We had lots of sun at the Earth Day event in Mission Plaza, SLO on Sat. April 24th, 2010. Representing CCAS were members Dave and President Aurora, who found they were the only booth that didn’t bring a tent for shade, as their exhibit included five solar-viewing telescopes.
Dave’s 12″ Dob had an off-axis solar filter which was dimmer than Aurora’s 8″ Newtonian which had a full filter on the end. The sun was mercilessly clear – not a sunspot in sight, nor flare could be seen through the h-alpha scope. However, the star performer at the booth was actually the radio telescope, as word spread like wildfire through the plaza that you could ‘hear’ the sun if you went to the ‘telescope’ booth. Aurora had converted a small satellite TV dish into a radio telescope, and through some fancy wiring, was able to hook it up to a set of earphones.
We have a couple of new members and a lot of interest and education as a result of the warm summer-like afternoon, and everyone walked away with smiles in the eyes and stars ringing in their ears.
In case you missed it, you can join our next Sidewalk Astronomy Event by checking our calendar here!
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