A sidewalk telescope in Madrid offers a glimpse into the night sky’s unknown
by Erika Page
Apr 01, 2024
3 minutes
As the rest of the city heads out on a Friday evening, Alfredo Paniagua dons a lime-green vest, loads his 180-pound telescope into a van, and drives into the center of Madrid.
He sets up the telescope at the mouth of the busy Ópera metro station, a block from the Royal Palace. The sun still setting, he swivels the massive cylinder to an invisible point in the sky and fiddles with the focuser. And then he waits.
It doesn’t take long for curiosity to pique. Children tug on sleeves and point. Friends dressed for an
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