Starry Nights @ SFU: Lunar Soiree May 30 2009

Public astronomy events at SFU are becoming ever-more varied and successful, thanks in part to a great cooperative effort between Starry Nights @ SFU, and the SFU student astronomy club, led by its very dynamic and creative President, Gwen Eadie (who I'm happy to say is also an undergraduate in the physics department). Gwen organized this night's thematic event, a Lunar Soirée, and I'd like to thank her for the guest blog posted below.

The Lunar Soirée was a great combination of pizza dinner, guest speaker, movie, and star party, and had a great turnout, thanks in no small measure to the many families in attendance whose children are graduates of the SFU astronomy workshop program for grade-school kids.

Thanks especially to our guest speaker Eric Dunn (pictured in the first frame in the gallery to the right), a veteran astronomer, educator, writer, producer, and host of TV series and other astronomically-oriented programming (most recently host of the SUPERnova series produced for the Vancouver Centre of the RASC). Special thanks as well to telescope owners Leigh Cummngs, Jennifer Kirkey (a physics and astronomy instructor at Douglas College), Ronan Kerr, Aaron Springford, Gwen Eadie, and a new member from computer science whose name escaped us (if you read this, please contact me at trottier@sfu.ca!). Thanks also to Gwen Eadie, Amin Bhadri, and Jennifer Kirkey for providing pictures of this evening's activities, featured in the gallery to the right.

One more notable part of this night's activities was a prize draw for a high-quality starter telescope, a 60mm refractor donated by the SFU physics department (the same telescope that we are giving away to schools and community groups who attend our workshops, and which individual families can earn by attending a workshop and four SFU star parties!). Congratulations to the winner of the prize draw for this evening, Shelby Aylen!

Guest Blog by Gwen Eadie,
President of the SFU student astronomy club

On Saturday May 30th, the SFU Astronomy Club and Starry Nights @ SFU hosted a Lunar Soirée --- an educational and inspiring evening dedicated to the Moon! The event began with pizza, drinks, and socializing while everyone eagerly awaited the arrival of our guest speaker, Eric Dunn. Although Mr. Dunn took a few wrong turns driving to campus (the lack of SFU signage on the highways is definitely to blame!), his late arrival gave us a chance to watch the first two RASC SuperNova movies in which Mr. Dunn stars as host. When Mr. Dunn did arrive, people were so excited to see the man who they had just seen on the big screen that applause broke out in the room!

Mr. Dunn’s talk about the Moon included subjects such as the Moon’s origin, composition, and phases as well as some excellent footage from the Apollo missions. The talk was very well received by the entire audience, and there were oodles of questions for him afterward (including some very inspired ones from the younger members of the audience!)

After Mr. Dunn’s talk, people enjoyed some dessert while telescopes were set up outside. A BIG thanks goes out to all those people who brought their equipment to campus! Once the telescopes were set up, people could either go outside to have a look at the Moon and Saturn (most people chose this option) or stay inside to watch a moon-related movie. We were blessed with some clear sky before the night came to an end, giving everyone a chance to view the quarter Moon and Saturn.

With 73 people attending this event, there were plenty of “Galileo Moments” as per the IYA mandate. Thanks again to all the volunteers and telescope-bearers who made this event happen!

Starry Nights @ SFU: Blogs & Pics

SFU student astronomy club Lunar Soireé, Saturday May 30 2009!

Starry-eyed
@ SFU since Nov. 2007