This meant also that I did not deliver my weather station presentation...
Photo by Malcolm MacLeod with Canon PowerShot S2 IS. Through glass.
I kept tabs on the weather through the day. It really seemed touch-and-go but Guy and crew called it fairly early on, after examining the Clear Sky Clocks.
Still, I operated under the premise that the weather would foul. And that required that I move ahead with preparations for my weather station presentation. The big thing I had to do was photocopy the handouts.
I had arranged a ride with Tony up the OSC. I had also asked to borrow his old analog barometer, for a prop. We both suspected, as the afternoon wore on, that it wouldn't be needed. Still, we packed it.
Tony agreed to pick me up at my house! Saved me even more walking (I was tired for the earlier errands jaunt). While waiting outside, I enjoyed the clear dark skies. Orion was climbing high. Gemini was overhead.
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The turn out was incredible. We had a lot of members and people from the general public at our meeting presentation (relocated to the Gemini room--a touch crowded).
Brenda did the "Sky This Month" presentation but seemed frazzled. Dennis did some preamble, touched about the Toronto Centre, RASC in general, the Observatory Park Working Group, and other matters. Guy stepped up to do his lunar eclipse piece but experienced technical difficulties in setting up the laptop and projector.
(I wonder if I could somehow help the team with general presentation tips...)
Later, outside, we were visited by hundreds of people, all ages. Sara reported that we had 450 visitors! Incredible.
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In addition to the reddening Moon, we looked at Saturn and Mars.
Tony had his 10x Bushnell binoculars going albeit on a tiny tripod. Still, it worked. Nice view, at 10 times, of the Moon. I noticed his have the same quick focus rocker bar that mine have...
Through my 7x Bushnell binos, you could tell Saturn was not round; it looked like a tiny pale white football!
David had his 8" dob 'scope going. I helped stand guard and re-aim it later in the evening. So I got to take a few looks through the 12mm eyepiece at 100x. Nice view.
Titan was clearly visible to the right. A visitor spotted a faint moon very close to the rings. Tom guessed it was Rhea.
Pat had his huge 25x binoculars on a surveyor's tripod. Excellent view.
Tony, David, Pat, and myself forgot to look for the comet! Oops.
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It was mighty cold tonight!
I had prepared. I had my Nomex long underwear on. Red winter coat with several layers underneath. New thermal socks and my winter boots. My feet did start to get cold at the end... Wore my Subaru toque. I had packed my ski pants and suspenders but did not put them on. I had also packed my new balaclava.
Tony loaned me an air-activated heat pack by HeatMax. Incredible stuff. It took a few minutes to get going but once it fired up, it was hot! I only used one and kept flipping it back and forth between gloves.
I had considered my butane hand warmer but thought twice about using it. Probably not appropriate with lots of people around, including little humans.
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The media was out again. CTV interviewed David at length. A reporter from CBC Radio was interviewing a young boy in my area. And then he turned to me for some more questions. I commented on how some of these kids here tonight, enthused about astronomy and science, could very well be future astronauts going to live and work on Mars!
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I invited a bunch of people to the event:
Malcolm and the kids. Admittedly, I was not surprised they did not trek out to the OSC. It is a long way for them to go. Still, they enjoyed the view from their backyard. I imagine they could easily view it from the back porch.
I invited Hilary and Cam and the kids. No word from them. Cam sent me an unrelated message earlier in the day.
I invited Alex (and Jennifer and kids). It would have been nice to finally meet up with Alex before we do our Runnymede astronomy event. Alas, they did not show. Later, I heard back from Alex: work and kid schedules made it impossible for them. Still, they took it in from their neighbourhood.
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I heard from Diane after the event. Long time no chat. She sent along a photo from a friend or co-worker.
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