1. High Plain Elementary Star Party Fall 2008

2. This evening made possible by volunteers from: This evening made possible by volunteers from: North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club http://nsaac.org http://nsaac.org http://nsaac.org Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston http://atmob.org http://atmob.org http://atmob.org Parents and staff of the school Parents and staff of the school Presentation by Presentation by Brewster LaMacchia Brewster LaMacchia Member of NSAAC & ATMoB Member of NSAAC & ATMoB

3. Big numbers and all that… 5,869,713,600,000 miles A Light Year is the amount of distance a beam of light can travel in one year. Distance (travel time on a beam of light) from Andover to: Boston: 0.00013 light seconds (one ten thousandth of a second) Moon: 1.25 light seconds Sun: 8 light minutes Pluto: 5 light hours Heliopause: 21 light hours (maybe) Nearest star: a little over 4 light years Center of Galaxy: 28,000 light years (approx) Andromeda Galaxy: 2.5 Million light years

4. 2009 will mark 400 years since Galileo picked up his telescope and looked up Reproduction of his telescope http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/galileo.html Things have advanced a lot in those 400 years…

5. What you’ll be looking with tonight Telescopes both magnify (make larger) and gather more light (see dim things) than your eye alone can Telescopes both magnify (make larger) and gather more light (see dim things) than your eye alone can Two basic types Two basic types Refractors – uses lenses made of glass Refractors – uses lenses made of glass Reflectors – uses mirrors with a very precise shape Reflectors – uses mirrors with a very precise shape All scopes need eyepieces, and those are made with (glass) lenses All scopes need eyepieces, and those are made with (glass) lenses

6. Refractor eyepiece

7. Reflector

8. 2

9. 3

10. Things you may see Galaxies Galaxies Globular clusters Globular clusters Open clusters Open clusters Planetary nebula Planetary nebula Double stars Double stars Double stars with color contrast Double stars with color contrast

11. Galaxies Andromeda Galaxy (M31) Andromeda Galaxy (M31) Slightly bigger than the Milky Way: 250+ billion stars Slightly bigger than the Milky Way: 250+ billion stars 2.5 Million light years away 2.5 Million light years away It will not look like this in the telescope! It will not look like this in the telescope!

12. What you might see…