Clear skies greeted 25 visitors (16 children and 9 adults) from the 92nd Brownies for Exploring the Stars at the Cronyn Observatory, Wednesday, April 11th, 6:30 p.m. Graduates student Robin Wing made his digital slide presentation, Brownie Badge Presentation.
RASC London Centre member Bob Duff directed the big 25.4cm refractor, with the 28mm Meade Super Wide Angle eyepiece (157X), so that it was tracking with its clock drive on the planet Venus, visible as a bright thick crescent in the eastern sky. Robin gave a brief introduction and invited everybody to observe Venus through the big telescope.
Bob also set up the London Centre’s 25.4cm Dobsonian on the roof patio and showed people Venus, using the 17mm Nagler eyepiece (67X) and briefly swapping in the 6mm Orthoscopic eyepiece (190.5X) before returning to the wide field 17mm Nagler for easier tracking. He then directed the Dobsonian towards Mars, using the 6mm Orthoscopic eyepiece for a pleasing high power view of the planet. The Brownies and adults were delighted with viewing both Venus and Mars through the telescopes.
While waiting for sufficient twilight to see Mars, Bob made a brief presentation to the group inside the dome and gave the Brownie Leader a copy of the book, Mary Lou’s New Telescope, to be read later at Brownie camp. He also gave her a RASC London centre brochure. Everybody was gone by 8:45 p.m. after a very enjoyable evening of astronomy.