Len Nelson, amateur astronomer and docent

In the early evening of Monday night, December 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer to each other than they have for almost 800 years. The rare confluence was observable for the rest of the week, using only the naked eye, but was much more exciting when viewed through a telescope.

Amateur astronomer Len Nelson, of Petaluma, has years of experience watching the skies both ways.

According to Nelson, one of the best places for stargazing is near Point Blue Conservation Science (3820 Cypress Dr #11), one end of which butts up against the walking path at Petaluma’s Schollenberger Park. Nelson’s fascination with telescopes and viewing the stars and planets began in 1954, when an ad in Popular Mechanics caught his eye.

“There were two telescopes for sale in the back of the magazine,” he recalls. “In the drawing, they looked identical, but one was $14.95 and the other one was $17.95. I earned my spending money with a paper route, and that three dollar difference was a lot of money, so I ordered the cheapest one. When it arrived, I quickly saw it was a poor instrument, and this taught me an important lesson.”

Later, in high school, Nelson took a class in astronomy, and even ground his own mirror to build an 8” reflector telescope. But then came a detour.

“I lost interest in looking up while studying anthropology at the University of Illinois and going to digs in Iowa, Illinois and Arizona,” he allows. After college, Nelson joined the Peace Corps, and spent two years teaching English and science in Tanzania. “Then I entered Officer Candidate School, became a second lieutenant in the Army, and volunteered for Vietnam as soon as I received my bars,” he continues. “After the Army, a job counselor told me that with my unique skill set, I would be a good fit for the insurance industry. I became an underwriter for large accounts, and in 1981 I moved to San Francisco to work with Fireman’s Fund.”

Anticipating the company’s eventual relocation to the Novato campus, he and his wife found a home in Petaluma, and he soon joined the Sonoma County Astronomical Society (SCAS), where he served as Vice President, membership and community activities director, and adviser to young astronomers, from the third to fifth grade. In the late ’70s, the club was absorbed into the educational outreach program at the Robert Ferguson Observatory (RFO), located in Sugarloaf State Park.

“I volunteer there as a docent, providing ‘star party’ presentations using telescopes to allow our visitors closeup views of the evening sky,” Nelson says. “Or I should say I used to do star parties. COVID restrictions have changed everything involving teaching, and the RFO observational evenings are on hiatus.”

Speaking of COVID, around two months ago, Nelson began to show minor symptoms of the illness (mainly a sore throat), and testing showed he had the disease, but was asymptomatic.

“The odd thing is, that I had destroyed my sense of smell years ago from using toxic glues and other chemicals in an enclosed space,” Nelson reports. “As a result, I didn’t notice the primary ‘loss-of-smell’ symptom. The caution, however, is that I was still contagious and transmitted the disease to a friend who drove with me to view the Perseid meteor shower. Four days later, she got pretty sick. Fortunately, she has recovered and is doing okay now.”

In addition to his ongoing passion for astronomy, Nelson has recently become an avid birder and documents animals with colorful, telephoto close-ups. He monitors Blue Herons and other nesting birds at Schollenberger Park, and many of his photos are displayed on the website for the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance.

As for stargazing, he never misses an opportunity to spread his appreciation for the night skies, and is always eager to pass along his knowledge to others.

“Astronomy,” says Nelson, playfully, “is looking up!”

(Gil Mansergh can be reached at 45gilmansergh@gmail.com)