[LVAS] Red Rocks Public Event

[Fred Rayworth]

All,

 

It was sure a pleasure to go out last night and help show people the sky. I set up next to Dave Blanchette who had the club's 24" set up. Beyond him was Rob and his Mallincam setup and next to him were three other scopes set up (sorry I forgot your names).

 

As some of you know, I haven't made the public outings for quite some time. The main reason is that last year they were all scheduled on dark nights and I couldn't sacrifice one of them for a public event. Last night was perfect for the public in that regard.

 

I was able to show a few people the moon, Jupiter, Mars, M-42/M-43 and M-31, M-32, and M-110. As you may have guessed, the conditions were less than ideal. The sky was clearer than we thought it would be, but the glare from Las Vegas and the moon kept us from seeing much detail. That didn't matter as the people that looked through our scopes seemed to love it. I even got to talk with a couple of brand new club members.

 

At first, Rob was doing his presentation to a standing room only crowd. When he finally got out to the scope field, he showed a few more objects than either Dave or I could find. I remember him trying for the moon, but it was too bright for the camera. I also remember the Plieades and M-1.

 

The visitors station is really up there on the hill, not too far from the snow line. When the temperature dropped into the 30's, it was tolerable until the slight breeze came along. I got so cold that I couldn't move my hands. I finally whimped out at 7:00, but by then, most of the public had left anyway.

 

It was worth it.

 

Fred

 
 		 	   		  
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