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George N
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/19/06
Posts: 673
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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I hope that everyone is enjoying “100 hrs of astronomy”!! 
I’ve really liked the webcasts.
At Kopernik Observatory & Science Center (www.kopernik.org) we had a good beginning thanks to some clear skies. We hosted about 60 people, including 5 visiting our area from Ireland. We had people looking at the sun in h-alpha, and in the evening, the moon, Saturn, and the Orion nebula using our 20-inch RC Cass and 6-inch Astro-Physics refractor, plus about four 8 & 10 inch Dobs. We had the webcasts going and showed the film “Seeing in the Dark”. We also hosted another large group at our local library. We set up a solar h-alpha scope and another scope to look at the moon and Saturn. We did a presentation in the library’s meeting room and they had a selection of their astronomy books prominently displayed.
Unfortunately it looks like our weather is going down hill, so our remaining programs will have to depend on presentations, video, the webcasts, etc. We are still hoping for some clear weather Sunday afternoon for our "sun day" solar presentation and observing.
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George N
Obsession 20
Optical Guidance Systems 10" F/9 R-C Cass
6" F/5 & 8" F/8 home-made Newts
MI-250 mount
SBIG STL-1301E CCD
Member, International Dark-Sky Association
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robinsondd
sage
Reged: 05/28/07
Posts: 321
Loc: St. Mary's City, MD
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I took my telescopes and plunked them down in the middle of a college campus and had a blast. The students were amazed and very appreciative that I was there. I had my 25x100 Binos, 8" SCT, 12" Antares Dob, and my 25" Obsession. The students quickly spread the word and it was a lot of fun until I packed it in around 1 a.m. I did not count but I would guess about 50 or so students spent time at my scopes, maybe more. I decided that I will bring the scope to the college one night every month while school is in session.
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David Robinson
Lexington Park, MD
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"Why should we be in such a desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Thoreau 1817-1862
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Milionis
newbie
Reged: 04/20/09
Posts: 4
Loc: Athens, Greece
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Now that sounds like a real Astro-Party, did you have soft classical music and light drinks, just an idea.
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-Meade ETX-80
no #933 45° Erecting Prisms
no #827 8x25mm Right-Angle Viewfinders
no red dot viewfinder
no LPI or DSI II
no binoviewer on my ETX
no USB to RS-232 Bridge Cable
no #546 AC Adapter for ETX-80
no Dew Shield
no #895 Vibration Isolation Pads
no Hard Carry Case
no Red LED Light
-Meade Super Plossl Eyepieces: (6.4mm, 9.7mm, 26mm)
-Bushnell 16x32 Bionoculars
-50mW Green Laser Pointer
-SkyChart (Cartes du Ciel) software
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MoonChild
sage
Reged: 04/27/09
Posts: 280
Loc: upstate ny
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Hi George!!
nice to see someone a bit closer to me. lol 
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*newb*
“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another” ~ Plato
~Kopernik Observatory
~C.Forks
my amateur astronomy pics
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George N
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/19/06
Posts: 673
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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Quote:
I took my telescopes and plunked them down in the middle of a college campus and had a blast. The students were amazed and very appreciative that I was there. I had my 25x100 Binos, 8" SCT, 12" Antares Dob, and my 25" Obsession. The students quickly spread the word and it was a lot of fun until I packed it in around 1 a.m. I did not count but I would guess about 50 or so students spent time at my scopes, maybe more. I decided that I will bring the scope to the college one night every month while school is in session.
Hey, that sounds great!! I bet that you will continue to find lots of interested folks ready to take a look thru your scope. I’m sure that that big Obsession 25-inch is the biggest telescope most have ever seen!
I hang out a lot at Kopernik Observatory & Science Center in the Binghamton, NY area. We support the Astronomy labs for our local community college, and there are always a few people who return on their own. It is also not surprising to get small groups of Binghamton University students showing up late at night to take a break from studying. It’s usually only a half dozen or so, but they must be interested to set out on a half hour drive up a dark mountain road in the middle of a school night.
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George N
Obsession 20
Optical Guidance Systems 10" F/9 R-C Cass
6" F/5 & 8" F/8 home-made Newts
MI-250 mount
SBIG STL-1301E CCD
Member, International Dark-Sky Association
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George N
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/19/06
Posts: 673
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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|
Quote:
Now that sounds like a real Astro-Party, did you have soft classical music and light drinks, just an idea.
Strangely, there was an earlier scheduled event for the same time period as ‘100hrs’ at Kopernik, known as “The Moonlight Café”. It is run by the observatory staff and includes cool decorations and lighting, lots of good food, some wine, and music and video. One sequence projected on the wall includes a long string of our astro images accompanied by ‘space music’. It’s pretty popular. Unfortunately it was cloudy during this particular “Moonlight Café”, but we invited all of the attendees to return the following nights to see the moon along with the ‘100hrs’ crowd.
For a description of what we did for 100 hours, see here: http://tinyurl.com/dxg2lb
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George N
Obsession 20
Optical Guidance Systems 10" F/9 R-C Cass
6" F/5 & 8" F/8 home-made Newts
MI-250 mount
SBIG STL-1301E CCD
Member, International Dark-Sky Association
|
George N
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/19/06
Posts: 673
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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|
Quote:
Hi George!!
nice to see someone a bit closer to me. lol
There are a few people crazy enough to attempt observational astronomy from cloudy ol’ Binghamton! At least it’s dark whenever it does clear up. 
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George N
Obsession 20
Optical Guidance Systems 10" F/9 R-C Cass
6" F/5 & 8" F/8 home-made Newts
MI-250 mount
SBIG STL-1301E CCD
Member, International Dark-Sky Association
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MoonChild
sage
Reged: 04/27/09
Posts: 280
Loc: upstate ny
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haha, yeah.
ive been wondering.....
can members just bring up their telescopes and use the dark site?
i really have to get up there one of these nights,
well... the clear sky chart has improved a lil from a couple days ago... lol
go crazy people go! lol 
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*newb*
“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another” ~ Plato
~Kopernik Observatory
~C.Forks
my amateur astronomy pics
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