GAM 28th April on the Observatory in Michelbach/Lower Austria

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May 03

2012

by NÖ Volkssternwarte Austria

The forecast predicted awesome weather to come, which is why 24 members with 17 telescopes stood prepared for our visitors. In the afternoon we welcomed around 40 children to our Antares Kids event. Enthusiastically the children experimented and crafted models, collected “meteorites” and launched air rockets and “comets”.

Meanwhile their parents enjoyed coffee and cake at our Astro-Buffet and observing the sun in white light and H-Alpha. Our radio telescope – the only one at an Austrian public observatory – also attracted a lot of interest.

From 7 pm on we started our evening program. It got really crowded then and the lecture room was filled continuously until 11 pm with an audience attending lectures like “Our Sun”, “A journey through Outer Space” and “Glimpses of the Universe”. The Moon, Venus, Mars and Saturn were the highlights of that night. More than 130 visitors had the night sky shown and explained to them by our crew at different stations.

Some visitors brought their own equipment and were introduced to handling and observation practice by our members. A lot of astonishment was caused by the effort needed for astrophotography. “Why do astro-cameras have cooling”, “Where does the noise come from”, “What do I need a guiding cam for” and a lot of other questions were asked and competently answered.

Again our Astro-Buffet was well attended. Links and hotdogs, Schnitzel and fries, soft drinks, coffee and cake were offered. A special booth offered the visitors the opportunity to purchase books, star charts and astronomical equipment.

Around midnight the last visitors left our observatory. It was an awesome day and a beautiful Astro-night for our visitors as well as for our numerous members, whom we owe a big thanks for their effort and commitment. We look forward to next year’s astronomy day. You can see much more pictures on: http://www.noe-sternwarte.at/test/doku.php?id=global_astronomy_month_2012