Our chapter was the subject of the lead article of NASA’s Night Sky Network with a picture of our outreach event for the Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School last week at Charlie Elliott’s Outdoor Discovery School.  Come out and support us on future events of you have some spare time!!  It is very rewarding to teach these students something and let them see something they have never seen before!
Clear Skies
Theo

We will have two outreach events this coming Wednesday October 13 at The Outdoor Discovery School at Charlie Elliott.  At noon we will show the first group from the nChildrens School what’s active on the Sun, and give them a feel for the distances in the solar system.  In the evening we will have a star party for them at Jon Wood field and let them see the beauty of the fall skies.  If you can help with either, please let me know.  The second group of this school will come a week later.

Thanks, Clear Skies
Theo

Frank Garner, Steve Bieger and Theo Ramakers did participate in an outreach event for the students of this school. At noon, Frank and Theo showed about 35 students, teachers  the sun, while they discussed the relative distances in the Solar system. At night Steve Bieger also joined in and the students learned more about the solar system and on the observing field they saw Jupiter with its moons, globular and open clusters and a Red Giant star and even the Ring nebula in Lyra. Click here for some pictures 

We have updated the website with some reports and pictures of yesterday’s meeting. As soon as the other reports come in, the links will be populated. We had a great meeting and we did celebrate our oldest member Angus Owens’ 92nd birthday . Congratulations again Angus! We also did host 40 students and parents of the George Walton Academy in Monroe for the meeting and star party after the meeting. I believe they all enjoyed the time of observing the planets, and deep sky objects, and getting an explanation of what they were seeing. A very rewarding event for all.
Clear skies
Theo

Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers did a Solar and dark sky observing event for the students at this event. At noon, about 26 students, parents and teachers observed Sunspot 1109 and some large flares on the sun, and learned about the relative distances in the Solar system. At night they saw Jupiter, globular and open clusters and a Red Giant star. Because clouds moved in we were not able to show them faint objects such as nebulas etc. However, the students appeared to have a good timeClick here for some pictures
Clear skies,

This is a reminder message for the Chapter Meeting this coming Saturday October 2nd with observing after the meeting, weather permitting. Stephen Ramsden will present his “Binaries and Conspiracies”. So come out and enjoy the great presentation and the great company at Charlie Elliott!!
Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went to Madison on 9/24 for an astronomy event for the Astronomy and Science clubs at the school. the program did give the students a good feel for the relative distances in the solar system, as they walked accross the football field with the tiny earth to the location where earth orbits the sun, which was depicted by a Sun poster on the side of a metal bin. They were able to see some sunspots and solar flares through visual light and H-alpha scopes and learned how telescopes work and had a chance to look through the scope a student helped put together. About 30 students did learn some interesting things about the solar system.
Thanks to Mrs Elo for inviting us.
Theo

Steve Bieger gave his Galileo presentation for 70 Students at Stone Mountain Middle school on Friday September 24th. The students liked it very much and had some excellent questions! Great job Steve to bring some astronomy and history to the middle school.
Theo

(here’s a link to Steve’s post and pictures from the event – http://ceastronomy.org/sbieger/posts/17)

We have two events on Monday the 27th for Charlie Elliott’s Outdoor Discovery School, who will be hosting the Harbour Oaks Montessori School of Grayson. Those who have Solar scopes can help with the solar session at noon. In the evening we have an inside program around 7:30 followed with observing at the field around 8:30 P.M. afterward. So if you can help, please bring your scope out and let the kids take a peek at the night sky.
Thanks and Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

Our outreach event at Stone mountain Mifddle School was great!   We had about 350 students attend the presentations (8 of them) and the Solar Observing.  Thanks to Frank Garner, Phillip Sacco and Theo for reaching out to the students of this school.  Madeline Hill, who was our contact point at the school wrote:

Thank you so much for an awesome day at Stone Mountain Middle School.  The students were so excited to see and hear about the planets, the moons, the relative size and distance of the Earth in comparison with the sun.  I believe they were all shocked with awe to see the sun spots and the solar flares.  One student’s parent came to get him for a doctor’s appointment.  As he was leaving school, he ran over to us and  made her wait while he got a peek at the sun before leaving.  (smile).

I believe that everything they experienced will be remembered on their CRCT exams.  My gratitude is extended to you gentlemen for taking time from your busy schedules to spend a day enlightening our students.  That was my first time looking at the sun like that, and for many of our students, it may be the only solar viewing experience they will get in their life time.