Mid-Kent Astronomical Society - Sidewalk Astronomy Event Report

Sidewalk Astronomy Event Report

Written by Dave Paulding

Monday, 06 April 2009

As part of the International Year of Astronomy and Spring Moonwatch activities, MKAS held 9 days of 'Sidewalk Astronomy' in the Medway Maritime car park.

Some photos taken on some of these events are now online in the Photo Galleries under the club photos category.

Seeing the Moon in close-up

The aim was to expose the general public to astronomy by letting them see astronomical objects through a telescope.

We used two of the society's telescopes, some members also brought their own, and set them up in an area used by public and invited passers-by to look at the Moon and planet Saturn while we gave them information about the object, answered questions and generally promoted astronomy and our society.

We were observing between 19:00 and 22:00 on evenings with suitable weather between 28th March and 5th of April 2009, when the Moon was around it's first quarter.

Seeing Saturn for the first time

Saturday	28th March	All of the members who attended this event agreed that it was a very worth while evening. We set up the gazebo and three telescopes by about 17:30 and the waited for the clouds to clear away from the position of the Moon, which eventually happened and we were able to see the thin crescent Moon in daylight with the naked eye. As darkness fell the Moon became more apparent to passers by and interest grew. We watched the passage of the ISS between 19:19 and 19:24, luckily that part of the sky was clear for the whole pass. We were then able to find Saturn and show it to passers by, the usual reaction was "WOW". There were periods where both the Moon and Saturn were obscured by cloud and we were not able to offer views of any object. The cloud cover beacame 100% and light rain began to fall just before 21:00 so we decided to pack the equipment away and end the session for the night. It seemed that the chance to look at these objects through a large telescope was very well received by those that participated which made us feel that it was worth while.

Sunday	29th March	We set-up the gazebo and telescopes at 19:00 today, there was still plenty of daylight and cloud at that point, large gaps in the clouds began to appear to the west around 20:00 and we could observe the crescent Moon. The gaps opened up in the east enough to see Saturn by about 20:20 and we watched the ISS pass between 20:46 and 20:50, again the whole pass was clear of cloud. We were able to continue until the planed end time of 22:00. Once again the chance to view the Moon and Saturn was met with great enthusiasm by the public that got the chance to look, there were fewer people about being a Sunday but it was still very much a success.

Monday	30th March	Unfortunately the weather people seem to be off form at the moment, we arrived with high hopes from a forecast and seeing large areas of clear sky all day long but at 19:00 we were looking up at the cloud bottoms as we put the gazebo up, the high pressure zone to the south seemed to be holding the cloud above us and we weren't able to see anything and it didn't get any better as time passed. We abandoned the event at about 20:30 hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Tuesday	31st March	Unfortunately the sky did not clear and the event was abandoned, fortunately there were not many people about to see the heavens.

Wednesday	1st April	The number of passers by were larger than on Monday and Tuesday, we also had the largest turn out of members with their telescopes, there were 7 telescopes in all. The sky remained clear throughout the period that we were observing but the wind was strong enough to force us to take the gazebo down after a very short time, and the wind chill made it feel very cold. The response from the public was very good, as we have seen on previous nights, several people arrived just to look through the telescopes and they had no other business in the area, this is very encouraging and we think that it may generate some new membership for the society. All in all a very worthwhile event.

Thursday	2nd April	The evening was misty at ground level but clear upward, which is what counts so we had uninterrupted views of the Moon and Saturn, the Moon was particularly good of spotting detail. The number of passes by was quite low but those that looked were impressed and there were a number of people that had been referred by friends and some repeat visitors that had observed on previous nights.

Friday	3rd April	The cloud cleared for us to be able to make observations but there was some ground level mist that persisted, we set up the equipment and began to show the Moon to the public at around 19:20. As the skies darkened, the mist increased and Sirius was engulfed soon after it became visible, and later Saturn was visible long enough to let 4 people see it before it was hidden by the increasing mist. The sky then began to cloud over and the Moon became obscured but we had limited viewing through thin cloud for a while and then it was totally obscured. We decided to pack the instruments away for the night at around 21:00. In total there were 5 instruments used tonight and we had a good flow of passers by early on.

Saturday	4th April	This evening turned out to be clear and stable with very good views of both the Moon and Saturn. We set up the gazebo and telescopes by 19:15 and began observing the Moon straight away, Saturn was spotted just after 20:00 and we had uninterrupted views until the end of the evening. There were a great number of public about who got the opportunity to see both objects through different types of telescope. There were two society owned telescopes and 3 brought down by members, two members of the public even brought telescopes and joined in, we saw some repeat visitors and some people who had been referred by friends the had seen us on previous nights. The sheer number of people and the relative warmth of the night meant that more people were willing to stop for a look and they were spending longer at the eyepiece, we continued observing for an extra 30-35 minutes past the planned 22:00 end time, we had finally packed away by 22:45. This was a very productive event in terms of the goal of exposing astronomy to the general public and it gave a sense of great satisfaction to all those members who were present because of the reactions of those who were seeing Saturn and the Moon in close-up for the first time.

Sunday	5th April	The weather at the start of the evening was mostly clear with a few high altitude whisps of cloud. We were set up and ready to go by 19:20 and started to observe the Moon, there were 4 telescopes in use. Sirius was visible by 19:55 and Saturn was found just after 20:00 and observed with much enthusiasm by the public. Again we had some repeat visitors, some on their third visit, and some who had been referred by others that had been there on previous nights. The number of passers by were good but less than on Friday and Saturday this gave us the opportunity to speak to people at greater length about astronomy in general. The magnitude -6 Iridium flare appeared as predicted at 21:20:45 to the delight of the society members present, but there were no members of the public around at the time. The numbers of passers by fell to just one or two by 21:30 and some cloud began to roll over so we decided to pack up for the last time and we were away by around 21:45.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 May 2009 )

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