by Joe Fragola
I just wanted to add my thanks publicly on the TAC list to Phil Terzian and Dan Wright for coming to my rescue at the Reed Elementary School Star Party last night (Tues., 3/19). I owe you two guys BIG TIME, and to come down to S. San Jose all the way from Cupertino (Phil) and Palo Alto (Dan) during rush hour traffic went "above and beyone the call of duty". Some quick comments about the event....
We actually had FIVE scopes set up - Phil Terzian's C-9.25, Jerry Murphy's 8-inch Meade equatorial reflector (Jerry is the Dad of one of the 2nd grade students), my Orion 10-inch SkyQuest Dob (my daughter Emily, another 2nd grader was the reason I got involved organizing the star party), and Dan Wright's TWO scopes: "Old Smokey" the newly refurbished C-8 "loaner scope" from the SJAA and Dan's own Meade LX200.
Objects observed were: the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula. Phil took the heat off me because my wife was asking me every five minutes when I was going to switch objects from the Moon to Saturn. When I found out Phil had already switched to viewing Saturn some of our "customers" migrated over to Phil's line. I finished showing the Moon to the last half dozen folks in my line, and then finally(!) switched to Saturn. Dan gets the award for bringing the most equipment: the two scopes mentioned previously, his Canon IS 15x50 binoculars (which were way cool to observe the Pleiades with), and TWO green lasers (I've got to get one of those!).
Just to add to the comments I heard....
I also met the girl who made the "sticker" comment about Saturn that Phil mentioned.
There was also a boy (one of the 2nd graders older brothers) that was being kind of a wise ass and said he saw Martians on Jupiter. I tried to quiet him down and said, "You must have really good eyesight or a great imagination". When he kept persisting, I finally told him, "Since we're looking at Jupiter, you couldn't possibly be seeing Martians - they're Jovians!!" That amused him enough to have him go find his parents to report what he saw.
One of my most rewarding moments of the evening was when the Principal of the school was viewing Saturn through my 10-inch Dob. I pointed out Titan and also the asteriod Vesta which happens to be in the same field of view as Saturn for the next couple of nights. The Principal let out one of those rewarding "Wows!" that makes these public Star Parties so fun and rewarding.
My wife and one of the 2nd grade teachers who attended estimated that out of a total of 80 2nd graders, there were 55 who attended. When you add parents and siblings to the total, we must have had about 130 - 140 people who attended. All were very appreciative and excited (even the "stoner neighbor" Dan encountered who wandered over to see what was going on.
I had gone to Reed Elementary School on Monday and Tuesday, speaking to two of the four 2nd grade classes each day. I spoke to them about the origin of the constellations and how myths about the stars and constellations were created. I also told them three star mythology stories. The Star Party was the icing on the cake and I could not have done it without Dan and Phil's help. Thanks again you guys!!