Astronomy Day 2012

Golden Pond Observatory - Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Saturday, 27 April 2012, was Astronomy Day at the Golden Pond Planetarium and Observatory. WKAA club members set up their scopes (and helped run the observatory scope) to look at the Sun and Moon throughout the day. We started with a mostly cloudy sky offering 10 second peeks at the sun between 10 minutes of clouds, but the clouds slowly dissipated allowing longer and longer viewing times. In the observatory, we set up the Coronado 40mm H-alpha scope to look at solar prominences while outside we set up scopes with glass and mylar solar filters for viewing sunspots. Solar activity is increasing and we were able to show the public some sunspots and quite a few prominences. Several people took pictures of the sun through the scopes with their digital cameras and cell phone cameras with varying degrees of success. My daughter, Merrilee, took the one below through the Coronado. Click on the image to view a higher resolution version with several prominences visible.

Sun through Coronado 40mm H-Alpha - Copyright (c) 2012 Merrilee Vickers Graf. Used by permission.

In the afternoon, a couple of us set up on the Moon as well, so we would have something else to show. People seem to never tire of looking at the Moon. I think they relate more to an object with features they can recognize like craters and mountains. Kids, especially, kept coming back for second and third looks.

I tried to find Venus through binoculars but could not locate it. I didn’t know precisely where to look and the sky was still somewhat hazy with some high, thin clouds.

Over 400 people attended, mostly in small groups that came throughout the day – not too bad. We probably would have had more if the bridge over Kentucky Lake wasn’t out. There were also free planetarium shows and activities for kids and adults inside the Visitor’s Center.

Be sure to come to one (or more) of our “Summer Nights” events from Memorial Day to Labor Day. They are held on selected Saturday nights and WKAA members will be on hand (weather permitting) with their telescopes. Contact the Planetarium for a schedule.