Clear skies greeted 36 visitors (including 19 children and 17 adults / leaders) from the 36th London Sparks, for Exploring the Stars at Western University’s Cronyn Observatory, Thursday, November 10th, 2016, 6:30 p.m. Graduate student Shannon Hicks presented the digital slide presentation “Constellations” and distributed 20 “Star Finder” plansipheres to the 19 children and one of the adults for them to assemble and use later.
RASC London Centre was represented by Everett Clark, Paul Kerans and Bob Duff, who arrived later, around 6:50 p.m. Everett directed the big 25.4cm refractor in the dome towards the 3-day-past-first-quarter gibbous Moon, which made a splendid view through the 28mm Meade Super Wide Angle eyepiece (157X). Shannon and Everett supervised as the visitors climbed the observing ladder to view the Moon through the 25.4cm refractor. Everett later redirected the 25.4cm refractor (157X) towards the bright star Vega for everybody to view.
On the roof patio outside the dome, Everett and, later, Bob showed visitors the Moon through the London Centre’s 25.4cm Dobsonian, using the 17mm Nagler eyepiece (66X). Paul Kerans set up his 9.25-inch (23.5cm) Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain (Vixen equatorial mount) and showed visitors the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), Mars and the planet Uranus (21mm Ethos eyepiece, 112X). The visitors were very appreciative, expressing their thanks for a very enjoyable evening of astronomy, and were gone by around 7:30 p.m.