Our open day - public astronomy

[Andrew*]

I live in a residential training centre for young adults with learning disabilities.

Yesterday we had an open day, so I made up some info sheets on our astro-station project, and had the telescopes out. The day was quite busy, and lots (about 90%) of people passing by stopped to ask about the project, and astronomy in general.

The weather was fine, but clouds were obscuring a crescent moon and the sun, so I had the scope pointing at a tree just to prove it worked! I put in an eyepiece giving 71x, and you could see pine cones and individual needles – it even impressed me!

I had some of my photos printed out to give an idea of what’s visible in the scopes. These really captured the imagination of the visitors. In particular the reactions to the moon and Saturn pictures were very enthusiastic: “…But. <pause> But you didn’t actually take that, did you? I mean, you can’t actually see that through the telescope, can you?” and “Heavens above!! That’s astonishing”.

One particular elderly couple stopped for 15 minutes to talk to me. On sight of the moon picture the lady was very enthusiastic to come around one night to observe, so she got my name and number! The man started to get very philosophical about the scale of it all, and so on.

The overwhelming number and quality of responses all made me realise that actually everyone is interested in astronomy to an extent if only they would ever have a chance to hear about it. One lady discussed a previous visit to Aberdeen Planetarium, which has since closed down. That’s not going to do any good for the popularisation of astronomy! Astronomy is a universal field of interest. It is naturally awe-inspiring and intriguing, even if you don’t have any interest in science.

People also liked the idea of the “students” having a go too. A mother of one of the students in our hobby group was very proud that her son had the chance to see all these wondrous delights!

All in all it was a very pleasant and successful day. It made me realise why I do this and why it is so important to make astronomy more accessible to the general public.

Andrew

[Astro_Baby]

Sounds like a great day - well done you for organising it - I'm sure it was lots of hardwork but very satisfying.

[Black Shuck]

Sounds like a fantastic day Andrew. Pleased you got such a great response - must have been very rewarding.

Do you get the students involved in setting up and taking part in the "exhibition".

Are you planning any more as a seperate event ?

Well done. 8)

Bill£

[DanDare]

Andrew,

Shame the weather wasn't up to much but sounds like a good day was had by all.

Roy

[lunator]

Andrew

Sounded an enjoyable day