Clear skies greeted some 80 visitors, including grade-6 children with their parents and siblings and teacher, for a star night at Byron Northview Public School, Wednesday, May 1st, 2013. RASC London Centre Past President Dave McCarter began his twilight outdoor digital slide presentation “The Telescope: Instrument of Discovery” around 8:00 p.m.
Other RASC London Centre members included Everett Clark, with his 11.4cm Newtonian reflector; Harold Tutt with his 80mm Stellarvue refractor and Vixen alt-azimuth mount; and Bob Duff with his 20.3cm Dobsonian. Dave brought his 25.4cm Dobsonian. Harold also brought his Celestron 15 X 70mm binoculars mounted on a camera tripod.
The teacher set up a 20.3cm Dobsonian and several visitors also brought small telescopes, including an 11.4cm Dobsonian. There were 2 small refractors, 60mm and 70mm respectively, including the one brought by the teacher.
Jupiter and Saturn were the showpiece objects of the evening, with the Cassini Division in Saturn’s rings visible in the larger telescopes. Bob also showed a few visitors the stars Mizar and Alcor and Arcturus. Most everybody were gone by shortly after 10:00 p.m. and RASC London Centre members departed around 10:30 p.m. after a very enjoyable evening of astronomy.
Bob Duff
Higher Education Liaison
RASC London Centre