YouTube channel. And for viewers out there who are watching us live, you may email us questions during the show at questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Today I am excited to introduce the owner of Star Gazers of Hawaii, which is our show title. So we have Nick Bradley, astronomer slash owner of Star Gazers of Hawaii. Nick, welcome to the show. Hi Kathleen, thanks for having me. Of course. So tell our viewers about yourself. Yeah, I'm born and raised in Honolulu and went to high school at Mid-Pac and University of Hawaii. My degree is in electrical engineering, but I've been, strongly has been a hobby of mine for about 25 years. It's really fun. And after college, I worked in construction for about 10 years as a project manager and estimator. And after a while, that kind of got tiring. So we decided to try and make the hobby into a business and it's been about three years now and we're just having so much fun. I love that. So you mentioned that it did start out as a hobby. How did that hobby even come about? Like what picked your interest when it comes to astronomy and the study of constellations and stars and planets and everything outside of, you know, our little world or Earth, I guess. Yeah, I just started as curiosity. And I want to know what's out there. Started with a little book on constellations, just go outside, match up the stars to the constellations. I had a little pair of binoculars, look up, look around the sky, seeing what these little dots in the sky are and I just had to find out more. So I finally went to the Bishop Museum Planetarium, found out there's a local astronomy club called the Hawaiian Astronomical Society. Went to one of their public events out at Dillingham Airfield where everybody brings out their big telescopes. You look through it, you see amazing things and from then I've just been hooked. It's like, what's out there? I want to see galaxies, I want to see comets, anything crazy, I'm up for it. That's amazing. And you started out as a big, that entire roster of experiences that you just mentioned, that started at a young age, is that correct? Yeah, about middle school and that's when I just started to get interested in science. Luckily, I had a very fun teacher in middle school, really pushed science and I just got hooked and it was just so fascinating to me and it's just been still learning about it and it's just been fun since then. Okay, so let's talk about Star Gazers of Hawaii then, which is your business. So let's pull up the logo. Nick, tell us about Star Gazers of Hawaii. How did you even come up with a name? Kind of obvious, but walk us through the process. Yes, yeah. It's kind of off on a whim and I was kind of thinking when I was working in construction, I've had some other friends and coworkers tell me, it's like, man, you should do this as a business and I was quite hesitant until we had an event at Royal Hawaiian Center for the Blood Moon and my friend who hired me, he needed a second telescope to help out with the events. Unfortunately, he got sick, so I had to go to his place, grab his telescope, find somebody to help me and our picture of the Blood Moon got featured on the news and it was so fun that I registered my own business and haven't looked back. So what we love to do is, of course, share the universe with our guests. We do public and private Star Gazing shows with our large telescopes. We have two so far, one seven-foot telescope and another eight-foot telescope and we just look at amazing things in the sky, the moon, the planets, star clusters, galaxies, nebulas and we just tell a lot of stories, answer a lot of questions. You find that so many people are interested in space, it's so exciting to hear people tell me their stories back and we just have fun sharing the night sky with everyone. I love that. Let's pull up that photo of the Blood Moon which you mentioned earlier before the show was in November. So to recap, I know this was all over the news, what is a Blood Moon and how did you capture that photo? Yeah, so the last Blood Moon, this is also known as a lunar eclipse. So the last one was in November and the moon turns red because as the moon goes into Earth's shadow, it starts to get dark and what's happening is the lights, the sunlight goes through Earth's atmosphere and gets projected onto the moon. So they say if you're on the moon looking back at the Earth, you're gonna see a red ring around the Earth. That's all the sunrises and all the sunsets happening on Earth at the same time. So Kathleen, when you go to the moon, you let me know how that looks. I feel like between the both of us, you maybe have a better chance as far as going to the moon goes. You did mention rings though. So let's pull up that fifth photo of Saturn. Was that taken? Well, how was that photo taken? Yeah, so similar like the Blood Moon, it was taken just putting the phone next to the eyepiece of the telescope. Saturn was a little different. This is the best picture I've ever taken and Saturn is the most amazing thing to see in the night sky through a telescope hands down. I've had customers cry from the first time looking at Saturn. It never gets old and this picture in particular, I took before I