Woonsocket Astronomy Club Update
July 2022 :
I just wanted to give you a quick update on our Astronomy Club activity up in Woonsocket.
Our early June [June 6] meeting was dedicated to the Moon. We were able to observe the 7-day-old moon through a couple of telescopes at the start of the session (identifying a few craters from the moon maps I handed out), then shifted indoors for a video on the collision between Theia and Earth that created the Moon. We used a yardstick to create a timeline of Earth history, showing where on the yardstick the dinosaurs ruled, when the Moon was formed, and when humans appeared. We talked about the tides and their importance in life's transition from the oceans to the land.
During yesterday's [June 20] meeting we finished up talking about the Moon. We had a demonstration of moon phases, where the kids could walk all the way around our basketball Moon and see how the visible phase depended on where you stood. (It also gave us a chance to talk about eclipses and shadows and why we don't have eclipses every month.) We even had a question asked about why the Moon always keeps the same side facing Earth, which turned into a great opportunity to talk about tides on the Moon. We did an exercise on Pluto; I had some images of Pluto from a few days ago, and the kids compared the image to a star chart -- we had a race to see who could find Pluto first! And we introduced our constellation for the month of June: Lyra. We talked about the double-double (epsilon) and how different our lives would be if our own sun was a multiple star system.
During one of our earlier discussions about homemade stuff for astronomy, I had promised more information on how 3D printing works. So, last night I brought my 3D printer, and we talked about how it works. While the kids watched, I printed a small plastic cube with markings on its faces, and the kids stayed glued to that printer until its final beep. They were able to hold the cube and compare its final appearance to the various motions of the machine while it was running.
The next session would naturally fall on July 4, but we're skipping that for the holiday. And so our next actual session will be July 18, and I haven't yet planned that session.
Attendance varies a lot from week to week. We have a trickle of new families showing up each week, and summer vacations keep some people away. I'm still having lots of fun.
