In October, we held a daytime viewing of the sun at Seaside, Florida’s “Back To Nature” Family Fun Day event. One of the guest observers who stopped by was a staff member from the E.O.Wilson Biophilia Center. She asked if we could do something similar at the center. We, of course, said yes. However, our schedule was full to the end of the year, so we had to wait until 2013 to honor that request.
Tom Haugh gave two presentations of “Our Star: An Owner’s Manual” in the center’s auditorium.
The presentation is an introduction to our star, the Sun. It starts with the Sun’s physical properties, shows how it fits into our solar system, it’s place in our galaxy, and ends with the effects of living so close to it (both good and bad).
The sessions were sparsely attended but we think the weather had something to do with that. Frank Atchison, Ken Leone, and Tom each had solar telescopes setup outside but did not have an example of a star to look at. The clouds were constant all day until just as we were packing up the scopes. Then the sun made an appearance just brief enough for one family to take a quick peek and then the clouds closed up again.
This was our first event at the Biophilia Center. The facilities are first rate and the staff very helpful and enthusiastic. We had a great time and look forward to future events there.
We would like to thank the center and staff for the opportunity to share our passion for astronomy.