|
Tonight a ceremony was held jointly celebrating the 25th year of the Minnesota Astronomical Society and Regional Park System. There were over 200 people present. A few people spoke about the early years of the Society and the mount was installed for a 16" scope that will be housed at the new Onan Observatory,
The weather didn't really cooperate but all was not lost. Through the clouds, the ten of us that brought telescopes were able to let everyone look at
the Moon and Jupiter.
There were a lot of children there so I setup my scope very low so they could see through the eyepiece without having to be held. There was a line of people 10 deep for each scope and everyone was asking questions. There were a few students from local school astronomy classes who were full of questions. I answered as many questions as I could and had a great time!
I won't be caught unprepared next time. I've decided to put together a quick star party kit. It will include maps and directions to the 3 observing
sites used by MAS, as well as business cards printed by MAS with the MAS hotline number. I'm also going to have to put together a cheat sheet with distances and other interesting facts
about the solar system. Everyone wanted to know how far away the Moon and Jupiter were.
I tried using the quickcam to get some images of the Moon but I didn't have time to get things right. That's no big deal though since the important
thing was to let people discover astronomy for themselves. Passion shared is always increased.
|
