For the first time since the pandemic, Wycombe Astronomical Society were able to hold an Outreach event – at the request of Holmer Green Senior School’s Science Club. A mixture of students, teachers and parents attended a lecture given by Sandy Giles entitled “Why is the Moon?”. Amongst the topics covered were the origin of the Moon, its violent and volcanic history after its formation, why it appears to us as it does (the phases of the Moon, tidal locking and libration) and then practical aspects of
observing and imaging it.
About ten WAS members came along with their telescopes to support the event, with a view to setting up on the school tennis courts for an evening’s viewing. Sadly, the weather had other ideas so initially we set up in the school’s Main Hall for a show-and-tell session. But the weather gods were looking down
on us and some of the clouds dispersed allowing a few glimpses of the Moon using a couple of the telescopes we quickly took outside.
Stephanie Gordon, the teacher who organized the visit, wrote afterwards “I just wanted to get in touch to say thanks so much for the wonderful talk last week. Several students and teachers have mentioned to me how enjoyable and interesting the event was. It was great that we still managed to get a few moments of star gazing at the end of the evening!“
The Society concluded the visit by donating a number of books to the school from our library, whichhave been gratefully accepted. Many thanks to those who came to support the event – it’s great that we are doing this stuff once again!
Sandy