Saturday, October 20, 2012

Harrison's first star party

Harrison showing his star chart to his public

My son Harrison is a cub scout, but even if he wasn't he'd want to participate in a star party (even if just because I'm into it).  Tonight we brought his 70mm scope, I equipped him with a 25mm eyepiece and turned him loose.  We'd practiced aiming at the house and his red dot was sighted in (fairly well) so I told him to show the kids the moon.

We had about 200 - 300 people and at least 100 kids who absolutely had to be in his line.  He talked and showed and was an ambassador of the sky for hours.  He explained to them that the red light would preserve their night vision and showed them how to use star charts and identify the bright stars.  He kept his scope pointed (manually) at the moon and when people said they couldn't see anything he took care of it graciously.

I could not have been prouder of my Junior Astronomer son.  Kids loved talking to him (in their language) and were really excited to have a person their size who was on the staff. :)