Astronomy Day!

Today was National Astronomy Day, which takes place twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall, all over the United States.  The object is to have a means of interaction between the general public and various astronomy enthusiasts, groups and professionals.  For us it happens at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Centerport, where our club meets every week. Usually we have solar telescopes set up out doors during the day, and then observing at night.  But it was rainy all day so everything happened indoors in the planetarium.  The place was mobbed!  I set up a small telescope, and on a far wall, taped up an image of the planet Saturn.  I would point out to the young children, and the adults, where it was, a long way off, and then I had them look in the telescope to see how much closer it seemed. The line at the telescope was constant which was wonderful.  It is so rewarding to demonstrate to everyone what a telescope does, and to show them Saturn, even if it was just a photograph.  What was astounding was how many of the young children, after seeing the photo in the telescope said: "That's Saturn!"  And these were young children!  So this photo above was mine.

One of our club members is in High School and she was volunteering at the event today.  Her mom came along as well.  I have talked to her mom because she wants to buy a new camera to replace a Nikon digital camera that is almost 20 years old.  So I brought along my 4 year old Canon T7i which I thought would be a good choice for her, and gave it to her to use for the day so she could get a feel for the camera.  She got so many great photographs with the camera!  She is a natural! And lo and behold she got this shot of me with the telescope and a child and her mom, during a moment of levity!  I love this shot!  You know I never use last names in the blog, so I will just say: Photo Credit: Mei Shyan, which is her first name, which is two names.