Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went again to Madison this year to let the Astronomy Club of the Morgan County Middle School take a look at the sun and learn about what happens there.  Theo did a presentation about the Stereo satellites and discussed what and how we study the Sun.  Then it went outside and the students looked at the Sun through eclipse glasses and our Solar Scopes.  They just missed a giant prominence which disappeared during the time we setup and the program began.  However, I was able to capture a quick image.  click the image below to go to the gallery.

The second day at the Mountain. Thanks to Marie Lott, the Lancaster brothers, Jim and Merle, who was on the way to the PSSG and is a member of the Astro Society of Northern New England, and Theo Ramakers for being there and let another huge crowd take a look at the Sun and learn about our solar system, our galaxy and the Universe. All 8 telescopes got great attention, weather they were showing the sun, the top of the mountain, or looking at Earth in our model of the solarsystem.  A great event and thanks to Maureen for having us come.  Click the image for the gallery.
clear skies,
Theo

Many thanks to Marie Lott, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers to let around 800 parents and home school students learn how a telscope works by looking at the top of the mountain through our “Scope on a Stick”, take a look at the sun in H-alpha and white Light and learn what they saw, let them experience the relative sizes of Earth and the Sun and look through a scope to see how far earth is away from the Sun in this model. These were a few of the things the guests learned when they came though our stand at the side of the 4D theater. A total of 8 scopes to handle the crowd. And best of all, what we showed was really appreciated by all who stopped by. Thanks also to Steve Siedentop who planned to be there, but had to pass because of car trouble. Another great event. Click on the picture to link to the gallery.

Today Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went out to Flint Hill elementary school to expand the knowledge of the students a little more. We discussed and “flew” through the Solar system and discussed various items of interest. Spend some time studying Mars and its moons and showed and learned why sometimes we cannot see the rings of Saturn. It was a rainy day, so we will be back sometime next week to let the students observe the Sun. Click the image below to link to the gallery.
Theo Ramakers

Frank and Theo went to the FAA Camp South of Covington to let the attendees of the RSBC experience the night sky.  Unfortunately the clouds rolled in around us but the children and adults were able to take a good close up of the moon and expeienced the high level reflection of certain rays, when the sun is right behind us.  A great learning experience. Click image below to go to gallery.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We went to Heard Mixon today for outreach. Inside we took the students on a trip through the solar system and discussed how gravity varies at different panets/moons. They learned how we study Mars, and how we got the Curiosity laboratory to Mars.  They also hunted for asteroids. Outside they looked at the sun with some beautiful prominences and filaments and learned how vast the Solar system is and how small we are at Earth. A great group of Students and Teachers!!! Click the small image for the gallery.

We were again invited to do a program for this school at Charlie Elliott. We did a solar program with them where they could observe the sun and learned about the relative distances in the solar system and how small we are on Earth compared to the solar system. They learned what the sun does and what UV rays do to us and the beads they got.  Than in the evening we went back and did a presentation in the Visitor Center about the Solar system follwed by observing the night sky at the Jon Wood Field.  Thanks to Frank, Theo and Jim Lancaster for coming out and let the students see what the nightsky has to offer.  As always, this is a great school, with great teachers and parents!  Click the image to go to the gallery.

Mrs. Hill had requested the event again, so we went back to visit the 6th graders of Stone Mountain Middle. This was a very busy event for the two of us, which included first light for the donated PST Ha by Morgan Cline. At the end of the day 300 students/teachers from Stone Mountain Middle saw the sun, through our solar scopes and learned a lot about it as well as about the solar system. The library was not available, so our outside astronomical activites gave the students a much better understanding of concepts related to the Sun and the solar system. Great Students, Great Teachers!!! Click the picture to go to the gallery!

We enjoyed some good food and a movie with our guests from the AOC. A total of 47 attended the meeting/dinner. Ken Poshedly talked about ALPO and Theo gave an account of the outreach efforts of CEA and the status on the scope building. During the meeting CEA member Morgan Cline donated two solar scopes, a double stacked Coronado PST and a 35mm Lunt Ha scope, to the outreach efforts of CEA and Steve Siedentop and Theo Ramakers accepted the donations for the chapter. Thanks again Morgan!!!! John Towne gave his presentation “What’s Up”, which was great as always and than it was off to great food and the movie. Around 7:45 the meeting finished and it was off to the Jon Wood Field for a beautiful evening of observing.
Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

We reached out again to the 4th grade students of Mrs Thompson at East Newton Elementary school. The students were able to observe the Sun, learned about the relative sizes of the planets and how far the orbits are away from the sun. Inside they learned about the solarsystem and also about Mars and its small moons. they learned how little it takes to propell into space from Mars’ moons and what it takes to excape the gravity from earth. They were very great students and eager to learn. When we left we were presented with about 50 thanks you notes.
Thanks East Newton for a great experience.
Theo Ramakers