started a business and it took me about half an hour just to get this one decent photo. I haven't had a better picture since but it was zoomed in at 400 magnification and I took about two dozen photos, only one came out and I'm very happy that I came out. I think that that is so awesome. Like I don't have a photo of Saturn so it's great that you are able to show that to myself and whoever else is watching the show. Let's pull up the first photo. This was at Yokohama Bay. What's going on there? It's very pretty, but there seems to be a lot of, there's a lot going on, right? First class is pretty sky but tell us more about what we're looking at. Yeah, this is kind of a signature photo of mine. This is the Milky Way. The sky doesn't look blue. It's kind of Photoshop for artistic reasons but that's me in the foreground with our giant telescope. I had a friend photographer that wanted to do a photo shoot with the Jeep and the silhouette of the Jeep with the Milky Way and we were out at Yokohama Bay a couple of years ago. Sky cleared up for us and that picture just came amazing. So we actually had to stand there for 30 seconds as the camera took the exposure but man, it's, I just love that one. It just, it looks so nice. Can you see that type of sky from anywhere on Oahu or do you have to be in specific spots to be able to capture that amazing of an image? Yeah, so name of the game, if you want a lot of stars is to get out of the city away from the lights. Waikiki of course has a lot of light pollution. So we went to Yokohama Bay. I've also been to North Shore, Kahuku and each place, there's no one best place just get out of the city. So it's dark but also make sure you're safe too. You don't wanna go to any unsafe places by yourself. Make sure you have somebody with you and it's gonna be dark. So make sure you actually have some light so you're safe. But this is what you see in the summer. So the Milky Way is visible in the summertime. The thickest part of it because we're looking into the center of the galaxy. The winter section of the Milky Way is a dimmer section just because we're looking out of the galaxy. So we see less stars. But if you wanna see the full brunt of the Milky Way in the summer, it's a great date night idea. It's great that you brought that up because I remember you had mentioned that when we were talking before the show, like a week or two ago. Are there certain seasons that are best to see certain things in the sky? Yes, so each season actually has its own highlights. Summer, of course, you get the bright Milky Way. Winter, you see a lot of bright stars like Orion. Serious, the brightest star in the sky. A lot of star clusters. And the spring and fall, you actually see a lot of galaxies. And coming up in the spring, you see hundreds and hundreds of galaxies. But for that, you need to really get out into the dark sky. The other things to look out for are the planets. The planets have their own motion. They're not the same timing every single year. Stars are fixed, so they don't change throughout the year. But the planets move from not really season to season, but depending on their orbit. So this morning, if you look in the morning about 5 a.m., you're gonna see Venus, Saturn and Mars all in the morning sky. And if you watch it day by day, the planets actually shift against the background stars and move away from each other. And Saturn comes back in the early evening sky, starting from September through December is the next great window for that. So look out for that. We're hoping to have events looking at Saturn for the public. That is good to know. So to recap, you're back to basics refresher. Planets move, stars don't. Did I get that right? Correct because the constellations are out all year. Yes, so the planets means wanderer in Greek. So they wander throughout the sky. So that's exactly what they do. And also one thing I forgot to mention is the moon. The moon also moves around. So of course we all know one month is one moon phase cycle. They actually used to call one month, one moon just because it revolves our 30 day month revolves around a 29 and a half day moon phase cycle. So that's why we only have one full moon. If you have per month, if you see two full moons in a month, we call it once in a blue moon. Okay, so go back to that Nick. So the description of a blue moon is a full moon that happens the second time in a month? Yes, so usually it happens on months with 31 days. I believe the last one was in Halloween. So they had a full moon on October 1st and another full moon on the 31st. And so that second one is called the blue moon. There's another definition. You can also have four full moons in one three month period. And that's another definition for a blue moon. So you might see that in articles as well. So it has nothing to do with the color. Kind of like how blood moon has that reddish hue. Blue moon is just... Yeah, just the name. Just kind of a name that fits and it's poetic. So it's stuck. Got it. And when it comes to weather, are people still able to see clearly in the night sky even when it rains? Of course not, obviously. So weather is the most difficult thing for us to predict and to kind of work around. So we try to avoid