Nielson Observing session Cancelled for Saturday, March 28th, 2009

The Nielson Observatory Star Party scheduled for Saturday March 28th, 2009 has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Satellite imagery indicates cloud cover over the entire state throughout the scheduled time of the event.

In other news, Dave G and John O had a wonderful time at Amherst Library's HOBBY DAY this morning. We setup outside (nearby the Alpacas!) and greeted visitors as they approached the library. Remarkably it WAS clear, allowing over 100 potential young amateur astronomers and their parents to view the Sun and learn a little bit about astronomy and our organization.

We were admonished by one elderly lady who refused to look into (or even at) the telescope and told us that we would all have cataracts in the morning for our evil deeds....

And then there was the cute little fellow about 4-5 years old. He stood in line and watched several other kids looking through the scope. When it was finally his turn, he marched straight ahead and firmly planted the eyepiece directly between his eyes. My 42mm widefield 2"eyepiece almost spanned the distance between his excited little eyes, but just didn't quite make it.

Realizing what had happened, his father tried to move his head slightly aside and position one eye in front of the eyepiece cup. But this little guy was stubborn and immediately jerked his head back to the side. His father was unable to convince him that there was any other way to look into a telescope than the method he, himself had chosen.
There he stood, eyepiece centered on the bridge of his nose, both eyes open wide and straining with all his little might to see the Sun's heavenly glory before him. And suddenly his little eyes seemed to glow a little brighter and open a little wider, and I swear his pupils nearly doubled in size.
"I see, it Dad! OK, let's go." He exclaimed and he did an about face and marched promptly away. I kind of felt like I had witnessed something profound. I'm not sure what it was, but well, you know the feeling...

We had a great time and feel like we accomplished a lot in our public outreach efforts. Everyone seemed to enjoy viewing the Sun and we were thanked by the Library Staff and asked to return next year. They told us they got a lot of positive comments about our display.

Astronomically, John