So it looks like I'm hosting a class on sidewalk astronomy

[Toiletduck (Mitchell)]

Hi again -

Looks like my last post got eaten by the server blackhole. So let's try again.

A buddy of mine has convinced me to host a sidewalk astronomy type class - Now I'm no teacher (a journo by trade) and have very rudimentary knowledge of astronomy, so was hoping the collective wisdom of the board could help me nut out some good ideas to run through for an hour-long class.

I'll have two telescopes to use on the night - a 72mm and 127mm refractor - and am expecting to host about 20 people. We will be doing our observing from an inner-Sydney suburb so light conditions are expected to be terrible.

So far my hit list is:
- Moon
- Saturn
- the jewel box
- Alpha Centauri
- omega centauri

Any suggestions, direction to content or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks muchly!

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Eta carina would still be doable? then you've got;
- neb
- moon
- the best object to see through a telescope
- open star cluster
- Binary Star system.
- glob (or isn't it classified as a galaxy these days?)

not a bad spread!

best of luck!

[Allan_L (Allan)]

What date Mitchell?
As the phase of the moon that night will determine what you will be able to see to some extent.
Not a full moon I hope.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi Mitchell,

There are a few things that will help you, your gear and the crowd.

* Have a short step ladder with a handle that people can hold onto, and you ask them to hold onto. This does a few things: it helps people keep their balance, and it keeps hands off the scope and eyepiece. The first thing novices do is grab the eyepiece.

* Plan three to four objects, five if there aren't too many people, per scope. Have a mate man one of the two scopes. If they aren't too well versed with using a scope, put them onto the Moon which will prove the easiest to reacquire when someone bumps the scope.

* Give the folks a rundown on how to approach the scope, and how NOT to grab at it. Mention how they should be patient at the eyepiece as things other than the Moon will be dim and require a patient eye to make out detail. When a new person steps up to the scope, tell them to "look into the glass window". I've found this the best way to describe the process of looking into the eyepiece. When looking at a dim DSO, mention how averted vision works and how to do it. It will help them heaps. Do this quietly - it makes it personal and precious.

* When you've got everyone together, give them a rundown of what is up in the sky at the time. A laser pointer here can help. Show them where the Southern Cross is, where the Pointers are and the significance of Alpha Centauri. Then show them the constellation Scorpio. No one forgets their first look of the scorpion.

* From the tail of Scorpio, show them down from its sting the location of Sagittarius, and the general location of the centre of the Milky Way, 30,000 light years away. We can't see the central bulge of the MW because one of the galaxy's arms cuts in between us and the central bulge.

* Object wise, have them look first at the object that's about to set first, probably Saturn. Make the Moon next (or the other way around for which ever sets first). Eta Carina and Omega Centauri are pretty much finished for the city at this time of year. But Alpha Centauri is bright enough to deal with the city lights while down low.

* A good globular is M22. Your 5" refractor will have no problem with it.

* A good nebula is M8, the Lagoon nebula.

* A great open cluster is M7. Brilliant for the 3" scope at low power.

* Antares is a great star for its colour. It is a red giant, a star that was of our sun's size that's going through its death throes.

* M6 is another nice bright open cluster.

Last tip, if you can, don't use your best eyepieces. You don't know what crap could be on people's eyelashes - make up, oil, conjunctivitis. There's also fingers. You really don't want to subject your best eyepieces to this.

This should give you some food for thought. I'm sure other people can help with other suggestions.

Mental.

[Steffen]

Having done a public night at a high school just yesterday, here are my thoughts:

It was half-moon, and everybody loves a good close-up look of the Moon. Lots of oh's and ah's. The response to Saturn was less enthusiastic than I expected, but seeing was rather poor and there wasn't much to be gained with high magnification.

Open clusters (especially M7) were much appreciated, globulars and nebulae not so much. The place was pretty light-polluted with the half-moon and lights from the school and a nearby sports field. I tried M17 with UHC-S filter and it looked alright, but few people remarked that they found it cool. Even Omega Centauri was rather ordinary.

