Schools Autumn Moonwatch.

Today's Schools Moonwatch at Belfast High School went very well.
Ian McConnell and I arrived at the school amid doubtful conditions...there were clear areas of sky, but even they had hazy high clouds.
As darkness started to fall the Moon and Jupiter, which were mostly occluded, came into view and conditions were sufficiently good to give everyone a chance to see what all the fuss was abou
Mrs Joyce Barkley had her group of hand, and we had a group of about twenty during the hour we were there, with teachers occasionally dropping in.
The moon was well placed and at a good phase, just past first quarter, and the craters and the Apennine mountains and nearby crater Plato stood out starkly, very easy to see.
In addition we had relatively good views of Jupiter, with all four Galilean moons and the cloud belts clearly on show, with some belts showing a red-brown coloration.
I managed to get up to a manageable magnification of about x220 at times.
The pupils were very impressed, the questions came thick and fast, but before long the wind was up and getting worse, making viewing difficult and making it seem even colder than it was.
All in all, it was a good exercise, and Ian and i would like to thank Mrs Barkley and the school for the opportunity.
We hope we'll be able to return again sometime in the mid-winter period.

That's good to read Eamonn - gotta grab the opportunities when you can the way the weather is these days.

As it happens I spent a while outside my office this evening with a 4" Mak-Cass aimed at the Moon which very much impressed a good number of my workmates, although there was a fair bit of high level haze around which took some of the edge off the contrast, and the wind occasionally gusted up to speeds that unsettled the scope, though only for short times.

Something I shall do more often!

Paul.

Great stuff Eamonn , its super when the sky lets us show its wonders to children.
I try to bring my scope to anything I am doing so if there is a clear bit I can pounce on the opportunity . There has not been too many good chances this year, so we gotta take it when we can
Just got to see your post today , hope you have many more good sessions.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Vice Char IFAS
Outreach IFAS
www.irishastronomy.org/
www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
twitter.com/skysketcher

Thanks Dee.
I feel that the time to get an interest in astronomy going is in childhood, as a strong imagination helps with visualising the sheer wonder of the subject.
To that end I've been talking to many schools this year on "Beginning Astronomy", with more in the pipeline, and the response so far has been excellent.
I try to tie in with the curriculum and touch on ancient history, religion and physics at the same time.
Sometimes it's hard to bring the sessions to an end due to the sheer amount of questions!
It's difficult planning viewing as you say.
I'd another session with a school planned for last Friday, but it had to be cancelled at the last minute due to cloud cover...and , of course, by the time I got home the sky was clear. Very frustrating.
However, the outreach is something that I'm enjoying very much.