A clear slightly hazy sky greeted 36 visitors (19 children and 17 adults) from the Jean Vanier Catholic School Grade-6 class to the Cronyn Observatory for Exploring the Stars, Thursday, October 25th, 7:00 p.m. Since the lecture room beneath the dome was not available, graduate students Emily McCullough and Allison Hill arranged chairs in the dome to accommodate the visitors for the digital slide presentation.
Emily immediately showed the visitors the 4-day-past-first quarter gibbous Moon through the London Centre’s 25.4cm Dobsonian, using 17mm Nagler eyepiece (66X). RASC London Centre members Bob Duff and Everett Clark assisted, with Bob showing them the Moon through the Observatory’s 8-inch (20.3cm) Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, using the 26mm Plossl (77X) eyepiece. This was followed by Emily’s digital slide presentation on, “Solar Systems,” shown on the west wall inside the dome.
There was more observing of the Moon and the star Altair through the big 25.4cm refractor, using the 32mm Erfle eyepiece (137X). Bob put the 18mm Radian eyepiece (111X) in the Schmidt-Cassegrain and showed the visitors an excellent wide field view of the Moon. He also showed them Albireo through the 25.4cm Dobsonian, using the 17mm Nagler eyepiece (66X). Everybody was gone by 9:00 p.m. after a very enjoyable and informative evening.
Bob Duff
Higher Education Liaison
RASC London Centre