|
|
After
a one year hiatus, Astronomy Day returned on April 22, 2006. The
KAS held its event in conjunction with
the Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Earth Day celebration, which replaced
Free
Admission Day held in June. An estimated 600 people passed
through the Nature
Center’s gate and many of those folks managed to find us in the Glen
Vista
Gallery. Some people felt we were tucked
away in Glen Vista, but there were no activities held around Owl
Observatory so
this was our best alternative. However,
I actually prefer holding our main activities inside, since it’s
logistically
easier. Plus, the Glen Vista Gallery
made for a nice setting.
The
weather was a bit of a problem at times, which made solar observing
difficult. Mostly cloudy skies actually
produced some small showers in the morning, but the majority of the
afternoon
brought mostly clear skies. This didn’t
make much difference to our white light observers, since solar minimum
was in
full force. Not a sunspot was to be seen
through the 8” Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain set up by Jim Kurtz or in the 4” Meade
Apochromatic refractor
belonging to Tim Kurtz. Robert Norton with his 4.5” Meade
reflector and Bill Nigg with
his 5” Astro-Physics refractor didn’t
have much more luck in the Nature Center’s parking lot either!
However, where the Sun came up short in white
light it more than made up for in Hydrogen Alpha. Roger
Williams and I where able to show people a VERY large group of
tree-like prominences that gradually changed
throughout the day. Roger setup his
Coronado MaxScope 60 and I had the SolarMax 40 filter on my Tele Vue
Pronto. Thanks also to Jim and Tim for
operating the Pronto when I was busy with other stuff. At least
they were able to show people
something on the Sun!
The
greeting table was staffed by AD2K6 co-coordinator Jean DeMott and Norm Terry. They handed out
KAS brochures and fliers on
our activities throughout the spring and summer. We also had many
great educational materials
and stickers to pass out courtesy of NASA.
Thanks to Miguel Rodriguez for
obtaining some of the materials.
Our main theme for Astronomy Day 2006 was Pluto, comets,
and the Kuiper Belt so our hands-on crew helped kids make “Fan Comets”
and
Paper Pluto Globes. The “Fan Comet”
consisted of glittery shred attached to a one-inch Styrofoam ball with
a small
paper clip. The purpose was to teach the
kids that a comet’s tail always points away from the Sun due to the
solar
wind. Dave and
Susan Matheson helped kids with the “Fan Comet” in the morning,
while Dick and Jackie Gillespie took over in the
afternoon. Bob Havira
and Dennis Stuart
helped kids make Paper Pluto Globes in the morning and Daniall Poulsen assisted youngsters
in the afternoon. Molly Williams
and Frank Severance get this
year’s
marathon award since they
worked the hands-on tables the entire day!
The
last of our regular features were the displays.
First (and certainly not least) was the KAS Member Astrophotography
display. This year’s photographs were
provided by myself, Bill Nigg, and Roger Williams. One of our two
other displays was called Clyde
Tombaugh and the Discovery of Pluto.
Some of the images used in the display were provided electronically by
Lowell Observatory. The last display was
on the New Horizons mission, which just began its 9 year journey to
Pluto in
January. Dennis Stuart and Roger
Williams both built miniature paper models of the New Horizons
spacecraft,
which was no easy task! Thanks also to
Frank Severance for providing some of the images used in the display.
One
of our special attractions was Comet Making Demonstrations given by Dave
Woolf. The largest crowd was for the
12:00 pm demo and they reacted with “ohs and ahs” when he poured water
onto the
dry ice and the white cloud oozed out of the bowl.
Perhaps
our most original activity took place at 1:00 pm. Mike Sinclair and
I held a “Pluto Planet Debate” and Kirk
Korista
acted as the moderator. Kirk started out
with a brief history on the discovery of Pluto and then did the
introductions. I started off with a 7
minute presentation on why I think Pluto should be demoted to a minor
planet
and Mike defended Pluto’s place as the ninth planet from the Sun.
Kirk then asked us each a few questions and
then we took many good questions from the crowd. Everyone seemed
to enjoy the debate, so
perhaps we’ll have to do a more in-depth version at a future general
meeting.
 The
last activity of the afternoon was the KAS 70th
Anniversary Party for the public at 3:30 pm.
We served cake, ice cream, and punch to quite a few people and had no
leftovers when it was over! Special
thanks actually go to my mother, Connie, for picking up the cake and
bringing
it to the Nature Center.
The conclusion of Astronomy Day 2006 was the public
observing session, which began at 8:00 pm.
Robert Norton brought out his Meade 10” Lightbridge Dobsonian and Jack Roach setup his hand-crafted 6”
Newtonian reflector and
equatorial mount. Dave and Susan
Matheson also brought out their Meade ETX-90 and Jim and Tim Kurtz
returned
with their telescopes they had setup earlier for solar observing.
Dave Woolf and I both showed people Saturn,
Jupiter, and deep sky objects through the Meade 12” LX200 in Owl
Observatory. Attendance was pretty light
for the session (~20 people), since we again had to fight clouds for
the first
part of the session. Eventually though,
the skies completely cleared and Astronomy Day came to an official end
under a
starry sky.
The
Kalamazoo Astronomical Society was delighted to receive an Honorable
Mention in the 2006 Sky &
Telescope Astronomy Day
competition! This wouldn't have been possible without the support
of the KAS members that volunteered their free time to bring
astronomy to the people. Below is a PDF file of our letter from
J. Kelly Beatty and our award certificate.
|
 |
Award
Letter & Certificate
|
Report
and images by Richard S. Bell
|
|
Click
Image for Larger View
|
|
![[Astronomy Day 2006 - April 22]](Images/AD2K6/astroday06.jpg)
