Ten HAA members braved threatening skies to bring astronomy to the people of Burlington last night. Despite heavily overcast skies and occasional light showers, close to 100 members of the public were on hand, some from as far away as Toronto after seeing the event posted on our website!
At first, we entertained the crowd with glimpses of ship & channel marker lights on the lake; distant park signs and whatever else we could find. Most of the visitors had very thoughtful questions about the equipment, astronomy and our club. John G. brought a meteorite and spent some time doing ?show and tell?. Steve G?s remote controlled UFO was a big hit with the kids! Heather displayed some fantastic images of Jupiter taken earlier in the week.
Miraculously, about 10:00 p.m., the clouds began to break up and we spotted the moon. Lineups formed at the 6 telescopes and 2 pairs of tripod-mounted giant binoculars we had set up. Two visitors had brought telescopes in the hope someone could show them how to use them. We helped and the telescopes were soon put to good use! The clouds continued to dissipate until Jupiter and other objects came into view. Natasha, an eight year old aspiring astronomer, spotted the only meteor of the night!
Matthew and Brenda were busy all night long offering views through their giant binoculars. Jackie set up her borrowed Starblaster reflector and I used Alex’s Astroscan telescope as examples of very kid-friendly telescopes. Steve G.?s giant 16? Lightbridge attracted a lot of attention as did the computerized GOTO telescopes of Heather, Jim and Ed.
What a fantastic event! It was the perfect way to put our new banner to good use. We?ll definitely be going back to Burlington!!
P.S. I’m hoping others will add to this post and attach any photos they have.
From John,
The magic that so often accompanies our observing sessions followed us to Burlington and as Ann so capably described, gave us and our many guests great views of the sky on a largely rainy night. I had the pleasure of meeting many interesting and interested people including a youngster half my height (and far less than half my age!) who very properly explained to me why Pluto is not considered a planet any more. I asked if he thought Pluto’s demotion was a good thing or whether he would like to see it considered a planet again. He said that the current status he had explained to me, was correct. I told him that I liked Pluto anyway. The enthusiasm of the youngsters was infectious. Here are a few pics:
