Ottawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group
In late April,
the Ottawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group put on a 16 hour
International Astronomy Day celebration in a parking lot outside
a large bookstore in Ottawa, Canada. It was a great opportunity
to reach out to the public and tell them about meteor observing!
Co-author Cathy Hall was able to attend and help out with this
great outreach effort.
During the
16 hours of the event, over 1,000 people of all ages stopped by
to chat and ask questions about our astronomical displays. We
had about a dozen telescopes, ranging in size from a 16-inch Newtonian
reflector on a Dobsonian mount down to a beginner size refractor.
We had a high tech computer controlled 12-inch Meade LX200 with
a television monitor display showing the spots on the sun by day
and moon craters by night. We had binoculars on special manipulative
binocular mounts. We had a full size wooden take-down portable
observatory with Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope inside. And - we
had Pierre Martin's rather unique meteor coffin, complete with
meteor observing dummy - bright red Elmo of Sesame Street fame!
Elmo was all
snug and comfortable in Pierre's mummy shaped sleeping bag, on
top of a reclining Coleman camp cot. Surrounding the camp cot
was Pierre's portable "coffin" a series of lightweight
wooden panels hinged together to form 4 walls, with the wall at
the head end higher to block light trespass near the observer.
Under actual observing conditions, Elmo would have a lightweight
silver survival tarp fastened over the wooden walls to help keep
heat inside on cold nights, and perhaps have a portable heater.
Behind Elmo, we placed a blue umbrella with white stars and constellations,
to mimic the night sky. Pierre placed a small tape recorder inside
the sleeping bag, and set it to play an actual night of recorded
meteors - Leonids no less. This lady Canadian co-author, Pierre,
and (yes) Elmo all traveled to Europe for the Leonids in 1999.
Elmo had a plotting map on his little lap, and an inflatable space
shuttle was just off to his side - you can see the space shuttle
go over when you are watching meteors too!
The kids loved
him! They saw the sun and moon through all the fancy telescopes,
with all the wires and power packs and fancy computer controlled
drives - and they saw that you don't need any of that to watch
meteors like Elmo. All you need is a lawnchair and a sleeping
bag. We had so many cries of glee from the kids - "look Daddy,
it's Elmo!"
We had information
for older viewers too. Our brochures on NAMN, the North American
Meteor Network, were popular. They provide information on the
how, why, when and where of meteor observing, a list of showers
for 2001, and who to contact for more information. They are available
for public events, star parties and astronomy clubs - send a note
to our NAMN coordinator if you would like to get one to run off
some copies for your particular event!
We had photos
of meteors and fireballs interspersed with shots of galaxies and
star clusters on our display panels. Oh, and comets too, of course,
being the usual parent bodies of our meteor streams. This Canadian
co-author made sure to wear a colorful astro shirt with shooting
stars both back and front. We had a helium filled metallic comet.
We did have a helium filled metallic sun too, but it flew out
of orbit, and the last we saw, it was headed south towards the
U.S. border. We had assorted astronomical rubber stamps that the
kids could use to make inked impressions on paper - and we also
had astronomical pictures that they could take home to color.
Courtesy of
Sky and Telescope magazine, we had hundreds of free handout booklets
on "Getting Started in Astronomy." These include star
charts and a moon map, and are available free of charge to astronomical
groups doing displays for the public. Thank you, Sky Publishing!
The OAOG,
the Ottawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group, was co-founded
by Rock Mallin of Ottawa back in 1994, and has become an enthusiastic
addition to the Canadian amateur astronomical community. Their
website can be found at http://members.home.net/observers-group.
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