Saturday October 20, 2012 - Daytime activities begin at 2:00 pm 2:00 pm: Solar observing, daytime viewing of the Moon, Venus and maybe Mars. Tour of observatory, Activities and crafts for kids.

 

Speakers 3:00   Speaker : TBD 4:00   Speaker : TBD 5:00   Dinner Break 6:30   Speaker : TBD 7:30   Door Prize Drawings Evening Activities The evening will continue with viewing through our array of telescopes. The Moon, Jupiter, Mars and maybe Mercury will top the list of astronomical delights. Bid farewell to the best summer constellations, nebula and clusters and enjoy the arrival of some of the fall and winters best while the Minnesota temperatures are still “balmy”. Onan Observatory The MAS's Onan Observatory, the region's premier all-volunteer public observing facility. More than a dozen telescopes to view through, are among the finest amateur telescopes available. Real-time video viewing capabilities for lunar, planetary and deep-sky viewing. Solar filters allow safe viewing of the Sun's surface, sunspots and solar prominences. Mounted 15x80 binoculars for the ultimate “wide-field” stargazing experience. A heated warming room to take the chill out of the cool spring nights. Electrical outlets on the outside of the building for those who bring their own scopes. Paved handicap parking adjacent to the wheelchair accessible observatory. Location Baylor Regional Park is roughly 25 miles southwest of the Eden Prairie, MN and just north of Norwood-Young America. It is easily reached either by Minnesota Highway 5 or U.S. Highway 212. Select the "Directions" link in the left hand column or click HERE for interactive map. Astronomy Day The theme of Astronomy Day is “Bringing Astronomy to the People”. This worldwide event invites astronomical societies, planetariums, museums, and observatories to sponsor public viewing sessions, presentations, workshops, and other activities to increase public awareness about astronomy and our wonderful universe. Astronomy Day was born in California in 1973. Doug Berger, then president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California, decided that rather than try to entice people to travel long distances to visit observatory open houses, they would set up telescopes closer to where the people were - busy locations - urban locations like street corners, shopping malls, parks, etc. His strategy paid off. Not only did Astronomy Day go over with a bang, not only did the public find out about the astronomy club, they found out about future observatory open houses. Since the public got a chance to look through a portable telescope, they were hooked. They then wanted to see what went on at the bigger telescopes, so they turned out in droves at the next observatory open house.