Stargazing party at Hoe – 26th September 2010
This a spontaneous decision to take the telescope on the Hoe and show passing by people sunspots during the day and Moon, Jupiter, Uranus and deepsky objects at night. I packed the telescope and left the alien house (the place I live) at around 3pm when a friend of mine Robin arrived and helped me with the transport. Once we arrived at the Hoe, we set up all the equipment at a great location where many people were passing by. The interest was overwhelming. I showed sunspots to people of all ages, from toddlers to retired persons and also to people with various backgrounds, from doctors to homeless guys.
Once the Sun set, I pointed the telescope tat Jupiter and its moons and tried to provide some basic information about the planet as well as moons. Little bit later, when Moon went higher in the sky, I started showing craters to the people while letting them control the telescope and literally explore its surface simply by pressing few buttons on the telescope's joystick. We also had a look at Uranus but obviously all we saw was a pale green disk since Uranus is really far. Inspite of not ideal conditions (full Moon and street light) we had a look at some deepsky objects such as The Dumbbell Nebula, Wild Duck, Hercules and also Double Cluster.
This was an amazing event and great a combination of education and fun. I hope to repeat this every now and then and hopefully more people will become interested in the beauty of our observable universe.
Perseid Meteor Shower – 12th August 2010
This event was not very successful because the weather did not turn out to be good. We rented a car and headed towards Godolphin Hill since it was recommended by National Trust because of its 360 degrees view. It took some time to find the actual place, which was rather hard to find. Once we got there the view was really stunning and one could even see both the south and the north coast.
Since the weather was not good, there is only this group picture that was taken at the top of one of the hills around.
