Overcast skies and misty rain greeted 34 visitors, including 25 children and 9 adults, from St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School grade-9 class to the Cronyn Observatory for Exploring the Stars, Wednesday, October 23rd, 7:00 p.m. Graduate student Tyler Desjardins made two digital slide presentations, the first one being “Mars” and the second one, “Seeing the Sky Through Different Eyes.”
Bringing the group upstairs, Tyler gave them a tour of the big 25.4cm refractor in the dome, which remained closed because of the rain. However, RASC London Centre member Everett Clark directed the London Centre’s 25.4cm Dobsonian (with the 17mm Nagler eyepiece, 66X) through the Observatory door and invited the students and adults to view the chimney on the Engineering building. He was joined around 8:15 p.m. by London Centre member Bob Duff who assisted and talked to some of the visitors.
Most everybody left around 8:35 p.m. with the teacher remaining behind for some discussion with Tyler. Bob gave her 10 “Moon Gazers’ Guide” cards left over from the International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN), September 22nd, which had been supplied by the London Centre and stored in the basement of the Cronyn. The Observatory was closed by 9:00 p.m.
Bob Duff
Higher Education Liaison
RASC London Centre