Thanks Donna
So long as the storms stay away we should have a good night here in Gove NT.
I have put out a press release for the event, unfortunatly it only came out late last night, even though I submitted it earlier in the week ! http://pressexposure.com/Astronomers...ner-15517.html
I am sure this event will go from strength to strength as it becomes better known.
Great to see you on the forum, I hope you will stick around a while.
You will find lots of AA's keen on public outreach astronomy here.
Cheers
Ian
Well, you are guys are probably still at and i am preparing for the open night at the SAAO here in Cape Town. Wind is blowing at a fair clip but there are no clouds so the public should get a good nights viewing. No cameras , only visual delights.
The observatory will open the Maclean telescope which is over 100 years old.
Big refractor housed in a huge dome with elevator floor. The public love it.
However my 12" Newt gives a comparable view and normally end up with a large line of people waiting to look at whatever the target is.
It seems a the bigger the telescope the greater the attraction.
Anyway hope you all had fun and I sure will enjoy tonight.
Well, Melbourne was well and truly clouded out, even the Moon was difficult to find. I feel a bit guilty, being the thread starter but not actually doing anything I was hoping to get something happening at Fed Square but with the Easter break, then we went away for a week, and the clear weather went away and the clouds rolled in. I have put little "fliers" in the letter boxes of several neighbours for tonight...but the sky at the moment is not looking so good, but I am in Melbourne so the weather right now bears no resemblence to the weather in the next hour
Thanks for waking us up to it OneOfOne. We had a pretty good night at Mt Coot-tha Lookout in Brisbane. Lots of scopes, lots of people and lots of good views planetary and deep sky stuff.
Here is a shot of the Moon with the vixen when I got selfish and took 5 minutes at the scope for myself . Image cropped to about 80% and trimmed and resized to 1600 x 1200. Minimal processing in PS.
A lady came up with a 40D and I was able to take my 400D off and let her use prime focus and the TC-80N3. Hope she was happy with the results.
As the afternoon storms roll in here in Nhulunbuy I can reflect back on a very successful ISAN.
We had 3 scopes out,an 8 and 10 inch Dob, plus an LX-90.
We had probably 50 or 60 people stop for a look, many of whom had never looked through a telescope before.
That fact alone made the night a great success.
They did an Announcement over the PA at the adjacent club, that bought a few people out for a look.
Targets for the night were: Moon, Mars, Saturn, Sirus, Alpha Cent and the Orion Nebula.
Make sure you guy's put a report up on the ISAN site. http://pub29.bravenet.com/forum/2432970464/show/827072
I decided to go down here last night . I was surprised that probably 30 people finished up having a look and a chat..I actualy packed a chair thinking I'd be definately be doing a bit of sitting alone in the dark..not a chance though never got it out of the car.
To sum up the evening a young woman just before I had to leave... looked at the view of
Saturn for the first time through a 7m nagler and gasped .. serious ....Hope everyone else had a great night
I glad we got some shots of our night at Mt Coot-tha. Thanks Tony (is it?)
Usually when you have children look through the scope, even at Saturn, the response is often, "Yeah, that looks great" and they leave within seconds. One child stood staring through the eyepiece for several minutes, hints from her father to stop hogging the scope went unheeded... it was great to see someone so obviously enthralled with their experience.
I was hoping to get something happening at Fed Square but with the Easter break, then we went away for a week, and the clear weather went away and the clouds rolled in. I have put little "fliers" in the letter boxes of several neighbours for tonight...but the sky at the moment is not looking so good, but I am in Melbourne so the weather right now bears no resemblence to the weather in the next hour 
. Image cropped to about 80% and trimmed and resized to 1600 x 1200. Minimal processing in PS.