What surprised me was the response to colour. Everybody loved colour. Albireo, the Jewel Box, EB365 near Mimosa, the blue tinge of Neptune, even the naked-eye blueness of Spica were appreciated.

Another surprise was how well M57 held up to light pollution. I didn't really expect to see much of it but it stood out clearly, and although small most people loved the little "smoke ring".

We had about 6 or 7 scopes out that night, and about 30 visitors. That seemed like a good ratio. The school's science teacher kept people engaged when they weren't looking through scopes.

My scope (6" Mak) being compact and on a reasonably sturdy EQ mount I didn't have to worry about people grabbing it (little girls hanging off the eyepiece were no problem ). I had to constantly remind people to focus carefully to get the best view, many seemed too shy to touch the scope.

I enjoyed it a lot, I'm sure you will, too.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Regulus (Trevor)]

The only time I ever did this I had a constant line of people for an hour and a half and never got of Saturn. Lots of oh's and ah's.
After it quieted down I put it on Orion Neb and found it an interesting thing to ask people what colour it was :-)
I always see it as a bit green. Some agreed while others said blue and the rest said none. Interesting I thought.
As mentioned a small ladder or chair for the kids is helpful. We were using a Dob and found the locking handle was useful for them to steady themselves with.
Only with a few of the older ones was it possible to get the power up on Saturn because they werer able to work out how to 'steer' the scope and keep it in the FOV.
It is a fun thing to do and I look forward to doing it again. I have been invited to help with a star night at the local primary school next month so that should be fun.

Trevor

[GraemeT (Graeme)]

Yes, it's one of the fun things you can do. I've had a couple of nights with the local Cub packs, a Moon Night at the retirement village and a couple of Macquarie Uni Astro nights. All of them fun in different ways and all rewarding the effort (not much of that)

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

Excellent Mitchell, I was asked to give a talk at a photo club about taking star/nightscape images after a colleague saw my pics on my wife's desktop but I'm a bit.... I guess shy is the word and don't feel my images are up to standard to really tell anyone else what to do.

I still would give you all the encouragement in the world and think all the advice given here is great.

Good luck.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Steffen

What surprised me was the response to colour. Everybody loved colour. Albireo, the Jewel Box, EB365 near Mimosa, the blue tinge of Neptune, even the naked-eye blueness of Spica were appreciated.

Hi Steffen,
That's interesting you said that.
I was showing my 10 year old nephew some delights thru my 10" dob. Quite ordinary to him was the Orion Nebula. Jupiter raised a little more enthusiasm. So I raised the stakes. Beetelguise needed to save me now. Full of excitement with eyes feeling like they were going pop out of my sockets, I said, "See that bright, huge, orange, star up there? It's going to explode to smithereens". Phoarwwww he was gone! He couldn't get enough of it and kept asking me to show him more stars that were going to blow up . Priceless.

Awesome information you've supplied there Alexander!

Oops nearly forgot to mention: How about the coat hanger cluster? It looks so much like one it might gather some ooohs and aaaahs .
Also, the gorgeous contrasting pair of blue and yellow stars, Albiero in Cygnus. It's close by to Lyra if you end up showing them M57 as Steffen suggested.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...d=0CJ4BEP4dMAs

[Toiletduck (Mitchell)]

These are some excellent tips guys! Greatly appreciated!

[Toiletduck (Mitchell)]

Hi all again.

So I taught this class last week and it was a complete hit! Started out by giving the class a brief history of the telescope, how they function etc.

Then we went onto to Alpha Centauri, the Jewel Box, Saturn, Venus, the Moon and a bunch of clusters.

Everyone had a blast and the the standout celestial object of the night was of course Saturn.

Surprisingly to me, people loved the Alpha centauri binary, they also loved hearing about the small planet orbiting that system.

Anyway, think I might host another class late October - might do a solar scoping session next time!

[omegacrux (David)]

It's good fun isn't it
Myself and three other members had a viewing night at a local primary school last Thursday
Everyone enjoyed themselves , kids and there parents

David

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

Great news.
Sometimes I wish there was a like button here.
Good to hear you are thinking about doing it again too.