The current gate closure time is 7 p.m. After that time, a code is needed for park entry (& access to the astronomy field).



Category: Outreach

Astronomy for JH Ministries

17 June, 2015 (20:11) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

We did a Solar and Evening event for JH Ministries for a number of intellectually challenged adults during their Summer Camp at Collinswood in Buckhead GA. It was very satisfying to see how these adults enjoyed looking at the Sun and later that night at Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Thanks to Dan Thoman for organizing the event, and for Frank Garner, Bob Jacoby, Dominick Giacobbe and Theo Ramakers for showing them what was visible in the Solar System. This for sure was a great event for them.

News coverage in White County News 2015-05-14

22 May, 2015 (22:31) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

I believe, it has been two years since we have had news coverage in a local news paper.  This year the White County News ran an article about our Solar outreach at Anna Ruby Falls.  This event is every year a success and the management at Anna Ruby Falls love us to come out there year after year.  Below an image of the newspaper clip of the article written by Ivy Rutzky as well as some of the pictures she took.  Please respect the ownership of the images by Ivy.  Thanks to all that did participate in this event and to Ivy to give us again some more exposure! :-) Please click the thumbnail below to read the article.

The Sun over Oxford Babtist Church 2015-05-21

21 May, 2015 (12:12) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

We were invited to show the students of the Oxford Baptist Learning Center the Sun. A great group of kids who were very eager to learn about the Sun and take a close look at it through our Scopes. Not only the kids liked it but an adult who came by and wanted to take a peek also, thought that the Sun was way smaller than Earth and when she heard that the volume of the Sun could almost fit 1 million Earth, she almost flipped over. :-) Please click the thumbnail picture to go to the gallery.

McConnell Middle School, Grayson 2015-05-07

7 May, 2015 (17:03) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

Three of us, Bob Jacoby, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went to McConnell Middle for this year’s Astronomy Day for some of the 6th grade classes.  Three classes of Mrs. Sandidge, and two of Mr. Yoder, learned what  effect traveling through the Solar System has on gravity.  In addition, they learned some interesting facts about some of the planets.  Then it went outside to observe the Sun through a number of Ha Scopes and White Light telescopes.  They all were very surprised to see the activity on the Sun and went home having a better understanding of our Solar System.

Anna Ruby Falls Solar Outreach 2015-05-02

2 May, 2015 (23:06) | Outreach, Uncategorized | By: tramakers

This was our 6th year of Solar Outreach at Anna Ruby Falls. 9 of our members did participate with 10 scopes. Frank did let the visitors see Venus in bright day light which not many expected. The Sun showed two small spots but a few large filaments did dress up the sun very nicely for this event. About 500 visors did get to see and learn today what happens on the Sun. A number of them were very excited and told us they will for sure pay us a visit at one of our meetings and observing sessions. A great event and thanks the Michels, Marie and Tim Lott, Bob Jacoby and Dominic, Mark Dove, Frank Garner with his greandaughter and friend, and Theo for coming out to this great spot in North Georgia to show the visitors what’s up there in daytime.  Click the image to go to the Gallery for more pictures and an image of the Sun taken at the event.

End of School year Solargraphs

2 May, 2015 (12:21) | Outreach | By: tramakers

The end of the school year nears and the students still need to see the result of what the pinhole camera captured to really see the path of the Sun throughout the year. The first school I retrieved the pinhole camera from was the Theme School at Ficquett in Covington. The pinhole camera recorded the path of the Sun from January 19th until today May 1st. The image shows nicely the arcs of the Sun and recorded the sunny days, and hours, as well as the cloudy and rainy once. In addition, one can see nicely the surrounding buildings as well as the Newton County Schools Administration Building. Thanks to Mrs. Tamburro and the Staff at the Theme School for letting us help to bring this program to their Students.

Kate’s Club of Atlanta at Panola Mountain State Park 2015-03-28

29 March, 2015 (18:51) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

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.

Outreach for Grayson Elementary 2015-03-27

27 March, 2015 (15:42) | Events, Outreach | By: tramakers

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.)

Summerour’s Astronomy Night 2015-03-06

6 March, 2015 (18:05) | Outreach | By: tramakers

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!

Space Camp @ Hightower Trail Elementary School 2015-01-30

2 February, 2015 (17:39) | Outreach | By: tramakers

Another Space Camp at Hightower Trail. I am starting to loose the count :-) A great evening with inside presentations as part of the rotation by Theo, and outside Steve, John, Dan, the Whalens and the Edwards showed the students the night sky through their scopes, which included the comet Lovejoy. I still see the smile on the kids faces as they mentioned that. A great evening.