News Release

IWV Campus

Star Party for 3rd Grade Gateway Elementary Students

September 20, 2006

Windy or not the show must go on! A Star Party was held at the Cerro Coso College Observatory on Friday, September 15, 2006 for the 3rd grade classes of Virginia Weisz and Paige Sorbo from Gateway Elementary. "About 50 students and parents attended the event and they were an enthusiastic group. The weather defied the forecast and presented a real challenge for the outing. It was 63 degree F, partially cloudy, with a wind WSW at 25 mph, and gusts into the 30's. Needless to say, the wind precluded the use of telescopes. I was thinking about canceling the Star Party when the Gateway elementary group appeared at the College. But, I noticed they all were so eager and I just couldn't let them down. So, a variation on the star party theme was carried out and it proved to be effective," stated Cerro Coso instructor Alex Shlanta. China Lake Astronomical Society members Chuck Morgan and Peter Eiserloh assisted instructor Shlanta with this somewhat different kind of Star Party.

The Star Party commenced with Shlanta using a green laser pointer and pointing out some of the primary Constellations that could be seen. Indicated were the big dipper in Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, the Summer Triangle of stars, Northern Cross in Cygnus, the Square of Pegasus, and the Andromeda Constellation. Shlanta shared a few stories and anecdotes which accompanied this sky tour. Then the group was walked through a model of the solar system with stakes in the ground spaced to represent the relative distances between planets. "When we stopped at each stake the group was told some of the characteristics of that planet. We talked about there being only 8 planets now with Pluto, Eris (2003 UB 313), and Ceres being in the Dwarf planet category," shared Shlanta.

The group toured the three domes that were open in the observatory compound and the 3rd graders took an up-close look at the telescopes inside the domes. Chuck Morgan demonstrated how to use the Orion 12-in Dobsonian mount reflector the students then took a look down at the mirror. Then Morgan went to the Meade 12-inch LX200 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a fork mount. The students particularly liked it when Morgan controlled the motion of the LX200 with the hand controller. Peter Eiserloh then demonstrated the Cave 10-inch reflector on an equatorial mount and the use of a finder.

Teachers Virginia Weisz and Paige Sorbo were pleased with the Star Party. Now that their students had some background they would like to come back with them again in the springtime to do some actual looking through telescopes at celestial objects.



 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Joann Handeland, Director of Public Information (760) 384-6230