Blog All Title

An estimated crowd of 200 showed up for our scheduled August 11 Perseid Meteor Watch at the Binbrook Conservation Area in spite of the overcast skies. Telescopes were set up in the hopes of glimpsing brighter stars through the cloud cover. (I was able to catch Vega and Altair long enough to offer views of these to the public and I'm sure other fellow HAA-ers did likewise with their telescopes.) Some families brought their own telescopes and we were able to offer them advice on setting these up. As the skies darkened, John Gauvreau entertained the crowd with an excellent presentation on the Perseids, meteors, meteorites and comets:

A little late in posting, but I finally got some photos from the evening processed so now I can do a full report.

Wed Aug 11 was our annual Public Perseid Meteor Shower Night at Binbrook. Thanks to our Publicity Director Mario Carr, and various people for the interviews they provided, we had a great turn out. More than 250 people mad the journey to Binbrook despite a sky full of clouds, in hopes for clearings that would reveal the much anticipated meteor shower.

HAA members started arriving by 7:30pm and already found several people waiting inside the park. The gate saw a steady flow of cars coming in with at least 2 or 3 per vehicle. By 9pm, the main parking area was full and people were starting to fill the overflow section.

While waiting for darkness and clearing, John Gauvreau provided several interesting presentations for the crowds including a participatory demonstration with some of the many children in attendance. He also enhanced the anticipation by showing a piece of meteorite.

We did get a small break in the clouds to provide a brief viewing of Venus, Arcturus, and the Summer Triangle. But sadly it didn't last nor spread enough to permit the sighting of any meteors. The crowds were excitedly patient, but eventually young children became antsy and bored, and when the realization that the skies weren't going to clear, people started to leave.

This ended up being one of our very best attended public events. We can only imagine what the turnout might have been if the skies were clear. Due to the location, every person who attended made the deliberate effort to be there - no "walk-by" traffic as we often get when holding events in town.

I'd like to thank the many HAA'rs who came out to help with traffic control, setting up scopes, and entertaining the interested public. While some of the public were disappointed by the lack of meteors, I didn't hear anyone complain which is a testament to how much they enjoyed the night, and the effort HAA members made to make people feel welcome and hold their interest. I'd also like to thank Binbrook Conservation Area and NPCA for allowing us to make the park available for this evening. And lastly I want to say thank you to everyone who came out to Binbrook. We hope you enjoyed yourselves and learned something while there. We're sorry the weather didn't cooperate, but next year the skies will be better (always the optimist). Remember that there are still a few nights remaining - just find a dark location and look up.

Two clear nights at Starfest at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Life for a Canadian amateur astronomer doesn't get any better than that. Well, except for Kevin Salwach. He won a telescope at his very first Starfest!! I'm thinking he may be back next year...

Last year's near miss by a tornado was almost repeated at this year's Starfest. The organizers had a trained Canwarn volunteer on hand and just as the Saturday night door prizes were to be given away, Malcolm Park (president of Starfest's host astronomy club, the NYAA, and the resident trained Canwarn volunteer) announced that a tornado warning had just been issued for the area. He asked the crowd for a decision on whether to go ahead with the evening's planned events or not. With a thunderous roar from the crowd and nearly unanimous show of hands, the night's activities carried on. (Nothing stands between amateur astronomers and a table full of amazing door prizes - not even Mother Nature!)

Door prizes at this year's Starfest ranged from gift certificates to a Meade 6" Lightswitch telescope. The only prize won by an HAA-er was a beautiful Maksutov-Newtonian telescope and that was the prize that Kevin won.

We met many of our old friends and made many new ones at this year's Starfest. There were a lot of new faces at Starfest this year. It's great to see such a big influx of newcomers to astronomy! The campground has put in a new, larger pool. (Much appreciated!) This summer's constant heat and humidity accompanied us to Starfest and made it uncomfortable (for me,anyway) to stay in the big tents for many of the talks. One of the campground's seasonal tenants made the mistake of putting their sprinkler out on their front garden and a few of us spent more than a few minutes standing under it with the pretense of admiring that garden. One of the park's more entrepreneurial residents operated a tractor ride/tour of the park that many of the younger kids were enjoying.

This year's list of speakers was as impressive as always with the highlight being David Levy. "Crazy" Bob Summerfield's 'Physics of Rainbows' talk was amazing, too.

Although my mount was giving me grief, I managed to get a couple of astrophotos:

All in all, it was a memorable and fun Starfest and I'm already looking forward to next year!!

There has been much talk about the most recent coronal mass ejection from the sun, and the possibility that it might spark some aurora borealis, even this far south.

Encouraged by even this slim possibility of northern lights, Jackie and I set off heading north, leaving the lights of the city to the south of us. Sadly, (although not unexpectedly) we encountered light cloud and heavy haze that spoiled our chances.

Being intrepid members of the HAA though, means never returning home empty handed, or without a great tale to tell and a smile on your face. So, although we didn't see the aurora borealis, we did, at least, see half...

After many postponements because of poor weather, we were finally able to run the members Sky This Season - Live from Binbrook. And it was just a narrow success too since thunderstorms had passed through the area just a few hours earlier and the skies had just barely cleared before we began. But whatever the earlier issues, we finally had a success. As they say, "the 5th or 6th time's the charm" - or is it "persistence pays off"??

19 members and guests showed up and our Observing Director, John Gauvreau conducted a 20 minute tour of the night sky, pointing out various constellations, finder stars and providing some historical context to why some things are named they way they are. Always entertaining and informative when John gets going and he didn't disappoint. Thanks John!

Outside of the tour, several members had scopes and binos set up for observing, and others were trying out new cameras. The seeing conditions weren't ideal (lots of persistent moisture in the air), but it was still an enjoyable evening of observing and camaraderie. Around 1am (just when Jupiter was high enough to become interesting - to be tackled on another night), we packed it in and headed off to a local Tim's for more laughter and socializing.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made the evening so much fun. Hopefully some others will chime in with their experiences and thoughts on the evening, or share some photos.