--- In OAFs@y..., attilla.danko@s... wrote:
Given that some of us are addicted to hearing those "wow"s,
we should think about how we might do public astronomy this
summer in the absence of bright planets. I'm not sure that
Mars will be a good public astronomy target. It's awfully small
and has no cool features like visible moons or rings. The surface
features are very low contrast. Consider how exciting a view of
saturn would be without the rings.
Yeah, now I remember how long it too me to learn to "see" some of the
details on Mars. A red filter helps alot. Some people were just able
to notice Syrtis Major and the polar cap, last time round, but it
wasn't an easy target.
I suppose we could have lunar observing nights were we set up
four telescopes showing different high-power portions of the
moon. We could make that entertaining if we could find
four different sections of the moon that we could hold a
converstaion about for more than 30 seconds. I think I could
yak for 15 seconds on each of plato, tycho, mare tranquilatus,
Messier crater and the straight wall. But given that not all of
those will be visible on one night, I'd probably have to do a lot
more reading on the moon to make a moon-only observing session
interesting.
I've found that Polaris has repeatedly been a kik for people. I guess
that for them to see that the well know north star is actually a
double makes them pay attention.
The other thing we could do is seek out observing sites with
a mag 5.5 sky or better. There we could show clusters and
planetary nebulae. The problem is getting people to come to them.
Sidewalk astronomy is unique in that one can get passerby traffic
to look through scopes. That wont happen for darker sky sites.
Are there any places where it's both relatively dark, and there are
lots of people? Drive-ins? Campgrounds? Trailer Parks? Naturalist
meetings? What!?
Ingrid thinks we should be approaching scout camps. The
tend to have their own dark sky sites sometimes under very good
skies. Plus there are already people there. In my searches for dark-
sky lands, I came across at least one camp under what is very likely
to be better than mag 6.5. But I dont recall which denomination
they were. I myself was never a member of cubs, scouts, beavers,
guides, brownies, timbits or whatever. So I have no contacts with
of those orgs. Are any oafs leaders in such orgs or know leaders?
The only person I know is that one fellow who'd called me for the
Conroy Pit session that got clouded out. Maybe if we decide to go for
this, I could call him for some advice, as I have never "been a
timbit" either.
Another thing that might work is to try to get contact with
highschool science teachers -- especially if the scouting groups
feel like inviting highschool groups out to their camps.
Anyone got a particular school and a particular science teacher in
mind?
I have no idea how to do any of this. Organizing people is not one
of my skills. However, if one of you feel like setting setting
public astronomy seesion this summer, I'd be happy to bring a scope.
Any takers?
My first point of interest would be related to scout camps and
campgrounds. It seems like a natural enough fit, and usually would
come with potential dark site opportunities. Richard keeps
mentionning a place involving scouts up the road near Mike's place
somewhere. What's that all about? What would be involved in
contacting the right person(s) to see if something could be made to
happen? I don't even have the name of the place nor the scout group.
attilla "need more wows" danko
Eventually, once enough reports have been filed for sidewalk sessions,
I'd like to compile a collection of "favourite quotes", one from each
session. That should be enough to give you a temporary fix for your
"wows".
Woo Hoo!
Rol
