Thanks to Frank Garner, Stephen Ramsden and Theo Ramakers for participating in these two outreach events. We showed them at noon what the sun looks like when there are several sunspots visible as well as some filaments and prominences. It for sure was a beautiful sight. In addition, the students learned a lot about relative distances of the planets, the solar system and our Galaxy the Milky Way. At night (almost full moon) we showed them the moon, Jupiter and a globular and open star cluster. A few of them also saw M31 and M57.
On a side note, Stephen Ramsden awarded the anual Jon Woods Memorial Outreach Award from the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project during the noon session. The award was given as a total surprise to me and consisted of a complete Solar (CaK) imaging kit with PST and camera. This caught me so much off guard that I simply did not have any words to say Thank You.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers