Debbie, et al,
I also had a wonderful time. I can't make it to most meetings and only hit an
event or two a year, but I have to say this was (by far) the most enjoyable
I've attended.
Normally, I have cane so people can steady themselves without doing the natural
thing and grabbing the scope. Last night, only one, and he was a kid. I was
mentioning this fact to one of the viewers and he laughed. He said, "We all
work with radiation... we don't touch anything!" It's true.
It was a very diverse group of very kind and appreciative people. The Health
Physics Society started during the Manhattan Project. As they were creating
"the bomb", they felt a higher obligation to work to make radiation safe for
humans and further the usefulness of nuclear energy and its many applications.
The term Health Physicist came about to minimize suspicion through governmental
budgeting, which was much less alarming than seeing a bunch of nuclear
physicists getting paid through a weapons program.
Now, it has come to encompass many facets. From particle acceleration
scientists to the doctors, nurses, and staff that work in health care. I talked
with a guy that produces weapons grade uranium, a radiologist, homeland
security, a person that works at a nuclear power generating station, and one
guy who is a radio telescope astronomer. Very interesting, very appreciative,
and thanks to Debbie for creating this opportunity.
My batteries were dead on my drive and I didn't know how to unlock my clutches,
so I was on the moon most of the night. But, towards the end one guy needed to
see Albireo. I think it was Paul who came over with his green laser, which made
it much easier to manually move the scope and find it... but we did. Except for
the fair amount of vibration passed on through the bridge... a fairly clear
view considering all the light.
Wonderful time. Thank you so much,
--
Dale Isley
________________________________
From: sas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <sas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
cave8@xxxxxxxxxxx <cave8@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 7:44 AM
To: sas
Subject: [SAS] Star party lastnight
Wow, we had a wonderful turnout last night in Riverfront Park. Saturn, Mars,
and Jupiter were the highlight until the moon
peeked over the top of the convention center. There was about 50 convention
goers, give or take a few. Plus
a few people just passing by stopped to look through the telescopes. I would
even go as far and say we had about 65 people.
The vibration you get from walking on the wooden bridge was the downside.
I was able to locate the Ring Nebula. Which was a miracle in itself because the
Moon was full. it was really washed out.
just before we left I put the telescope on Mizar and Alcor for the last few
people.
I didn't get pictures. But for being in the middle of Downtown Spokane it was
pretty amazing.
We started wrapping it up about 10:30.
A big Thank You to the Accelerator Unit of the Health Physic Society for
contacting us to help make their
experience in Spokane memorable. Some people had never looked through a
telescope before and they were like
kids looking for the first time, the noises were ooooh and ahhhh's and wow. It
was great. Thank you to
Paul Yost, Phyllis Eide and Dale Isley for coming out and helping with this
event.
Debbie Cotten
Outreach, Event Coordinator of
The Spokane Astronomical Society
cave8@xxxxxxxxxxx
509-991-2518
