David Letcher, Outreach Coordinator

Ms. Stephanie Williams of the Newell Elementary School in Allentown, NJ has invited us to participate in their science night on Friday, November 15, 2013. This is one of our regular star parties. We have been going there for years. Let me know if you can volunteer. Bring your telescope so we can show the children and their parents the night sky.

My annual fall lectures on backyard astronomy resumed last Friday evening, September 20th. This is the third year for me. These lectures are held at the Nature Center at Washington’s Crossing State Park. We had 18 people in this first session! After the lecture ended at 8:30 p.m., we all walked over to the observatory for an evening of viewing in a very clear, but moonlit sky. Everyone had a great time. We observed M57, the moon, and the Mizar-Alcor system in the handle of the Big Dipper. Some of the volunteers showed people how to identify some constellations, but the brightness of the moon made that a bit difficult.

Many thanks to Larry Kane for assisting me during the lecture and to Gene Ramsey and the team during the observing session. I will present two more successive Friday evening lectures this fall.