The Edge Elementary School observatory tour and star gaze was a mixture of good and bad. The weather did not cooperate at all, but the tour went on anyway. In fact, we had too many guest observers to handle all at one time. All counted, students, parents and teachers came to about 75 guest observers. The classroom is not that big and the dome is smaller than that. So, we had to split our guests into three different groups. This would have been perfect had the skies been clear.
As it was, Prof. Tony R. took one group up into the dome. He demonstrated the telescope and equipment and explained the procedures used to record the imagery that the observatory uses for its research projects.
In the classroom, Tom H. and Frank A. presented a slide show on the history of the observatory and an introduction to astronomy using club members photography.
That left one group waiting for shift change. If the skies had been clear, they would have been the group outside observing. With as young as some of the students were, the wait became too much and a few of the families left early.
Although, we received a lot of positive feedback, the families that left early definitely got shorted. We will obviously have to enforce a head count in the future so that no one leaves disappointed.