areas like Kaniwa and Kalua just because it has heavy cloud cover and it's unpredictable. But if anybody is in those areas, we'll still try. But you just gotta be aware that you may have to cancel just because of weather. Other parts of the island have less clouds like leeward side. So it's always usually a good place to observe. So yeah, we always check the weather forecasts, make sure where we have good weather for our events. Okay, well, Nick, we are going to go on a break, but when we return, we'll delve into more questions on the business side and how you are making a business and then thriving in it when it comes to stargazing. So we'll be right back to connecting Hawaii business on Think Tech Hawaii. Our guest for today is Nick Bradley, astronomer owner of Stargazers of Hawaii. Nick, I mentioned that I did have a favorite photo from the ones that you sent over. So if we could pull up that T-Rex one. I really just like it. So tell us about that. Like what is the, tell us the context of this photo. Yeah, I had a family event with just before Halloween and they wanted a photo in their Halloween costumes. So they put on their T-Rex photo and of course we gotta aim it at the moon to make it a little more fun. And yeah, that's basically, we actually had one more costume, someone had a bear costume on the side that we didn't make it into this one. But yeah, that was a fun one. Darn it, that's okay. We'll find that bear photo somewhere. And then you did mention that you hold private and public events. What is, or what have you discovered is the typical demographic for your business? Yeah, it kind of runs the gamut. We have locals, we have tourists, all ages. This is a universal thing that we do. Looking up in the sky, everyone does it. Everyone's curious, what's up there? I get so many questions. Hey, what's the star in the sky? Where's the moon? And so it's for anybody and it's so ingrained in us that we all know what the stars are. And everything like us. And I'm sorry, what was your other question? We'll get there. Actually, let's do it right now. What are some challenges that you have encountered so far in running a business that involves stargazing, that involves a particular time of the day, which is nighttime? And second part to that is how did or has COVID-19 affected your business? Yeah, so basically we do, we only can work at night, of course, so our best shows are women right after sunset. And since people don't stay up too late, we only have about two or three hour window to do our events. And the hardest part is just getting the word out that we do this service. A lot of people think Oahu has a lot of light pollution and you can't do any stargazing shows, have a lot of stargazing shows on the Maui and the Big Island, the other islands. But if you know what you're doing, Oahu is also a great place. You don't need a super dark sky to see just the moon and the planets. You can see the moon and the planets in the middle of New York City, if you know where to look. And so basically I've never ever had a business until this, so my challenges were, just how do I run the business? What do I do? How do I get my name out without spending a lot of money? So I did a lot of networking and did some events just before the pandemic. Had some, or at some malls gaining some momentum, and then the world changed. And we kind of just had to sit tight and basically just keep the business alive and survive. And while I'm still trying to network, I plant a lot of seeds with a lot of hotels, venues, and just to get our name out. And since everything's starting to open up, now everybody's ready to do things, everybody's ready to get outside and we're starting to get very busy. I love that. I'm looking forward to going to one of your events. So I'll ask that after I ask this question. What are some interesting experiences that you've encountered during your events, public and private? Yeah, I would say one of the most memorable things that happened during one of our private events is we had somebody propose to their girlfriend and the person approached me about it and so we had some code words to time it right when she was looking through the telescope. The guy knelt down while she was looking. I had a camera ready and with the flashlight on and when she turned around, he proposed right when the sky was clear and full of stars. So that's been one of my most memorable experiences with the public. Great timing and coordination between you and your client. That's awesome. I had another question. Okay, got it. Completely forgot about it because I was mesmerized by your story because I was thinking about the logistics that came with it. Walk us through the process of your events and especially with COVID-19 precautions even though we've kind of been a bit more lenient when it comes to certain mandates. How does that affect your business? Yeah, so we're always about safety. I come from a construction background so safety is heavy on me too. So during the pandemic, we made sure everything's wiped down, sanitizer, masks, everything. As soon as the vaccine came out, I got it. And basically just because I deal with a lot of people and some of our bigger events, it can have about 200 people