Despite early technical problems with the theatre projectors (which we’ll blame on Friday 13th) part one of the two evening series “Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Astronomy” went off marvellously. Held at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre, many families took advantage of the opportunity to get first hand knowledge about selecting equipment and finding resources available to today’s amateur astronomer.
While Gail Muller manned the welcome desk (and even signed up a new member – welcome to the Club, Bill!), Tim Philp, Glenn Muller, and Mike Spicer got the session rolling with three short but informative AV presentations.
Outside, many HAA member had set up a wide variety of equipment, for both solar and dark sky viewing, and with the parking lot lights extinguished the guests were able to compare scopes and learn about several of the brighter celestial showpieces.
Jan, a videographer from Cable 14, collected footage for a future airing. He said they got a lot of mileage out of the last segment about the Club, and will let us know when this segment will air – stay tuned!
I heard nothing but positive comments and enthusiastic conversation, all evening, and credit for that goes to Darla Campbell of the PCDC, and the many HAA members who volunteered their time to make the evening so enjoyable.
Thank you all!

UPDATE: Images by Tim Harpur:

We had Sun Worshippers

and those that preferred the dark

Don was the first to spot Venus (and the invading horde)