China News Service, Jilin, August 21 (Reporter Shi Hongyu) Under the cloudy night sky, 29-year-old Qiu Haitao showed excellent eyesight: he quickly found the "fleeting" stars in the gaps in the clouds, and he could say name or constellation.
As the autumn wind gradually dissipated the clouds, the vast and boundless galaxy appeared in the field of vision of him and the tourists.
Qiu Haitao instructed everyone to use the astronomical telescope correctly. When Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon appeared in the lens, the people on the scene let out a sigh of admiration.
Tourists are staring at Yang Guanghui
"I believe that most people will fall in love with the stars, just like when we were children." Qiu Haitao is a farmer in Hengdaohezi Township, Huadian City, under the jurisdiction of Jilin City, Jilin Province. Last year, a new private observatory was built in Huadian. He took the opportunity to " "Transformation" to become a starry sky tour guide, providing tourists with stargazing guidance services and common knowledge of astronomy during slack farming.
Qiu Haitao said that his hometown has unique starry sky resources: light pollution is small, the air is pure, and due to the high terrain, there is often a feeling of "picking the stars" in winter.
In fact, the local stargazing craze is also helped by human factors: Jilin City is rich in "star culture", and the only public meteorite museum in China - Jilin City Museum has a collection of 1770 kg "Jilin No. 1" meteorite, and some come from the United States and Russia Thousands of meteorite specimens from other countries and regions.
Tourists experience space suit photo by Yang Guanghui
Qiu Haitao once introduced his hometown to his comrades when he was serving in the army: "Watching the stars after work is a kind of enjoyment." After retiring from the army in 2016, he returned to his hometown to farm.
At that time, Qiu Haitao found that the starry sky can still bring him endless happiness.
He introduced to the children in the village that the positions of the stars change in different seasons, and finding them is an interest.
During the slack farming season, Qiu Haitao would work part-time at a resort in the village.
He found that many donkey friends and self-driving tourists go to the resort to watch the stars.
Seeing business opportunities, the resort decided to invest in the construction of a planetarium and a star-gazing observatory.
Qiu Haitao enjoys learning.
He found professional books to read and searched on the Internet, and finally accurately grasped the positions and operating laws of celestial bodies, and became a star guide.
Photo by Yang Guanghui of the Observatory where Qiu Haitao is located
The rise of self-driving tours and camping has given Qiu Haitao a broad stage for his expertise.
Starting up, calibrating, finding stars, focusing, observing... the astronomical telescope became a new tool in his hands.
Qiu Haitao will also take tourists on a tour of the planetarium.
Stories such as "China Aerospace" and "The Sun and His Eight Friends" are his favorite materials.
"I have turned my interest in stargazing into a career, and I am willing to lead more people to know about our observatory and the stars in the lens." (End)