Written by Robert Duff, as Reported by Peter Jedicke and Andrew Peters
Mostly overcast skies greeted 55 children and adults for the Star Night at Byron Northview Public School, Tuesday, October 16th, 2018, 7:00—9:00 p.m. The Star Night was requested by the Grade 6 teacher. RASC London Centre was represented by Dave McCarter, Peter Jedicke, Everett Clark, Mike Costa and Andrew Peters and his son Dylan. Everett Clark brought the London Centre’s 8-inch (20.3cm) Celestron NexStar 8SE Schmidt-Cassegrain and Andrew Peters and his son Dylan brought their 25.4cm Orion XT10i Dobsonian. Mike Costa brought his 25.4cm home built Truss-Tube Dobsonian.
Dave McCarter gave an outdoor digital slide presentation on the August 21st, 2017, Solar Eclipse, which was well received. Since the sky was mostly cloudy, the only objects observed were the stars Arcturus, Mizar and Alcor, globular cluster M103 and the first-quarter Moon.
Andrew Peters reported that the southern half of the sky was cloud covered but that there were some open parts to the north and northeast. Andrew directed his 25.4cm Orion XT10i Dobsonian towards the open cluster M103 in the constellation Cassiopeia, showing the children the red giant in the cluster. He discussed how the red giant was a different kind of star from our Sun and those around it in the cluster. There were intermittent breaks and thinning in the clouds towards the south allowing Andrew to point his telescope towards the Moon and give the children a sense of its geography, although seeing conditions on the whole were poor. Andrew used a Celestron X-Cel LX 9mm eyepiece (133X) almost exclusively, but also used an Explore Scientific 24mm 68 degree eyepiece (50X) in his 25.4cm Orion XT10i Dobsonian.
Peter Jedicke reported one visitor bringing an entry level 50mm refractor, which he spent some time learning how to use. The star night was over by around 9:00 p.m. after an enjoyable and informative evening with the slide presentation and some observing through telescopes despite the mostly cloudy sky.