Health & Fitness
Astronomy in the Rain
Some astronomy activities are dependent upon the weather while others are not. Some upcoming events of both types.
While you may have guessed by now, the Fall Festival astronomy event we planned for Sat has been canceled.
Ah yes, the weather has a lot to do with our ability to look beyond our atmosphere. That's one of the reasons that radio astronomy has become popular. We were planning on listening to the Sun. That's what you can do, even when it is cloudy, or raining. We can actually hear Jupiter and Meteor Showers too, even under rain showers. Indoor talks will go on as at the Custer Jamboree still planned for Sat.
Our next event will be Astronomy Day on Oct. 1, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, near Nassau Community College, noon-4 p.m.
Find out what's happening in East Meadowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Weather permitting, we'll have telescopes viewing the Sun and Moon outdoors while viewing the stars indoors in the StarLab Planetarium. We'll also have workshops explaining the phases of the Moon and eclipses, introduce visitors to the NASA research program MoonZoo where you can make real discoveries using your home computer, and provide material for everyone to participate in the WorldWide Star Count. This is an important project to determine how light pollution has encroached upon our world and some ways we can take back the night sky without any sacrifices.
Our club meeting is Oct. 2 at Nassau Community College, building F, 1:15-4pm. See our website for directions, www.aosny.org.
Find out what's happening in East Meadowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
On Oct. 8, we’ll be the local host for the International Observe the Moon Night, 7-8:30pm. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we’ll try again Sunday at the same time. This will be at the East Meadow Library, Front St and East Meadow Ave. The Library will be closed. Many people throughout the world will be going out to look at the Moon this evening with telescopes, binoculars and unaided eyes. We’ll have maps available so you can begin to recognize the various features that make up the Man in the Moon. Maybe you’ve seen the Woman in the Moon or the Rabbit or the Cow? We’ll show you how to find them.
Sorry, even with our telescopes we can’t show you the flags left by our astronauts over 30 years ago. Not even the Hubble Space Telescope can accomplish that!
On Oct. 9, we’ll be participating in the Fall Festival at the Jones Beach Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center from 11 a.m. to 4pm, weather permitting of course, with solar observing and other hands-on activities.
I hope to meet you at some of these activities.
Till next time. Ad astra
