Astronomy magazine’s Discover the Universe program is only a few months old, but we’ve already had our first successful event! Andreas Vossinakis of The Friends of Astronomy club in Thessaloniki, Greece (http://www.ofa.gr/), explains:

On April 9, our astronomy club organized a public event at the city waterfront to celebrate Global Astronomy Month. We set up 19 telescopes (including one for solar observations) and a set of giant binoculars. We started at 6 p.m. local time with solar observing, amazing many of the people who passed by because this was their first time observing the Sun (using Hydrogen-alpha filters). There were even some prominences visible.

After the Sun set, we gazed at the Moon, and a lot of people asked about the nature of its surface. They were amazed by the clarity of the images through the telescopes and how well they could see the craters. We provided printed maps of the Moon and the sky so they could orient themselves during the night. As usual, many asked about life elsewhere in the universe, the nature of the planets, how far away these objects are, and about the signs of the zodiac and whether astrology can predict the future. (Of course not!)

More than 700 people passed by our telescopes, and they were truly amazed with Saturn and its rings. Many said that it looked fake! They just couldn't believe they were viewing the ringed planet and its two brightest satellites. Apart from the Moon and Saturn, we gazed at the Orion Nebula (M42), the Beehive Cluster (M44), and the Pleiades (M45), and we identified the night’s constellations with the help of a laser pointer. We had people stopping by until 1 a.m.

Afterward, we heard much positive feedback for days, with lots of people asking about the next event. Our members also visited public elementary schools this week and offered telescope views to the students. We have a lot of requests from elementary schools this time of the year, and we are trying to please them all. It’s a good thing that our members can offer their free time and their telescopes without second thought!

Good work, Andreas, and congratulations on such a successful event! This should be the first of many sidewalk astronomy events of public, and Astronomy magazine is happy to help individual clubs make it possible. If you have any questions about the Discover the Universe program, please e-mail me at bandrews@astronomy.com.