Members of the public came out for evening viewing on clear nights during the week of Astronomy Day 2015 (April 19th to 25th). They joined our volunteers for Sidewalk Astronomy and enjoying the springtime night sky.
Gazebo Park
Gazebo Park in Old Strathcona, on 83 Avenue between 103 and 104 Street
Saturday, April 25th
Three members were at Gazebo park sharing outstanding lunar viewing with about 80 members of the public. Many people who stopped by remarked on how sharp the Moon looked through the telescope.
Several lunar features were visible through the scopes, including:
- the craters Hipparcus and Albategnius, first drawn by Galileo in 1609, standing out along the terminator; and
- the Caucasus mountain range near the Mare Serenitatis
Another lunar highlight occurred around 9:50pm when the orange star HR 3376, magnitude 6.2, was very near the dark limb of the Moon. At 1o:00pm, HR3376 was occulted by the moon.
The Promenade
The Promenade overlooking Victoria Park, on the south side of 100 Avenue at 118 Street
Thursday, April 23rd
Four members made it out to the Promenade around 9:00pm. They had about 25 to 30 visitors viewing through a 12.5″ and a 5″ scope before almost solid cloud and few passers-by encouraged them to call it a day at 10:30.
The sky was partly cloudy with clear patches–more clear to the north and cloud to south. But there were quite a few good views of the Moon and/or Jupiter.
The seeing wasn’t great, but good enough to could faintly discern the Great Red Spot on Jupiter with the Jovian Moons’ discs fairly obvious at 215x in the 12.5″ scope.
The telescopic view of Earth’s Moon always amazes the general public, with great interest in views of Jupiter and many wows.
Venus was hanging in the West with Aldebaran to its lower left.
It wasn’t too cool, but a breeze necessitated good bit of extra clothing. The clouds posed a bit of a problem, but most visitors hung around for a few minutes or continued their walk returning later to catch a view.