May 16th was JAKES Day, Charlie Elliott’s outdoor festival. Several of the Chapter members setup at the conference room in the Visitor Center in anticipation of the participants of the Museum Scavenger Hunt. On the big screen we showed the live broadcast of the SST 125 mission to repair the Hubble Telescope with the 3rd EVA in progress. Jon Wood had setup his scope connected to his laptop. The chapter’s images, which were used at the Covington library exhibition, were displayed on the wall and being used in the one on one discussions with visitors to explain the solar system and the individual planets, while posters and other material of the NSN network was appreciated by all visitors. A table with books, maps, pictures completed the setup

Since it was cloudy outside, Stephen could not show the sun through his solar scopes but we used the material from the NSN to explain the sun, its relative size and distance to the planets as well as discussions about the individual planets. Jon Wood had setup his scope and controlled it from his PC running Stellarium and the kids loved this, as well as “flying” throught the solar system using Celestia. The material provided by NSN was great in our explanations and was appreciated by all.

At the end of the event 110 visitors young and old had learned a lot about our solar system and astronomy in general. Thanks to Debbie and Clevis Jones, Stephen Ramsden, Jon Wood, and Theo Ramakers who made this event a great success. Click here for some images of the event.

Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers