On the night of Jul 31/Aug 01, 2017, we welcomed a group of students from the Young Women's College Prep Charter School. Eleven students, heading into ninth grade, were accompanied by several teachers, including Lauri Bonnell. They are spending four days on the RIT campus as part of a summer program, and picked this evening as a time to visit the Observatory.
A number of RIT faculty and grad students generously volunteered to work with the YWCP students:
Since the sky was half-covered with clouds and threatened to grow even more overcast, as soon as the group arrived at 8:45 PM, we took them to our telescopes to see what we could while portions of the sky were clear. We had two small telescopes set up on the outdoor concrete pad, focusing on the first-quarter moon;
Binoculars also gave a nice view.
the 12-inch telescope in the dome gave nice views
of Jupiter and Saturn.
After looking at the celestial sights (and being pestered by mosquitoes), we moved into the Observatory House, where the students constructed star wheels. We showed them how to use the wheels, which the students took home afterward.
Later in the week, Stacey Davis and AST grad student Kristina Punzi met with the YWCP group again, on the academic portion of campus, to discuss the upcoming solar eclipse.
The Moon will cover about 70% of the Sun's disk, as seen in Rochester; Stacey and Kristina explained why eclipses occur,
what to expect,
and how to watch the eclipse safely.
Last modified 08/04/2017 by MWR.