With all the "Mars Madness", back-to-school craziness, and labor-day lens cleanup, I didn't get to post my thanks to SJAA and Mike Koop for organizing the public shows at Hauge Park, and for all the TAC enthusiasts who showed up and helped. They did a great job.
Friday night was definitely a trial by fire preview of the following week. We brought only two scopes that night - one C8 and Ben's fork-mount 6 inch f/8.5 Newtonian home-built - expecting only a small group. We didn't even bother to bring the clock drive, expecting to just tweak it as needed. What a mistake! 350 people seems just about right, Mike. The line for the C8 was 30+ at one point.
We took it seriously the following Weds night. All four scopes, one per person (mom, dad, Ben, and Rebecca). C8's on battery-powered clock drive and high power eyepieces. Pre-check and practice the night before. Ready, set, go!
Rebecca was easily the most popular of our group among younger kids and grandparent types. She worked hard all evening to make sure everyone was able to see Mars through her 6 inch f/4 Newtonian, and talking to kids her age (8) and younger about how cool thing astronomy is.
Ben, as usual, had over 80 people (he counted) look through his 50-inch long "cannon" that night. It's not easy - it's a full-body observing experience moving that scope around, and he loves it!
Mom and dad actually had a more relaxed time of it. Helps to bring the clock drives. Both C8's had 30+ people in line at the peak, probably because people walked into the park at the driveway on the sidewalk where we located the scopes. We kept shouting "There are over 30 scopes, please look through them all!". Lots of great questions about Mars.
We setup both nights around 7:30pm and were ready to go by 8pm. While the big Weds night Mars approach was continually threatened by creeping clouds moving around the valley, amazingly Mars held out - our last view of Mars obscured and winking out only at 10pm.
Driving back to Summit, we broke through those clouds. It was a beautiful night on the mountain and Mars flared brilliantly.
Thank you again Mike and TACos! I know from the people I spoke with that night, that you all made a lot of people very happy.
Lynne.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sf-bay-tac-bounces@No-Spam [mailto:sf-bay-tac-bounces@No-Spam]On
> Behalf Of Michael Koop
> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 3:30 PM
> To: sf-bay-tac@No-Spam
> Subject: [TAC] Mars Madness tonight at Houge Park!
>
>
> This is just a reminder that we will be hosting a Mars Madness Star Party
> tonight over at Houge Park. Last Friday, we had over 350 people attend and
> expect a similar crowd tonight. Please bring your scope if you possibly
> can.
>
> We have taken steps to correct the sprinkler problem. My apologies to
> those people whose scopes got wet last Friday. I personally have taken
> responsibility for contacting the Houge Park people and the grounds
> maintenance personnel of the park about the sprinklers. Today, I have
> talked to the park representative who assures me that the sprinklers will
> not turn on tonight. Sometime in the future, I will be meeting with these
> people to get a kill switch put in so that we never have this problem
> again. Until we get that kill switch, it would be wise to be prepared.
> Bring a bucket or towel to place over a sprinkler head, or plastic to
> quickly throw over a scope.
>
> Sunset: 7:44 PM
> Civil Twilight: 8:11 PM
> Nautical Twilight: 8:43 PM
> Astronomical Twilight: 9:16 PM
>
> Mars Rises: 8:08 PM
> Mars Transits: 1:16 PM
>
> Clear Skies,
> Mike Koop
> President, San Jose Astronomical Association
>
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