National Astronomy Day: A Huge Success!!

April 28, 2001

 

by Patrick C. Carr, CASE President

 

CASE members decided to try their hand at their first National Astronomy Day event. Four members of CASE, Michael and Jon Peterson, David Cater and Patrick Carr set-up their telescopes at the Wal*Mart Super Center in Siloam Springs at 9:00 am to show visitors the active sun. By 3:30 pm, over 200 people stopped to look at the sun through three different types of mounted telescopes: a 12.5" Discovery Dob, an 8" Newtonion on a Schaeffer equatorial mounting and an 8" Celestron SCT mounted on a Vixen german equatorial mount. Some of the reactions of the viewers ranged from "wow" to "is that a picture in front of the telescope". Many people found it hard to believe that using the full aperture glass solar filters mounted on the front of the scopes made it safe to view our nearest star.

 

Since this year's National Astronomy Day coincided with NASA's Sun-Earth Connection, the solar viewing took on a new meaning. After showing the active sun and sunspots to several visitors, some had been told in the past that it was never safe to look at the sun, no matter who was offering to help them see it. These CASE members spent a lot of time dispelling the fallacies and myths associated with the sun and solar viewing. CASE took this time to educate visitors on the inner workings of our nearest star, and to explain solar prominences and phenomena, such as auroras and radio interference witnessed here on earth.

 

Other items of interest that were displayed by CASE included information on Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), the Chandra X-Ray Universe, and Solar Weather and the Active Sun. These were presented on display boards with photos attached that was designed to help the public better understand these astronomical areas. Astrophotography supplied by David Cater that had been set out on a display table included photos of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Pleades, M42, Comet Hyakutake, and a spectacular shot of the moon.

 

Another of the story boards displayed explained to people that "You Can't Buy A Star!!" Many visitors believed that they could name stars after children of loved ones. This story board helped to dispel the myth that stars can be purchased or named. Several visitors had admitted to purchasing a star name as a gift, and were disappointed to learn that this wasn't possible.

 

CASE distributed coloring sheets of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn to the children in attendance, along with a cut-out mobile of the solar system that could be put together, colored, and hung in a room using string or thread. Sky & Telescope Magazine even supplied CASE with a full-color pamphlet entitled, "Getting Started in Astronomy" that was distributed free to all in attendance. Over 40 applications for CASE membership were taken, along with 35 issues of the CASE newsletter, the Photon Gazette, to interested visitors.

 

After the solar viewing was over, CASE members reconvened four hours later to show visitors the wonders of the night sky. Visitors in attendance were shown the 5 day old moon, Jupiter, the globular cluster M13, the galaxies M81 and M82, the double star system Mizar and Alcor, the double cluster in Perseus, M42, the Great Orion Nebula, and the Owl Planetary Nebula. This was a great sampling of the universe for all to see, along with the individual instruction on the formation of each object and its significance in the night sky.

 

I feel confident that many of the people who spent the time to look through the assembled CASE members' telescope both during the day and in the evening, were treated to sights that they had never before had the opportunity to witness in person. After all was said and done, 235 new people had been "turned on" by the astronomical wonders in our universe, and a lot of teaching was done in areas that most people were not familiar with. A sunburn was a small price to pay to be able to make an impact on people in attendance. If even one person looks at the universe around them in a little different way, or one young person gets an interest in astronomy through our efforts, then it will have been well worth it!

 

 

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