Macquarie University Astronomy Night

[Irish stargazer]

Attended the astronomy night last night at Macquarie Uni and brought my 12" Lightbridge along. I never attended this event before so I was not sure what to expect. Oh boy was it busy!
From 5.30pm to 9pm there was a constant queue of people lining up to see glimpses of the moon and Saturn, mainly families with young children. What a great event-the car park was packed with people and scopes. Lots of WOW moments-kids and adults.
Will definitely do this again. The photo was taken just before the flood gates opened.

[mithrandir]

John, how did you get on with the light pollution from the MGSM and the hospital? Is there any western horizon left or have the trees finished taking over?
I'd've been there but I'm in Geneva being clouded out and rained on.

[Octane]

Wow, nice one.

I only attended once, back when I was an undergraduate there. I think it was ten years ago when Mars was at opposition? The views through the 16" Meade were excellent. There was massive queues, back then, too. :)

H

[Irish stargazer]

Most of the lights had been turned down. No glaring light at all. It was pretty dark overall. The western horizon is covered by trees so no glimpses of Orion or Jupiter at sunset but they did set up a scope on the otherside of the tree line for those interested in seeing Jupiter. Over 1000 people registered and there were big queues lining up to buy tickets on the night.
Glad I didn't bring my Televue eyepieces. The one I used has more baby kisses on it than a politicians face.:lol: Time to clean it.

[Larryp]

I don't know what it is with public star nights, but so many members of the public feel the need to rub their finger on an eye lens. I used to have some cheap Plossls just for such occasions.

[GraemeT]

I was amused by the number of parents who lifted their 2 or 3 year old children up to the eyepiece, who had absolutely NO idea of what they were doing except dribbling on my scope.

[Irish stargazer]

:rofl:Yes that pretty well described part of last night

[AstralTraveller]

Glad you enjoyed yourself John. It can be quite exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. You are constantly attending to the scope, especially if it isn't driven, while answering a million and one questions. At least then the time passes quickly. I've been to a couple of poorly advertised nights where you stand around looking at your watch.

I know what you mean about eps and I also have some non-premium eps for such occasions. You also have to be aware of grabbers, who are an inconvenience on a dob but a real hazard on a tracking mount. A small set of steps is really useful for getting kids to the ep and if it has a hand rail they are less inclined to use the scope for support. So, who organised the night? They deserve credit for getting that sort of turn out.

[noswonky]

I was there too. My scope is just visible on the left beyond the wooden dob in your picture. I've done a couple of these and it's pretty hectic. Lots of grabbers and pushers (I have a 12" dob). It's tiring, but still a lot of fun.

Their site is here:
http://physics.mq.edu.au/community/AFA/opennight/

[Satchmo]

I didn't get into any long queues for the scopes but had a wander round the field- lots of scopes . I judged about 80% Chinese dobs and 20% SCT's - didn't see a single refractor.

[seeker372011]

Sounds like a good night. Outreach is important.

I will try and be there next time..looks like a few more scopes could reduce the queues

[seeker372011]

Well I would have brought my Chinese dob.but maybe I should bring my Chinese refractor ..oh I forgot it doesn't come to focus visually only focuses for CCDs

Will have to be my 10 inch dob ;)

[GraemeT]

I took my dob last time, but decided to use the ETX yesterday as it could do the tracking and I could keep my attention on the clumsy hordes. Fortunately, some bright spark from the Uni supplied loops of glow-sticks to put around the tripod legs, a brilliant idea.
I was also amazed at the light output of mobile phones that some of the public were using as torches both to find their way around and to shine in everyone's eyes.
The oohs and aahs and OMGs made up for the annoyances, and, after all, it wasn't a viewing session but an astronomy PR exercise.
It was the best organised MU astronomy night that I've attended and the biggest crowds I've seen there.

[Irish stargazer]

I will definitely leave the Dob at home next time and use the 8" SCT. I had a few scary moments where I thought a primary mirror clean would be needed. One kid was splashing an open soft drink cup around the trusses and one gentlemans ketchup laden sandwich almost entered the scope. The Dob kept getting knocked around as there were so many people around which presented a challenge. Lessons learned but a great night-hopefully made a few converts to the hobby.