pvelez
30-08-2007, 05:30 PM
My 10 year old daughter's star party is approaching - like a train down a dark tunnel - I can see the light, hear the rumble and am starting to get apprehensive!:scared:
There will be 8 girls plus my 8 year old son and a mate or 2 of his descending on our place at 5pm. The plan is to keep them entertained with matters astronomic for about an hour and a half. Easy!:lol:
So I plan to:
1. show them Venus during the late afternoon - a planet in daylight hours is pretty cool
2. explain the scale of the solar system - using fruit. We can always eat a planet if it gets out of line
3. talk about the plane of the solar system and see if they can find Jupiter
4. hand out some star charts and let em loose on a constellation or 2
5. give them a pair of binoculars and some targets to look at eg omega centauri, eta carinae etc
6. set them up on a scope (I have 2) and set them some challenges eg how many doubles in Crux.
Now I know that this is a foolish exercise and it will be chaos. But the invites have gone out, all the kids have seen the eclipse this week and are hungry for a go at the scopes and, most importantly, my daughter is very excited.
So gurus - what else do you suggest I do (apart from hoping its not raining):help:
I do have a back up plan if its ugly outside - its still a star party if all the girls get stuck into the Playstation Singstar!
Pete
There will be 8 girls plus my 8 year old son and a mate or 2 of his descending on our place at 5pm. The plan is to keep them entertained with matters astronomic for about an hour and a half. Easy!:lol:
So I plan to:
1. show them Venus during the late afternoon - a planet in daylight hours is pretty cool
2. explain the scale of the solar system - using fruit. We can always eat a planet if it gets out of line
3. talk about the plane of the solar system and see if they can find Jupiter
4. hand out some star charts and let em loose on a constellation or 2
5. give them a pair of binoculars and some targets to look at eg omega centauri, eta carinae etc
6. set them up on a scope (I have 2) and set them some challenges eg how many doubles in Crux.
Now I know that this is a foolish exercise and it will be chaos. But the invites have gone out, all the kids have seen the eclipse this week and are hungry for a go at the scopes and, most importantly, my daughter is very excited.
So gurus - what else do you suggest I do (apart from hoping its not raining):help:
I do have a back up plan if its ugly outside - its still a star party if all the girls get stuck into the Playstation Singstar!
Pete