Last night's star party in Okeechobee, Florida

Hello Citizen Sky members,

I just wanted to share about our "Star Gazing with Creatures of the Night" event that was listed on the Citizen Sky events calendar.
This event was held last night February 13, 2010 at Arnold's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Okeechobee, Florida. We had several panthers in large pens, owls, peacocks running around all over the place and sitting in the trees around us. Lots of cats in pens from the wilds of Africa that are being rehabilitated.

Sue Arnold asked if Riverwoods Field Lab would volunteer to send me, their Education Specialist, along with a few other amateur astronomers. to set up telescopes and have a star party for the public. This was advertised on local radio. Approximately 40-50 people showed up. We had perfect skies with temperatures in the upper 30's F. Kye Ewing, fellow AAVSOer, Kim Mohlenhoff, Dennis Randolph, and I volunteered our time and equipment. We had skies that were close to 6th magnitude naked eye limit.

I did a night sky show with a green laser pointer and taught everyone the constellations and bright stars by name. Kye (with her laser pointer) and I spent a fair amount of time on a few famous variable stars. I pointed out Eps Aur and its comparison stars and their magnitudes. I told about Citizen Sky, and about the Eps Aur project. The people were fascinated. I also pointed out Omicron Ceti, Mira, which was near naked eye limit, and taught them a bit about it. I showed them that just 2 months ago it was at a brightness between 2 of the brighter stars in the head of Cetus the Whale.

Kye and I pointed out Algol, and Kye told the folks about it and the mythology behind the name "Demon Star" and Medusa. I explained that it is a eclipsing binary star and pointed out the stars we use as comparison stars to make a magnitude estimate of it. I explained what an eclipsing binary star was.

Dennis, Kye, Kim, and myself had 4 telescopes and a pair of binoculars on a tripod. We showed a large variety of deep sky objects and Mars. I even had several folks split Rigel in a 12 inch reflecting scope, which was a pretty difficult job for new observers, but many said they could see the companion star.

Most folks stayed for a good 2 hours. They loved it, and said they want us to do it again. We are already talking about a possible second event next month.

This was so much fun for the 4 of us putting this on. It was really neat to hear the wild animals in the background in the dark while we were observing. Coffee and goodies were provided.

I'd like more people to connect with nature organizations like Arnold's and use this as an avenue to teach astronomy and show people the night sky. Thanks for letting me share this.

Chris Stephan
Robert Clyde Observatory
Sebring, Florida  USA