Our family went to this star gazing lecture last night. Our community assistant Guillerma led the group that included the 5 of us, a mother and her kindergartner, Nefeli (Abby's friend) and her mother, and a young couple. We had 5 children in our group. It was at Pupin Hall (poopin? where do they come up with these names? actually after my last 2 entries maybe I just have poop on the mind) Anyway, it was a free public event. I had to walk the halls with Lilly. It started at 8pm and she was tired. Silly me thought she would fall asleep. We met up with Katie's girl scout troop and she wat with them. Abby sat with Nefeli. The lecture was presented by a student and was about Mars. I missed the whole thing. After the lecture you could go up on the roof (elevator to floor 14 and then up 2 flights up stairs) and look through these huge telescopes. They had 3 set up with students at each to help and explain what you were looking at. One was on the roof and showed a star cluster. It looked like an owl with 2 bright stars as the eyes and then many aroudn liek 2 wings. Inside a dome with a telescope out the roof was Jupitor and 2 of its moons. Inside a larger dome, again with the telescope aimed out a hole in the roof showed the Andromada galaxy. From the roof we could also see the George Washington Bridge all lit up.
Kevin said the speaker was nervous and stumbled a lot during the presentation. It is probably a requirement for a class. It is a really neat thing to have available to the public though and drew a large crowd, about 75 people. There is a new lecture and star gazing opportunity every 2 weeks through December.
Oct 1 Martian Invasion: NASA's army of exploratory robots
Oct 15 Galactic cannibalism
Oct 29 Outer space
Nov 12 Tracking galaxy formation using stellar chemistry
Dec 3 The genesis projects: Forming stars to forming life
Dec 17 New light on the new moon
They also gave out evening sky maps which are made each month. I think these are available at www.skymaps.com
Nefeli's mom and I and the 4 kdis waited in the hall while Kevin and Guillerma went to the roof. All the kdis played tagandthen hide and seek. It was 9pm and we figured they were not bothering anyone. Lilly ran up and down the hall with them and helped seek. She copies what you say when you count. The kids all included her and she had so much fun. She doesn't understand hide but could easily help find the girls. Not many places to hide in a hallway!
Nefeli was Abby's first friend in the building and is from England. Her mother attends Teachers College and teached high school. Her father was helpful when we were interviewing different schools inthe area. He is on sabbitical but I am not sure what he does. They are a very nice family and she is a very calm, well behaved little girl. Will be 7 in November, but is in 2nd grade because the grade/age rules are different here than in IL. They worked to get her in a private school.
The mother and son we see every day on our way to and from school. He also attends PS 36.
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