We had another mild and pleasant evening with clear skies with a slight haze Tuesday night at St.Peter’s United Methodist West in Fulshear. We had a much bigger group than expected with about 75 scouts, parents and scout leaders attending for a telescope viewing from 7pm to 8pm.
Wendy Walfoort brought the club’s astrophotography/EAA loaner scope and showed a live stack of the Dumbbell nebula to wow the Scouts. I was impressed with how skilled she has become in using this scope and she is so well organized. Even though she had the most complicated setup, she was packed up before the rest of us at the end of the event.
Sean Carey brought his 5 inch celestron Schmidt Cassegrain scope and showed views of Saturn. Although he had some technical issues at first, he was able to get set up during the event. Sean is still fairly new to AOWs but said has learned valuable lessons at each AOW he has attended. After the event he mentioned to me that he really likes outreach events with kids as that develops life long memories for them and may get them interested in astronomy.
I brought my trusty 8 inch Orion Dobsonian and switched between the double star Albireo and Saturn. When I saw Bill Dillon on Albireo at the last AOW, I thought it would make a nice bright easy target for the younger kids to see with contrasting colors. It worked out great. That is the nice thing about AOWs in that we learn from each other.
The scouts came out to view in groups of ascending age order. Just like at the Karankawa Scout camp AOW, they were very appreciative and thanked us for coming out. We left the event satisfied that we inspired some young minds.
