Mostly cloudy skies greeted 12 visitors (9 children and 3 adults, including one child who arrived later during the presentation) from the 20th London Scout Group to the Cronyn Observatory for Exploring the Stars, Tuesday, January 15th, 2013, 6:30 p.m. Graduate student Emily McCullough made her digital slide presentation, “Cubs and Scouts Astronomy Badge,” and this was followed by a tour of the dome. She also later made a presentation of the space simulation program, “Celestia.”
Upstairs in the dome Emily showed them the communications tower in south London through the Observatory’s 25.4cm refractor, using the 32mm Erfle eyepiece (137X). RASC London Centre member Bob Duff showed them the weathervane on the roof of the Engineering Building through the London Centre’s 25.4cm Dobsonian, using the 17mm Nagler eyepiece (66X).
Emily also distributed 13 “Star Finder” planispheres to the visitors and showed them how to assemble and use them. The evening ended with one of the adults taking pictures of the children on the observing ladder in front of the big 25.4cm refractor in the dome. Everybody was gone by around 8:30 p.m. after a very enjoyable and informative evening about astronomy, despite the clouds.
Bob Duff
Higher Education Liaison
RASC London Centre