Yesterday we did participate in CEWC’s event for Kate’s Club of Atlanta at Panola Mountain State Park where we brought a Solar event to about 68 kids and their chaperones. The weather changed its mind and turned out gorgeous, so they got to see the Sun with some nice features and got to search for our model Earth through a scope in our relative size/distance activity. They also learned what UV rays do to us, by looking at our UV beads and learned where the energy comes from on Earth. Thanks to David, Dan T, Dan S, Jon, Frank and Theo for participating.  Click on the image to see the gallery.

Friday night we had a great outreach event for Grayson Elementary School. We had four club members come out to brave the wind and cold to show eighty 2nd grade students some night sky objects. The kids and teachers were able to see Jupiter, Jupiter’s moons, Venus, M42 and a gorgeous 1st quarter moon. These students were perfect ladies and gentlemen for the whole night. It was a true pleasure to work with them.
Thanks very much to Bob, Dominick and Ken for coming out to give me a hand. (special thanks to Ken Poshedly for taking the photos.)

I received this thank you note from Mrs. Veasey in regard to our outreach last Friday after she received the “quick Jupiter image”.

That is incredible. I don’t think I have ever seen Jupiter in such detail. Breathtaking!
Thanks again for bringing all your people and scopes and presentation and expertise to make our astronomy night the best ever! We really appreciate what your club does for us. I hope that you are able to do this for many groups, as you provide such an amazing service to the community. Some people have never had any opportunity to see anything like this, and you open up worlds to them.
Soon we’ll have to start thinking about next year’s date. The calendar person at the school always wants things like this on the calendar by the end of the school year!
Friday night was so beautiful. We lucked out! Mother nature was very cooperative.
Again,thanks for everything.
Marjorie

Astronomy Night for Summerour Middle was postponed from the end of February to March 6th. And what a night it was! We had 9 members and 6 scopes at the school. About 100 students and parents learned about what astronomy really is about, and were able to see some nice views of the night sky including Jupiter and its moons, the Orion Nebula, our Moon and some star clusters. Frank treated the early birds to a view of Venus in full day light and inside we presented several presentations of the solar system by taking everyone on a trip in our imaginary space craft and observing the planets close by. They also were very surprised to learn about another take on gravity and what it really takes to take humans to Mars. A great and successful evening again. Thanks to all who participated!

At the February meeting, we gave out the awards for members who volunteered time in 2014 for outreach. Members who participated in less than 5 events during the year were listed in our presentation. Those members who participated in 5 or more events were given certificates and a pin of appreciation from the Night Sky Network. If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can view the presentation through this link. Thanks again to all those members who graciously donated their time and talents. We are off to a great start for 2015, and welcome anyone who is willing to help out. If you are not registered on the Night Sky Network website, but would like to be, please register at this URL. All of the upcoming outreach events are listed on our calendar here.
Valorie Whalen
Outreach Coordinator CEA