We went for a two day event to McConnell Middle School for the second year. A great School with students who are very much interested in science. The first day three of the four groups of 40 students not only attended the presentations about NASA’s MSL-Curiosity mission, but also were able to observe the sun through white light and H-alpha solar filters. The remaining 5 groups were not able to see the sun because of cloud coverage, but were very interested in learning everything we presented about Mars and the Sun. Thank you Mrs. Sandidge for inviting us again this year!! Click the picture to go to the gallery.

The White County News covered our Solar outreach event at Anna Ruby Falls. Here a picture of the article written by Ivy Rutzky in the White County News.

We had a great day of clear skies for National Astronomy Day at the Fernbank Science Center! Visitors were able to see the star closest to our planet (a.k.a. the Sun) through a total of 7 white light and hydrogen alpha telescopes. Parents and children alike were amazed at what they were able to see, particularly through the hydrogen alpha telescopes. One of our young visitors won a Celestron Astromaster telescope and plans to join us at Charlie Elliott to learn how to use it. The observatory was also open and visitors were able to see Jupiter in the middle of the day. A few club members noticed the “little” 14 inch Schmidt Cassegrain riding piggy back on the main telescope.
Steve Siedentop

This was our second year of participation in the Kates Club event at Charlie Elliott. About 100 children and teenagers were bussed from Atlanta to Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center for a day of activities. We did participate with solar observing and other astronomy related activities. Frank and Theo had a wonderfull time with the youngsters. A very successfull event for an even better purpose. Click the image to go to the gallery.

A nice day for our meeting and observing. About a dozen attended the meeting. After some announcements and John Towne’s monthly “What’s UP” presentation, Larry Owens made his presentation about how to make time lapse movies. Such as the one he did for meteor showers and other events. He also showed some nice clipse of others who have very successfully done this. After the meeting about a dozen telescopes were setup at the Jon Wood field and those who did not have scopes with them shared in the views. Click the image to go to the gallery.

A great Day again for the 4th annual Anna Ruby Falls event, which was postponed because of bad weather in March. Skies were clear, with just a few exceptions. About 400 visitors took advantage to take a look at the Sun and learn a lot about where our energy comes from. Click the image to go to the gallery.

We were invited to come to Veterans Memorial Middle School in Covington on 2013-04-10. We presented the students how NASA gets a moving laboratory the size of an SUV from Earth to Mars and lands it safely. Than it went outside and the students learned about our Sun and the relative distances in our solar system. Some very interested students and a very dedicated teacher!

This was our evening program for the vistors of Panola mountain. The viewing site at the base of the mountain was very restricted and we were standing on the dam of a pond looking at the night sky. some very interested people stayed with us until the end of the event and despite the cloud coverage and linited view, they observed Jupiter and its moons, (trough the tree branches), M42 and finally Saturn as it rose above the tree tops.
Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

Frank and Theo did participate in the 2nd STEM festival for the students of Scotts Elementary school in NW Atlanta. 7 rotations came through and learned about how telescopes work, how scientists look for asteroids and how to search for Meteorites. cloudy skies prevented us from showing the students the Sun, but they appreciated what we showed them. Click the image to go to the gallery.

After the meeting a group of visitors as well as some members went over to the Dove Fields to observe the comet from that vantage point. The rest went to the Jon Wood Field where the western sky as also visible from the adjoining field however with a higher horizon. Here two images. the first one taken at 8:31, the second at 8:49, both from the Dove Fields