The leader of a local co-ed Cub Scout troop contacted me, asking if her scouts could come to the observatory in order to complete tasks for their Out of This World Nova Award. When I asked if any of our AST graduate students would like to participate in this outreach event, four of them quickly volunteered:
Brittany, unfortunately, was unwell this evening, but Sophia, Nikki, and Edwin prepared carefully for the event. They practiced the Pocket Solar System exercise, and got ready to use spectrum tubes and diffraction glasses.
When the scouts arrived, Sophia led them through the "pocket solar system" activity, and the rest of us helped with folding and labelling. Everyone ended up with a personal map of the planets.
We then went outside briefly (it was cloudy) to look at the 12-inch telescope and the dome. Rotating the dome brought the usual "oohs" and "aahs" -- it's always fun. This time, I remembered to park the telescope properly.
For the final activity, we gave all the scouts (and their adults) diffraction glasses, and asked them to identify three gases based upon their spectra. One Scout got all three correct -- well done!
I'd like to thank our graduate students for their dedication to education and outreach. The evening was a success, and I could see that the scouts (and their parents) both had fun and learned something.