The HAA celebrated Astronomy Day this year at Bayfront Park in Hamilton. We had excellent weather with crystal clear seeing during the day and minimal light clouds during the evening.

HAA setting up for evening portion of Astronomy Day at Bayfront Park

Half a dozen solar scopes were set up during the day and over a hundred people stopped by to see what we were doing and what we were looking at. As usual, many were surprised we could do astronomy during the day. We even had a few members of a wedding party that were doing their photos at the park, stop by for a gander. Most of the scopes consisted of white light filters, or Coronado PST’s. But Hans G brought his new (used) Coronado 90mm SolarMax II. It took a few of us some time to figure out how to focus it, but once we did, we really enjoyed some excellent views of the Sun in unprecedented detail. Eventually I brought out my DSLR and hooked it up to his scope to snap a few shots.

Image of Sun taken by Don P using Canon 40D prime focus through Hans G’s Coronado SolarMax II. Around the edges, prominences can be seen. Near the top of the Sun is a Sunspot and some filaments.

At night, things really got busy with hundreds coming out, some having travelled from as far as Niagara and Toronto. We had about 2 dozen members with a wide range of telescopes and binoculars on display for people to look through and compare views and of course, prices (the 2 most common questions are: What’s the magnification, and how much does this cost).

Looking down the line of scopes set up for the evening.

Gary showing off his DOB.

Like everyone else, I was constantly busy showing views of the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and some rather disappointing attempts at a few galaxies (lights and poor seeing). I met many nice people, including a young lady visiting from China and it was her first experience really seeing the sky. She was quite interested in some of the legends different societies had created for the constellations and stars over human history. With others, I talked about astro-photography, the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe, some of the recent space missions, some of the options I have bought or made for astronomy, and much more.

Mike, Chris and others getting ready for a busy night.

All-in-all, an excellent Astronomy Day where everyone had fun and went home with dreams of stars and a few Christmas list items. (Hey – less than 8 months to Christmas)
(All photos by Don Pullen)