From the Gastronomical to the astronomical
The Capital City Astronomy Club kept up the pace on outreach last week with two more stargazing events.
First, we had a potluck/astronomy night with the students and families of La Mariposa Montessori School on Friday the 20th. Yummy food and clear skies attracted a large crowd of excited children and parents. The club had 6 members on hand ready to sample the gastronomical and the astronomical.
My son is third year student at La Mariposa. He brought his telescope along to share with his schoolmates. While I worked with my 20″ reflector and targeted distant globular clusters, he used his 8″ reflector to share views of the Moon and Jupiter.
Then on Saturday, we headed out to Cerrillos Hills State Park, about 15 miles south of Santa Fe, to do a “Reach for the Stars” event. Launched in 2005, NM State Parks’ award-winning “Reach for the Stars” program brings stargazing and night sky interpretation events to 35 parks locations around New Mexico.
We drew a crowd of 26 people out to this remote park location and spent two wonderful hours drinking in the view of the sky’s best celestial objects.
I have more events planned in upcoming weeks including a “Choosing and Using a Telescope” Seminar for early December and two more “Reach for the Stars” programs including December 12th at the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque and a Holiday Star Party for December 18th at the historic Hyde Memorial State Park lodge in the mountains near Santa Fe.
