Team Celestron Gets WIRED at Comic Con

Team Celestron mingled with stars of a different sort this past July, as we found ourselves at the Omni Hotel’s Palm Terrace for Wired Magazine’s WIRED Café.  Located directly across the street from the convention center for the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, this invite-only event drew a sizeable crowd of celebrities, VIP guests, media and press, who could find refuge and take a break from the sheer chaos at one of the largest and most well-known pop culture gatherings in the world!  WIRED Café featured a festive party-like, music filled atmosphere which enabled guests to mingle, grab a quick bite, sip cocktails from the “Game of Thrones” bar, take photos on a Viking ship, have their hair braided and receive Henna tattoos while checking out the latest gadgets from a select group of manufacturers present, including Celestron! 

Assistant Marketing Manager, Lauren Stracner, captivated guests and the media by demonstrating Celestron’s latest digital microscopes, including the Deluxe Handheld and Handheld Digital Pro models.  Who knew some celebrities were coin collectors and enjoyed checking out bugs up close?  Meanwhile, out on the poolside deck, Marketing Coordinator, Kevin Kawai, conducted solar and planetary observing with a myriad of telescopes and binoculars.  During period of inclement weather, the scopes were aimed towards the convention center where guests could marvel over the colorful parade of countless throngs of fans dressed up like their favorite anime, fantasy, horror, superhero, or even their own ingenious character creations!

While it was certainly fun to hang out and see celebrities at WIRED Café including actress Alexis Knapp, actor Hugh Jackman, guitarist Slash and even a President Obama Impersonator to name a few, it was a surprising thrill to bump into Bad Astronomer and blogger, Dr. Phil Plait, and discuss a few public misconceptions about space sciences while observing the Sun through our solar-equipped telescopes.  At WIRED Café, there was certainly no shortage of star power–both in the sky and here on good ol’ Earth.

-Kevin Kawai
Marketing Coordinator