By DOUGLAS W. MOTLEY
Senior Writer
Following the disappointing cancellation of a planned open house due to a series of intense rainstorms, Mountain Skies Astrological Society (MSAS) founder and president Dr. Lorann Parker opened the doors to the society’s Astronomy Village and treated the public to a free tour of its observatory, education building and gift shop on Saturday, March 9.
However, this was no evening program – it was more of an all-day open house, lasting from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., that attracted several dozen men, women and children, most of whom were curious, first-time visitors, some who traveled from as far as Yorba Linda.
Nakijah, Tremaine and Kehlani enjoyed their tour of the Astronomy Village’s education center.
Noted astrophysicist Lorann Parker welcomed each group of visitors by giving them a tour of the society’s observatory and a chance to peer through the lens of its 11-foot-long Schmidt-Cassegrain research grade telescope with a 22-inch mirror, which yearly attracts graduate students and fellow astrophysicists from throughout the U.S. and Western Europe.
After gazing at the planet Jupiter and Orion constellation in the night sky, 11-year-old Tremaine, who attends Highland Elementary School in Riverside, said, “This is really amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
When done touring the observatory, each group came in from the cold to the society’s educational facility, where Dr. Parker showed them small pieces of meteorites and examples of small particles from comets and from Mars that had landed on Earth. Parker also projected a series of photos of stars, planets, constellations and distant nebula onto a screen for the some 20 to 30 persons who were seated inside the warm education center. Then she fielded questions from curious star gazers.
Mom experiences the effects of static electricity produced by a Van De Graaff generator.
Next, Dr. Parker demonstrated the mysterious Van De Graaff generator, which made a crackling noise as the hair on the heads of those brave enough to volunteer stood straight up or outward. This experiment resulted in tumultuous laughter from the audience and also encouraged several other audience members to volunteer for the seemingly strange experience. Parker explained that the crackling noise was merely static electricity.
For information on future MSAS programs, visit www.mountain-skies.org.
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