blown away

Stu sent out a report of the DDO session.

Paul and I were blown away by the response to the new Members Night format at the DDO last Saturday.  Looks like we had about 38 members participate.  A wonderful mix of new and long time members but even better, everyone really enjoyed themselves.  Given the temperatures outside (and inside the dome) the enthusiasm was testimony to the passion we all have for astronomy.

Besides using the 74" scope, some members brought telescopes to setup in the parking lot and tracked down the targets on the evening's list.  The DDO is an unbeatable venue for this type of event, where we can socialize, inform, and observe/image.  Best of all, everyone pitched in so willingly to make every aspect of the evening enjoyable that it certainly realized our hope that it would be a highly interactive, participative (read "fun") evening for us all.

We'd like to thank several people who helped make the evening a success;   Phil and Jim for giving excellent presentations on observing and imaging, Bill for driving out to get the pizza and coffee, Gilles for wiring up the audio/video system in the lecture hall, and Diane, Rajesh and Ed for running the dome.  And of course Katrina for braving the cold with her scope, Blake for helping with star hopping, and [prof. Laframboise] who brought his scope along.

Looks like the new format is good. Certainly this is more in-line with the expectations I had when I joined the RASC.