The Comet should be visible from our area through binos, but because it is very low on the horizon, we will be digging through a lot of atmosphere. We are going to check tonight at Lake Varner if we can make the Comet out already. According to Clevis’ Starry Night we should be able to. It all will depend on the clouds at the horizon. Will let you know on the Yahoo site and facebook. Based on Clevis’ predictions: On the 10th the Sun will set at 7:39 P.M at AZ 266 degrees. PanSTARRS will be 12.5 degrees above the horizon at AZ 258 degrees at that time. (The size of a fist at arms lenght above the horizon). So when it sinks further down after sunset, we believe we should be able to see it (or part of the tail). But than again, clouds at the horizon might block the view…..
Clear Skies,
Theo

We received some nice publicity in a number of local Newspapers about our Comet outreach. The Gwinnett Daily Post, The Rockdale/Newton Citizen, The Covington News, the Walton Tribune and the Montecello News covered the events. Thanks to all reportes who picked up on this. Click the image to link to one of the articles.

Frank and Theo went to the Dunwoody Nature Center to explain a little about astronomy to the scouts of Den 8. A great den with some very clever kids and great parents! They grasped pretty good what we explained to them. It was too bad that it was a cloudy night and we could not let them see the beauty of the nightsky, but I am sure they will have a chance to do that some time. Thanks for inviting us to your meeting! Click the image to go to the gallery.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

Yesterday, we finished our three day event at Memorial Middle School and despite the fact that because of the cloudy weather only approx. 30 students had an opportunity to observe the Sun, a total of 265 6th grade students learned a lot about what happens at our Star. Inside as well as outside activities gave them insight how the sun works and how the storms it produces can affect life on earth. In addition, they learned what shooting stars or meteors are and how to identify meteorites. They felt real tiny small as they realized how big our solar system is compared to our little earth.
A great 3 day event at a great school with great teachers and students.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

The cloud cover on the second day of the event was a little better. In fact we saw the sun every now and then, and the best thing was that all students of the fourth session today were able to see the nice active regions and the very nice prominence. Inside presentations gave the students a better understanding of what happens on our closesed star and they learned what can happen if some of these solar storms are directed at Earth. Click the image to see the gallery.

This is our fourth year at Memorial Middle School in Conyers. Our scheduled program for day 1 was to teach the students some facts about the Sun, and show them how it affects our lives on Earth. In addition we intended for them to observe the sun through our solar telescopes. Unfortunaltely we had a rainy day and instead of observing the sun we did some activities related to it. Click the image to see the gallery.

This month has been very quiet with outreach so far, with only one event in the beginning of the month, but this week this is to change. The coming week we are ready for 5 events from Tuesday until Saturday. Three days at Memorial Middle School in Conyers, one evening at Flint Hill Elementary School in Covington and an evening for Cub Scouts in Dunwoody on Saturday. Anyone interested in helping out Friday at Flint Hill or Saturday in Dunwoody? Details on the Night Sky Network webpage.
Clear Skies,
Theo

Our fourth year of participation in Science/Tech night at Puckett’ Mill. We were very happy with the attendance of our sessions out of the 600 attendants.  120  Students and parents were very interested in learning the steps involved in bringing a rover of the size of Curiosity from Earth to Mars and the scientific research the rover will do. Because of the weather, the stargazing was replaced with a session about Comets in which they were shown what a comet is made up of.  Thanks to Jeff, Kiernan and Theo for giving their time and effort to make this such a success.
Clear skies,
Theo

This morning Frank and Theo went to Sagamore Hills elementary school for our 5th outreach session of 2013. A large number of students, parents and volunteers of “Hands on Atlanta” attended the lecture with short movies, and also learned about the relative size of the solar system. Finally they all took a look at the sun with some nice prominences in H-alpha and white light. A great event. Please click the image to link to the gallery.

This was our 9th year of participation in Hightower Trail’s Space Camp. Thanks to Gretchen Gault for inviting us again and thanks to Dan Schmitt, Steve Siedentop, John Towne, Frank Garner, the 4th graders at Hightower Trail were able to learn more about the night sky and see Jupiter with four moons, craters on the moon and the orion nebula. Theo Ramakers gave a presentation inside about the Curiosity rover on Mars and showed the students what happens if an astronaut wants to drink a cup of coffee in the International Space Station. Click the picture to go to the gallery