Star Party for a Local Private School

On November 16, 2007, NWGAA members Hank Blackwood and Eric Smith hosted a star party for a 5th grade class at Christian Heritage School in Dalton, GA. Four scopes were setup, a Newtonian, two Meade LX200GPS, and a Meade ETX125. The venue was a semi-rural farm that allowed for fairly good skies. Students were shown various objects that represented the contents of most catalogues. Parents and students were wow'ed with what they saw and learned. The event lasted about two hours.

Star Party - Great Success

The NWGAA Star Party was a big success. Most members were present resulting in 12 telescopes and views of great variety. We had approximately fourty guest, some as far away as Atlanta and Chattanooga. Most of the guest were gone by 10:00 pm and mos tof the astronomers by 11:00 pm. We believe that our next event will have even more visitors because of the positive word of mouth. Some of the members have suggested moving the next event to a venue closer to Calhoun.

Star Gaze for a Dalton Private School

I thought some of you might find this interesting - it created a whole new aspect of astronomy for me. I had a great experience this weekend with my wife's 4th grade class. She teaches at a private school and wanted to give the kids an opportunity to look through a telescope at the moon and make some sketches,identify craters, etc - more than just a classroom approach. Well...I have never been keen with children around my scopes, but how could I turn down my wife ;-)? The staff offered to help with parking and take care of wrangling the children - so I said yes.

I set up my 2 scopes. The kids arrived (from 2 4th grade classes no less!). I was ready to be rigid and swat hands and scold. Well...After about 15 minutes of some of the most honest and innocent questions about "the man in the moon", "green cheese", "how do you potty on the moon" and the like, I began to truly enjoy the experience. They were all so well behaved, and had a genuine interest in what I had to say. (I may have lost some of my curmudgeon tendencies.) They asked questions I couldn't answer either, tough questions!


I enjoyed this sort of "reaching-out".

I just had to share.

Hank B.

Star Party - October 21

Hoping for a better chance at clear skies, NWGAA has scheduled the annual star party for October 21, 2006 at the Earth n' Sky farm. This will be an event open to the public. Schools, home-schoolers, and all others are encouraged to attend. This year's event will host an Interactive Viewing that challenges visitors to identify the night sky objects found in the eyepiece.

Before dark, visitors may walk around the field, meet the astronomers, and get a good daylight view of the equipment. There will be an astronomer at every scope to assist and answer questions. After twilight, the Interactive Viewing begins. After receiving a printed guide, visitors will have the opportunity to identify the night sky objects. Each astronomer will have a unique type of night sky object for visitors to view and indentify. The view in each telescope will change about every twenty minutes. Interactive Viewing will continue until 10:00 pm. However, after that time, visitors are still welcomed. Astronomers will then select their favorite night sky objects. For more information or driving directions, contact NWGAA by email.

Astronomy Day 2006

NWGAA members were the invited guest of the Weinman Mineral Center for Astronomy Day on May 6, 2006. NWGAA provided solar viewing for the public via baader and H-alpha filters. Boy scout troups, Weinman members and many guest from the general public enjoyed the day. NWGAA also provided exhibits of educational materials as well as informative displays regarding the solar system. Although NWGAA's focus was to assist the Wienman Center, NWGAA members greatly enjoyed each others company. One highlight came near the end of the day as a gentleman not associated
with NWGAA brought a telescope he built in 1965. His pride in this piece of equipment was as appealing as the scope itself.