Hello Red Planet in Maine - USA

A report by –
Joan Chamberlin
Greater Portland Astronomical Society
Maine, USA



On January 26, 2010 from 6:00-8:00 PM I held a BWB-Hello Red Planet event in the parking lot of a small strip mall in Cornish, Maine. The weather was brutally cold (with the wind chill it was about -29--30 degrees F). Even so, about 20 people and kids stopped by to look at Jupiter, Mars, the moon, and the Orion Nebula. They were not dressed for the cold weather, so they shivered and shook, but they did look through the telescope. One little girl said that she LOVES astronomy and wants to be an astronomer. Yeah! After 2 hours, there weren't many people, so I packed up and came home to thaw out.





I did a second BWB event on Saturday, Jan. 30th at the same strip mall in Cornish, Maine. This time the weather was a little warmer. It was 10 degrees F. The event began at 5:30 pm and ended at 8:00 pm. About 18 people came out to look through the telescope. One amazing thing happened. I had invited 2 missionaries to come to observe that night. However, they didn't have use of a car that night, so they walked 4 miles in the dark that very cold night to look through the telescope and to try to get other people in the area to come look. That is dedication! haha. Several people who stopped to observe were very excited about looking through the telescope for the first time. One person asked me to come give a talk at his school. It was a very satisfying and fun time, even though it took a while to warm up.

In one of these pictures you can see the moon and the missionaries. There is also a picture of me with my telescope and the BWB poster. I am dressed for the weather! :-)



Joan the "StarLady" with her telescope

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