--- title: "Man Sets Up Telescope in NYC, Attracts Huge Crowd Letting People Peer Into It" description: "An entire crowd of people lined up and even started holding up traffic earlier this week — to gaze at Saturn through a telescope." date: "2023-08-26" modified: "2023-08-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/man-telescope-nyc-crowd" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "new york city" - "saturn" - "telescope" - "the digest" --- # Man Sets Up Telescope in NYC, Attracts Huge Crowd Letting People Peer Into It ![An entire crowd of people lined up and even started holding up traffic earlier this week — to gaze at Saturn through a telescope.]() *\Image: Daphne Juliet Ellis\* ## As the World Saturns An crowd of people lined up — and even started holding up traffic earlier — this week to gaze at Saturn through a telescope in one of the most densely populated areas in the United States. Amateur astronomer Joe Delfausse, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has made it a habit to carry his telescope out into the streets on clear nights to allow anybody who walks by to have a peek. A [recent video](), which went viral on social media, shows a massive crowd of people lining up to have a look through Delfausse's telescope, in a wholesome and heartwarming illustration of our neverending wonder of what lies beyond our Blue Planet. https://twitter.com/the_transit_guy/status/1694508218393706730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1694508218393706730%7Ctwgr%5Ea1e941ded827c9c4b8705d081df473d5e22be4ea%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2023%2Faug%2F25%2Fnew-york-street-astronomer ## Zen Buddha And according to accounts of those who stopped by to have a look for themselves, it must've been quite the moment. "He was really this kind of Zen Buddha in the space, shepherding a bunch of hippie kids who just got out of a concert," Daphne Juliet Ellis, a local musician, who [took a video]() of the scene, [told *The Guardian*](). Her video was watched well over four million times on TikTok. "The cars just had to deal with it," she wrote in the caption. Delfausse has been hooked on astronomy ever since joining a 1995 meeting of the non-profit Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. "The main thing I do is bring out my telescope where I know there are going to be people, so I can show them the heavens," he told *The Guardian*. "You don’t need a college degree or anything to see Saturn and those rings," he added. "When people look through a telescope, they’re all the same." "I’m in my 80s, and you want to do something meaningful in your life," Delfausse said. "I can’t think of anything that’s more meaningful than this kind of stargazing with people." **More on Saturn:** *[Scientists Extremely Intrigued to Find Ingredients for Life on Enceladus]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()