Astronomy Festival on the National Mall
Friday, June 6—The sponsor, Hofstra University, estimated the crowd at nearly 7,000 at this gigantic star party at the foot of the Washington Monument. With at least 20 telescopes from multiple Washington area astronomy clubs, and other attractions such as NASA and the National Science Foundation, there was plenty to see and do. Six RAC members participated with 4 telescopes. We figure that in 5 hours, we provided 2,500+ views of the Moon, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter (and the Sun before it went down). The number of “oh, wows” resulting from first looks at Saturn was high, with lots people of all ages who’d never looked through a telescope. Four other club members also dropped by to see what it was all about. We finally left at about midnight…exhausted but pleased with our efforts.