Partly cloudy skies greeted 43 visitors (19 children and 24 adults) from the Girl Guides Camp, Special Event, at Western University’s Cronyn Observatory, Wednesday, August 15th, 2018, scheduled 8:30—10:30 p.m. The Guides, with their parents and leader, arrived early at 8:00 p.m. Graduate student Viraja Khatu had set up a table in the lecture room where the leader filled out registration forms for the Guides in the camp. They did a few readings from 8:00—8:30 p.m., all to prepare the Guides for the event—as explained to Viraja by the Guide leader.
Viraja began her presentation at 8:30 p.m. The title of the presentation was “The Scout / Guide Astronomy Badge,” with the title slide “The Basics,” and she modified it slightly to include a few slides towards the end on black holes. This was to fulfill the badge requirements for the Guides. She then divided the Guides into 2 groups with approximately half going upstairs into the dome and the other half accompanying Viraja downstairs for demonstrations in the “Black Room.” The 2 groups later changed places.
RASC London Centre was represented by Henry Leparskas, Paul Kerans and Heather MacIsaac. Upstairs in the dome, Henry gave 2 talks, one to each group, on the history of the Cronyn observatory and some technical aspects of the big 25.4cm refractor. He also explained the 2 clocks on the east wall and the difference between Standard and Sidereal Time. Henry showed the Guides the yellow and blue double star Albireo through the 25.4cm refractor, using the Meade 28mm Super Wide Angle eyepiece (157X), and then swapped in Heather’s 17mm Vixen Lanthanum LVW eyepiece (258X) to show them Mars. On the observation deck, Paul showed the Guides the double star Mizar and Alcor and Jupiter, Saturn and Mars through the London Centre’s home-built 30.5cm Dobsonian telescope (17mm Nagler eyepiece, 88X). Heather showed the Guides Mizar and Alcor and then Mars and Saturn though her Celestron NexStar 90SLT 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain (17mm Plossl eyepiece, 73.5X)
Downstairs in the “Black Room” Viraja explained the 3 photographs on the wall and gave 2 demonstrations—one to each group of Guides—of the “Transit Demonstration” activity, with the “Transit Demo” model—showing how the transit detection method worked for finding extra-solar planets, and the “Spectroscopy Demonstration,” with the visitors putting on diffraction grating glasses to view the spectra of 4 gas discharge lamps, including hydrogen, helium, neon and mercury.
Viraja also gave both groups brief tours of the historic“1940s Period Room,” a recreation of Dr. H. R. Kingston’s 1940 office, with his brass refractor and the Sotellunium—a mechanical eclipse demonstration model built by W. G. Colgrove—on display. Viraja answered a few questions about the “1940s Period Room” without explaining anything in particular and a few of the visitors signed the guest book.
Towards the end of the event, Henry, Paul, Heather and Viraja were handed Girl Guide Badges in appreciation for putting the event together for the group. Some of the Guides and their parents began leaving at 10:30 p.m. and everyone was gone by 10:50 p.m. Henry, Paul, Heather and Viraja closed down the observatory and left by 11:05 p.m., after a very enjoyable evening of astronomy.