[Chaos-l] Statewide Star Party

Sat Apr 6 17:50:15 EDT 2013

We had 20 at Eno River State Park. Ranger Amy Duggins gave a presentation
in the park office at 8, then at 8:45ish folks headed over to the circular
parking area, where I had set up my scope.

While waiting, it was an amazing experience for me to be all alone watching
Jupiter and the stars come out. I can't think of when last I had that
solitary time with the stars. Well, the visitors were enjoying also. As
usual, I think the Orion nebula was most fun for folks to see in
binoculars. I had brought 15x70, and heard some very happy "WOW"s.

A few even got to see the Beehive and the 3 Ms in a row in Auriga. Fun
folks to chat with and a glorious evening.

Thanks to the organizers!!!

On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 1:40 PM, Tony Garcia <randomcoffee at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I was at the Ebenezer Jordan lake spot and was quite similar to everyone
> else, fantastic night.  At nearly the end of the evening we were also able
> to pull in Saturn as it rose in the east which was very exciting for many
> people. Jupiter, the Orion nebula, and the Pleiades were the other
> highlights.
>
> Jupiters moons put on a good show, the seeing seemed unsteady to me and
> seemed to get worse towards the end of the night - however my telescope was
> a bit out of collimation so I can't say for sure.    Interestingly --
> someone told me the "hazy" view of Saturn low on the horizon was the best
> for them as it gave them a perspective of the Earth, planets, etc., where
> very sharp, nice images do not.
>
> I am not good at counting crowd size but I think the planetarium crew that
> was there was taking a census - I would guess - 30 - 50 people?
>
> There were approximately 6 telescopes and I am always surprised at these
> events at how many people were looking through telescopes for the first
> time.
>
> There was a lot of interest in buying telescopes and I had several
> conversations about starter telescopes - and ipad astronomy software - I am
> recommending Sky Safari Pro which is what I am using now, and am very
> impressed with.  People are generally familiar with several ipad astronomy
> apps so it is more of a favorites discussion then anything.
>
> -tonyg
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 11:16 AM, Steve Andrews <theandrews at nc.rr.com>wrote:
>
>> Marbles Kids Museum worked out very well.  They were great hosts, and I’d
>> definitely go back there anytime.  Downtown Raleigh is a challenge for
>> finding unobstructed views, but we did it!  From about 4:30 until 6:45, I
>> had a steady flow of families wanting to look at the sun through a visible
>> light filter at about 50x.  I had printed a picture of what the sun looked
>> like that morning from Spaceweather. Com, and I think that simple visual
>> aid really helped folks understand what they were looking at.  ****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Mickey (Morehead Planetarium) arrived with her star maps and she did
>> great keeping people informed and entertained while they waited patiently
>> for their turn at the scope.  It didn’t hurt that there was a hot dog stand
>> next to us, and that was also a popular spot.  Museum staff had exhibits
>> for demonstrating light pollution nearby, so there was a variety of things
>> for visitors to look at, eat, and listen to.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Around 7:30, it was dark enough to begin observing Jupiter and its moons
>> at 100x.  There were still a lot of folks around, and I think  I heard even
>> more “Wows” than before.  A few parents wanted to know how to pick a first
>> scope for their kids, and I pointed them to some good resources for getting
>> started.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> All in all, we had a very good, and interested crowd.  I didn’t keep
>> track (too busy!), but there were dozens, perhaps a hundred or more, who
>> visited the museum’s astronomy exhibits and were able to take a peek
>> through my scope.  All before 8:30!  ****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Steve Andrews****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> *From:* chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org] *On
>> Behalf Of *Jayme Hanzak
>> *Sent:* Saturday, April 06, 2013 9:36 AM
>> *To:* CHAOS
>> *Subject:* [Chaos-l] Statewide Star Party****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> OK, so the first Statewide Star Party is in the record books. ****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> We had about 30-35 people show up at Little River Park in North
>> Durham/Orange. We had four telescopes and five CHAOS members. As usual it
>> was great fun.****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> How did everyone else do? Send a report and say who was there from CHAOS.
>> I know that  we had at least 13 members out in the field yesterday.
>> Probably closer to 20. That is amazing.****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> Great job Amy and Mickey! And a great job for all of the CHAOS and
>> RAC members who were out there sharing the Heavens with public.****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> Jayme****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Chaos-l mailing list
>> Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
>> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Chaos-l mailing list
> Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/chaos-l/attachments/20130406/94de12e6/attachment-0001.html>