Although this was not our fist visit to Walton Middle School, it was our first Science Palooza Day event. We spent the whole day with telescopes setup outside the school and were able to provide 200+ eighth grade students multiple safe views of the Sun.
Marietta & Dennis Hausch provided a white light filtered view of the Sun. Dean Covey set up his Hydrogen-Alpha scope to show the Sun in that frequency of light and Tom Haugh set up his spectroscope to view the Sun’s spectrum.
 Dennis discusses the white light filtered Sun. |
 Dean explains Hydrogen-Alpha. |
The day started out clear but as the morning wore on clouds started to creep into view and began to interfere with the observations. But, as the day continued, the gaps between the clouds started to widen and by the end of the day it was mostly clear. Luckily the clouds never completely blocked the sky so even though some had to wait a bit, everyone got to view the Sun using all three instruments.
 Tom explains the information available in the solar spectrum. |
 All 3 instruments gainfully employed. |
Unfortunately, the Sun, being in a minimum activity phase provided nothing other than a boring featureless surface. In fact, the only excitement of the day was when the school sprinkler system came on. Telescopes and equipment were quickly removed from the observing field and the situation was relayed to the school staff. The sprinklers were turned off and the rest of the observing sessions went on without incident.
 Some equipment still needs rescued. |
 Students discussing the situation. |
 Starting to dry out. |
 Sprinkler recovery complete. Tom briefs the next class. |
We would like to thank the staff of Walton Middle School for the invitation and for the great lunch that was provided. We had a really good time and hope to get invited to next year’s Science Palooza Day.