Halloween Star Party: Mars Madness
October 31, 2005
Click on an image to see a larger version.
The Amador Astronomical Society held an
'AAS Halloween Star Party: Mars Madness' event for trick-or-treaters
on Spanish Street in Sutter Creek on Monday, October 31st from 7 PM
to Midnight. The AAS members set up 3 telescopes to treat the kids to
a view of Mars on Halloween, Monday, October 31 in a front yard on
Spanish Street, Sutter Creek. This opposition is as good as it gets for
Mars for the next 13 years. AAS members that attended the function were
Dan Fine, Dennis Mashburn, Eileen Sullivan (in costume), Joyce (blinking
red light) Sutton and Larry Brown, AAS president.
We had 100 Halloween Mars Commemorative Stickers which Eileen Sullivan
diligently stuck on all that looked at Mars. We had multiple reports the
next day from Sutter Creek residents that "kids kept coming by with these
Mars stickers on". Although Mars was quite low on the horizon, we still
got a good look, as did our many visitors. There were lots of
trick-or-treaters and their parents, as well as high-schoolers, out on
the streets of Sutter Creek that night, and many stopped to take a look
through the telescopes. We also observed the Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades
and more. AAS members as well as guests enjoyed a green laser-refracting
crystal ball, glowing and bouncing golf balls, wearable red flashing
lights, and our own astronomically correct singing, red light, skull.
A great show!
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Dennis Mashburn and his 6″ Newtonian reflector with Ledger Dispatch
reporter James Reece.
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Spooky kids looking thru the 11″ Schmidt-Cassegrain with the assistance
of Joyce Sutton and Eileen Sullivan. Dan Fine's red 8″ Newtonian
reflector is on the right.
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An evening of sugar and stars
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Mars madness. Ghostly fun with Joyce Sutton.
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From the Ledger Dispatch, Wednesday, November 2, 2005: AAS president
Larry Brown in costume as a Star Wizard during the Mars Madness
event, trick-or-treaters.
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Moon/Venus, photo taken by AAS member-at-large Robert Brown from
Arlington, TX. Small Olympus C-770 digital camera at 8x zoom. Set
on automatic, hand held (against a fence post). Exposure about a
sec./f2.8, 11/05/2005 6:20 CDT Arlington, TX
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