ASTRO-Tucson News
Mt. Graham Astronomy Day 2005
Submitted by Project and Family ASTRO partners—Paul and Cathy Anderson
Mt. Graham Astronomy Day 2005 was a huge success with about 250 in attendance. The Desert Skygazers Astronomy Club hosted the event at Discovery Park in Safford, Arizona. We had many from the community helping out to make this a success. The Boy Scouts were parking cars, Eastern Arizona College students were helping out with the Solar Viewing and Rocket launching, and teachers from Discovery Plus Academy and the Discovery Astros Junior Club were assisting in the Game Building. The Lions Club kept us well nourished. We can not forget the local police department that guarded the Moon Rocks for us while they were here.
Our feature attraction was the Moon Rocks from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 landing sites. They arrived from of Drysden Airforce base in California,and were securely held by the Safford Police Department. Participants were given the unique opportunity to not only look at these rocks, but to hold the very case that they were in and observe all sides of the rocks.
NASA Display Building was busy all day with the bottom floor filled with the Cassini/Huygens Display borrowed from the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona. Jim Johnson kept people informed of current events pertaining to these missions. On the next floor up, Bonnie Briscoe gave a hands on demonstration of the Solar System that was well attended through out the day.
On the top floor of the NASA Display Building, a crowd gathered for each of the demonstrations put on by Cathy Anderson. She put on two demos from the Night Sky Network program, sponsored by NASA-JPL-Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The first, Planet Quest, gave many opportunities for the public to learn about planets around other star systems. The second, Galaxies, gave a hands on approach to our universe. After that demonstration, the students were invited to go over to the Game Building and make a galaxy out of old CDs. The last, Comet Making, from Project ASTRO, was the most fun for the public. It was exciting seeing the children smashing dry ice and trying to guess what would happen. Their eyes were wide open as they observed the new comet come from the garbage bag. This was a perfect opportunity to introduce NASAs Deep Impact program.
The Key Note speaker was Dr. Lisa McFarlane from the Lunar and Planetary Lab located at the University of Arizona. She spoke and gave a powerpoint presentation with many photos on the Cassini/Huygens mission. Cassini is currently in orbit around Saturn. Huygens was the probe that hitched hiked on Cassini and was then propelled to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, with a very successful landing. Dr. McFarlane was on the team that made the mosaic pictures of Titan as Huygens went through the atmosphere and landed.
The second speaker was author Ken Graun from Tucson. He has written books for children and adults alike on Astronomy. He used a lot of participation from the audience to keep the atmosphere spell-bound, especially as the 8-foot in diameter Sun was being inflated. He taught the Solar System in a way that few will forget!
There were many things going on in addition to the Demonstrations and Speakers. There was a Solar Viewing Demonstration going on all day. Paul Anderson, along with students from EAC, and club member from Wisconsin, who has recently moved down to Tucson, shared safe solar viewing with the public. They showed pin-hole observing that anyone can make and safely use. Then with 4 - 8” telescopes they were able to show the sunspots (solar storms on the Sun’s surface.) Dennis Bullock had his Coronado Telescope and was showing the Solar Prominences. They had the children come and sketch the Sunspots. These children were put into a drawing and the winners took home real photographs of the Sun during the April 8th Solar Eclipse.
We had a steady flow coming through the Telescope and Binocular Display during the day. Our NASA Solar System Ambassador from Kitt Peak, Chuck Dugan assisted our club members, David Farree and Gregg Cluff in teaching how different telescopes work. Chuck also talked about the different Observatories in the area and what research they feature.
The Discovery Plus Academy teachers and students put on an Astronomy Game Building. This building featured Family ASTRO -and Project ASTRO games and demonstrations. They also had games from NASA Kids, NASA Space Place and the GEMS program. This gave parents and teachers alike the opportunity to watch the children as they interacted with the games, and learned which game would fit in their curriculum the best. Wendy MacDonnell supervised the many activities going on throughout the day.
Participants during the day had the opportunity to board for a Train Ride through the Solar System. During this fun ride, they were informed of the flags out in the park that were set up to show the scale-distances of the planets.
During the morning hours, participants were treated to Rocket Launching put on by EAC Rocketry Students, NASA Earth Crew, and John Ratje. They sent many rockets hundreds of feet into the air. Students calculated their trajectory and then went and rescued them as they returned to Earth.
There were many more attractions that kept the day rolling along. There were two Door Prize Drawings that got out many posters, books, DVDs, CDs, and much more information to the public. Other conveniences for the day were the Discovery Park Gift Shop, the Lion’s Club Food Court—and the Astronomy Vendor - Skyworks.
Everyone left with a bag of Astronomy materials and lithographs to help them continue their interest in the study of Astronomy.
That evening a group reconvened under our Natural Planetarium, the Arizona Night Skies. The evening started with Astronomical League’s, the Universe Sampler Workshop. The public learned how to walk around the night skies. Many were interested in the Telescope Workshop that followed. And the wonderful day, filled with hours of Astronomical information, was concluded with a public Star Party with the planets, Saturn and Jupiter stealing the show from the Moon. Other deep sky objects were visible in the different types of telescopes that the club had set up for this event.
A picture perfect day finished with a picture perfect night to remember.
The photographs in this article are thanks to the efforts of John Chiravalle, Lindsey Stockton, Reporter for the Eastern Arizona Courier, and LeAnn Arganbright, Publisher of the Arizonian.
