The NWFAA was invited to participate in the 2018 Gulf Coast Council Powder Horn training course. The training is designed to expose adult leaders and older scouts to activities and resources that they might not have had previous access to. They could then take that experience and knowledge back to their respective troops.
The Astronomy requirements were to discuss the movement of the celestial sphere as it relates to date and time using a computer and planetarium program. Then, after the sun sets, provide practical examples such as finding the North star based on the visible constellations or locating the visible planets using finder charts. Tom Haugh gave the presentation to several older scouts and about 10 adult leaders using TheSkyX planetarium software. The group then divided up into two groups and headed out to the observation field where the NWFAA had several telescopes set up.
NWFAA members who brought scopes for the training session:
- John Walker
- James Dubben
- George & Renee Gollohon
- Dave Halupowski & Kennedy Odom
Although Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were all spread out along the ecliptic, only the first group of guest observers got to view them all. The second group had to deal with overcast skies with the planets visible through the clouds only momentarily.