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General Astronomy Topics

Public viewing in Ponchatoula
Lowell McCormick

Last Saturday morning I posted a message on a local Tangipahoa facebook page (The Original Tangipahoa Resources & Raves), inviting the public to come out to the field at Millside in Ponchatoula to see Saturn & Jupiter thru a telescope that evening. I expected 10 or 15 people to show up. The response was overwhelming. I didn't count how many folks showed up, but I'm guessing it was well over 100, maybe closer to 200. I was very lucky that a lady showed up early and took over crowd control & eventually took over running the telescope freeing me up to do stuff. A loose wire killed the tracking at one point but the I showed the lady how to move the scope and she was on the ball. Everyone was appreciative and looked forward to the next time. Charles Genovese & Merril Hess saw my message and volunteered to help next time. I'm thinking of doing this monthly. I also plan on setting up the solar scope on a sunny Saturday soon. Byron Landry also said hello.

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