Starts at Sunset: September 14, 2023
by Francine Jackson
It was a beautiful Thursday early evening, September 14, when Jim Hendrickson, Fred Sammartino and Francine Jackson set up two telescopes and a pair of binoculars on Providence’s new Pedestrian Bridge, as part of the city’s WaterFire "Starts at Sunset" festival.
Even before sunset occurred, people stopped, asking what we were doing, and what we would be looking at, besides the buildings we were observing before darkness fell.
Then it was on to Saturn, where all three of us had slightly varied images through our respective instruments. The public was fascinated, and virtually everyone stopped to ask to look.
Later in the evening, we learned there were other telescopes set up on the other side of the bridge; however, they were not on the bridge proper. With us, we also could give a lesson on vibration, caused by those walking on the bridge. When someone would walk by, a person looking through a telescope could actually discern the footsteps of that individual, a good way to show how important stability can be.
Hundreds of people passed our site, and almost all stopped to ask what we were looking at. As happens with Saturn, all were amazed with their ability to see the rings.
We broke down about 9:00 P.M., when the program was waning. The persons putting it together were thrilled that we participated, and hoped we could, in the future, continue to be a part of their WaterFire Bridge program.