come out when we do the big free public events at some of the malls. Private shows, we can be a little more careful, keep it to a small group, no more than 10 or 20 or whatever the current guidelines allow. And so safety was our number one point then. So what can one expect when they go to the event? Like let's say you have something over as you mentioned at Royal Hawaiian or international marketplace. How would I go about partaking in the wonders of the telescopes? Yeah, so for our Royal Hawaiian events, we're gonna be there at once a month, looking at the moon until the planets come back in the fall. So Saturn comes back in the fall again and we'll switch from looking at the moon at Saturn. And those are free open to the public. Currently we're on the fourth floor of building A and you just show up. Usually we have a long line and you stand in line as everybody goes through looking at the telescope. And if we have the moon, we're looking at the moon, bring your phone because we'll take a photo with your phone of the moon, basically somebody after they look through the telescope, they hand me their phone and I'll take a picture of the moon for them, something to take home. Some of our more private events like international marketplace, we have tickets on sale where at the international marketplace twice a week, the second and fourth Wednesday for the rest of the year and those are more toward the private type of events as we only allow about 20 people and we do a full tour of the skies work, give you a guided tour of the stars and the constellations, tell more stories and with the telescope we'll look at many objects besides just the moon. So we'll also look at star clusters, galaxies and guess.com can also ask me more questions and we'll get into more detail compared to our larger groups that we only can ask me one or two questions and we have to move on to the next person. All right, Nick, did we cover all the upcoming events or were there more that I would like to get a couple more? There's a couple of more blood moons happening this month, May 15th in Hawaii, it's already gonna be more than halfway through the event but as it rises on the east side of the island it's gonna be still be red and covered. The big one I'm looking forward to is in November where the moon is gonna be red for an hour and a half but you have to be able to stay up late. We're talking midnight to two a.m. A couple, if a lot of people like meteor showers, two best meteor showers each year, August 11th for the Perseids and December 13th for the Gemini's and those are known for fireballs that have about 100 meteors per hour. Basically you don't need a telescope, just look up and there it is. That's a picture from the Gemini meteor shower a couple of years ago, pitch black in Kailua, Kahuku, saw 200 meteors from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and I was able to catch one with a camera. That sounds so epic and I hope to catch some of those at some point during the year. What are some lessons learned that you can share with our viewers when it comes to running your business? Yeah, just be, gotta love what you do and that's what I've kind of found out. It's been a roller coaster for sure during the pandemic. Things open up, shut down, open up, shut down and it's quite frustrating. So we just kind of have to reset and one thing I love about the look at me in the universe, it really puts things in perspective and you just kind of reset and you know what, eventually this is gonna be passed but work hard and if you love what you do, if you believe in your product, it's gonna work out eventually. Thanks, Nick. Is there anything else that you would like to add? Yeah, we have some great upcoming events. So we'll be at the International Marketplace every second and fourth Wednesday for about the year. Our next event at the Royal Hawaiian Center is this coming Monday looking at the moon and we'll also be a couple who shopping center on the 15th and I've heard they're gonna bring out an Easter Bunny at the same time too. That's awesome. And we've already pulled it up. That was your website. So how can people contact you? Yeah, they can contact me either way through the website. I can call me, Instagram, all goes to my phone. We'll set up an event, talk about it depending on what you wanna do, big groups, small groups, birthday parties, boy scouts, girl scouts, anything under the night sky we can make an event under and contact me, we'll talk about it and we'll make sure it's a fun night for your group. Thank you, Nick. And the one thing that you had mentioned to me because I had proposed it to you before was can we get a telescope on a boat? And you said, well, not the best idea. I wish I could, but unfortunately the boat rocks. Thank you for being on the show today. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. If people need or would like more info they can visit stargazers.hawaii.com. Thank you again, Nick, for coming on the show and thank you to Jay Fidel and the entire staff at Think Tech Hawaii for making programs like this possible. We had Michael and Haley who helped us out today on the show. So until next time, aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.