The Chapter’s 100 hours of Astronomy has come to an end. It was a long but very rewarding 4 days. We held 4 outreach events which were published on the 100HOA website, and the people that visited us during the event were very excited about what they could observe. I would like to thank all participants, Dale, Debbie, Marie, Clevis, Jon, Stephen, Ken, Alesia, Kristen and Theo for their hard work and dedication in making this such a great success.

Following an article about the event in the Rockdale and Newton Citizen a week earlier, it started with the Covington Library event on April 2nd. Despite the clouds and misty rain, 5 interested people made the trip to the event. Since they could not look at Saturn through our scopes we showed them the movie Ring World and had a talk with the kids about the solar system. Theo Ramakers took care of this event.

Friday evening was a closed event for students, family members and friends of the George Walton Academy in Monroe. Our Dale Harrison was the coordinator. Jon Wood, Clevis and Debbie Jones, and Theo Ramakers set up their scopes up next to the base ball field and were happy when the lights on the field went out while Debbie gave them a grand tour through the binos. We had about 30 individuals attend this star party and we overheard some of the students saying how much they were learning about astronomy and how it would help them in class!!

Saturday marked two events. A solar event in the Newton Shopping Center in Covington and a Star Party at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. The Solar event did attract around 75 individuals who took a look at the Sun. While Stephen Ramsden, Marie Lott, Debbie and Clevis Jones gave further explanations of what they were seeing, Theo was was working to bring the people to come over. Despite the fact that the sky was 75% overcast at the beginning of the event, almost 30 interested people showed up at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center at night. Clevis, Stephen, Theo and a new friend Jim brought their scopes out, and Ken provided additional explanations. It was a real challenge with the fast moving clouds to give everyone a chance to look at our Moon, Saturn with its moons Titan, Enceladus and Dione,and not to forget the Orion nebula and the galaxy pair M81 and M82. However, the good thing about the clouds was that it gave us the chance to have some great discussions with the visitors!!

Over all, this was a very successful 100 Hours of Astronomy!! Click here for some pictures of the events.
Thanks again to all who made this happen
Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers