Telescope sales and stargazers are both looking up these days

Marianne Denton was looking forward to seeing the rock band Tool in concert this summer with her husband and adult son. But then the pandemic hit, and the show was canceled. 

So Ms. Denton turned her attention to a different stage: the night sky. With the concert tickets refund, Ms. Denton bought her first telescope so that she could explore the cosmos from her backyard in Reno, Nevada. 

“It gives me a chance to explore when I can’t go anywhere,” Ms. Denton says.

Ms. Denton isn’t alone. Telescope retailers typically see an uptick during celestial events like eclipses or comets. Indeed, a rare event next week, when Jupiter and Saturn align in what some are calling a

Finding connection from afarA cosmic boom No telescope needed