So Far, So Good

Friday was the first Cache Valley Stargazers meeting I made it to in a long time. It was also the last one until fall. There are several star parties scheduled over the summer, though. On July 9, there will be one out at Newton Reservoir. The rest will be held at Mt Logan Park on:

18 June,

16 July,

6 & 13 August,

10 & 17 September.

The Star Parties are scheduled to start at 9:30pm.

Saturday afternoon, there was a Family & Children's Expo up at Utah State University. We had a booth, & probably about 100 people came by. A few kids tried out the Galileoscope or the Electromagnet, but the big hit was the Hydrolic Robot. It uses syringes with colored water to move various hinges, like an arm. The challenge for the kids was to work together to make the robot pick up Legos or pens & drop them in a box.

The Star Trek clubs in Northern Utah had a Giant Star Party scheduled all last weekend. My husband went with me out there on Saturday evening for dinner & visiting. Since is was overcast, we played a fast Star Wars Roleplaying Game round, which was fun. About 11:00, a few of the clouds cleared out, & we were able to see, in turn, Ophiucus, Scorpius, Delphinus, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, & Lyra. It never got clear enough to set up telescopes, though.

Today was the first day of the Astronomy Summer Camp. There were a dozen kids signed up. Today we did introductions, made planispheres and practiced using the planispheres with Flash Planetarium. Then we went outside and did some Kinesthetic Astronomy-type activities. I think it went well, and hope the next three days will also go well. I'll let you know tomorrow & Wednesday. Thursday, as soon as camp is over, I will be heading to Uprising, where I will also be teaching an astronomy class. I'll let you know how that goes next Monday.