Sidewalk Astronomy at CAG
21 May 2007On Friday Night at the California Autoharp Gathering, I found that most people were noticing the close conjunction of the Moon with very bright Venus. Our second planet was sitting up-from, and right between, the points of the crescent moon. Even with the attraction of concerts and friends, the sky was getting more attention than it usually does. Perhaps it was the setting. Up in the hills above Fresno, at the St. Nicholas Monestary, we were well above the valley smog and far from the lights of Fresno.
A few years ago, I had an affair with Astronomy, and I still have a pretty nice telescope setup in the trailer. It comes out less often than it used to, but the sky is always there, and on a good dark-sky night, it’s always fun to bring it out. I did so, checked things out. After emailing off to friends Mojo and Jane, I was informed that the following night was “International Sidewalk Astronomy Night.” I realized that it would be a good time to bring out the telescope and show the moon, Venus, Saturn, and possibly Jupiter, to the folks at the Gathering.
California Autoharp Gathering has an interesting addition. A major sponsor is California Migrant Education, Region IV. CAG and Migrant Education brought eighty children to the Gathering and provided a suitable track of programming for children of those age groups. I realized that most of these kids had never seen through a telescope.
To make a long story short, the counselors formed a line, and we brought all eighty children to the eyepiece. The moon was almost setting as sundown fell, so the eight-inch Dobsonian mounted telescope tube was angled low enough to the ground that even the shorter kids could approach the eyepiece without help. Only one child needed a boost. We showed all the children the 14% crescent moon, then focused on Venus. We weren’t able to conduct an entire line again, but I managed to show about 20 children, as well as passing adults. We also turned the telescope to Saturn. I love Saturn. The moon gets an “Oh!”, Venus gets an “Ooooh”, Jupiter gets an “Wow!” but ringed Saturn always gets a “Holy Cow!”, “Way Cool!”, or other superlative.
Later, we had about 40 adults come by for both Saturn and Jupiter. The competition was fierce, between the telescope and our silent planetary symphony, up against Bryan Bowers, Lindsay Haisley and others. Nonetheless, those who came by were able to see, and many folks mentioned the next day that they were sorry to have missed the opportunity.
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