Dawn of IYA2009

We are now three days into the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) and so far it's shaping up to be fantastic! The first event, put together just a few weeks beforehand, was Dawn of IYA2009. The idea was to get out and show people the Sun through filtered telescopes on New Year's Day, kicking off IYA2009. This was the brain child of someone in the southern hemisphere, where January 1 is routinely very warm. Still, folks up north were encouraged to participate, and if it wasn't overcast and lightly snowing we would have been out on the sidewalk with our solar scopes. Still, we had our own little Dawn of IYA2009 celebration...

Our very good friend Hesther was visiting us from Minnesota during the New Year's holiday. She went with us to Northwoods Starfest back in August. It was her first star party, and she even pulled an all-nighter with Becca and I, observing until morning twilight. I couldn't let Hesther begin IYA2009 without a scope, so I secretly procured a used Orion XT 4.5 Dobsonian from Astromart and hoped it would arrive by Wednesday the 31st, which it did (the box with the tube came on Monday, and the box with the base came on Wednesday, so it was close).

On New Year's Day we gave Hesther her new telescope, which she immediately named "Orion." That night, it was clear for short period of time, and Hesther was able to set up the scope on our deck and observe the Moon. I didn't realize that she never saw the Moon through a telescope before (Northwoods Starfest was held during New Moon) so it was extra cool for her to see the Moon for the first time through her telescope.

All in all, it was a wonderful Dawn of IYA2009. I hope every day of IYA2009 is a fun as the first.