Hello! I just got back from spending a very enjoyable evening with the EurAstro astronomy society. Instead of doing the sensible thing and sleeping in anticipation of the 24-hour webcast tomorrow, I’m writing this report. That’s dedication.

So, fom the beginning. My task was to venture forth from ESO and trek into the centre of Munich. I would be visiting the EurAstro Club and reporting on their StarParty, held in the SkyBar of the European Patent Office.

Step one: recruit backup. Enter Feng “Maestro” Lu, an ESO astronomer and adaptive optics expert. He also makes an excellent egg soup. You really must try it.

First we had to navigate the labyrinth-like innards of ESO. You first, Lu.

And then make our way to the U-Bahn station. Faster, faster! We don’t want to miss the promised children´s tombola! There will be prizes, and I want to WIN.

We missed the train. But eventually we got into the centre of Munich, and onto a different line. As you can see, this train was packed. Make some space people, important journalist and egg-soup astronomer coming through!

The train skipped our stop. Gah! We`re definitely going to be late. But if we run, maybe we can make the tombola. We hopped off at the next stop, and attempted to navigate the way on foot.

Come on, we must be nearly there by now! Special thanks go to the nice lady on a bicycle (just out of shot) who gave us directions.

Eventually we found the European Patent Office. No photos exist of this section because the security guard was very suspicious and didn`t let me take any. After convincing him that yes, there really are a bunch of astronomers on the 7th floor, and yes, they are using telescopes to look at the Sun and later Saturn and things and yes we are invited and yes we are official and yes we really want to see the tombola and win and YES to everything, we got in the lift, and away!

Well, this is definitely the right place. So, uh, which of you two is in charge?

Actually, Jean-Luc Dighaye is in charge! He´s an incredibly nice and knowledgable man, and made Lu and I feel most welcome. I interviewed him about this event, so will scatter his answers throughout this post, like seeds of wisdom.

Question one for Jean-Luc! Can you describe your organisation, please?

“EurAstro is a non-profit organisation based in Munich, Germany. We have at present 722 past and present members. We meet everytime and everywhere there is an astronomical event of interest to many of our members. And so we don’t have a very defined programme. The sky defines our programme.”

Thanks, JL. More from him later!

We missed the tombola

The SkyBar is in an excellent place for observing, despite being in the city centre. There were about two dozen astronomy society members present.

Here´s JL explaining about an upcoming event: the International Space Station crossing the Moon. Will Lu and I be able to see this happen? Keep reading to find out!

People looking through telescopes was what happend mostly. Although it was still light at this point, we had some excellent views of the Moon.

More telescopes? Certainly. The equipment belongs to members of the EurAstro society. They take it very seriously, but were happy to let Lu and I peer through the eyepieces.

Photos like this don´t come along very often. The instrument JL is holding is a “penguin telescope”. Don´t worry, it´s not actually made from penguins.

Aww! This happy chap was in a good mood. Maybe he won the tombola?

Ok, time for part two of the JL interview. What is this event actually about?

“This event is half political half astronomical because it’s organised in the frame of 100 Hours of Astronomy. We crossed our fingers to have nice weather which is not frequent in this region. And we got it. So the colleagues of the European Patent Office, and the children of the colleagues, can enjoy the atmosphere of the SkyBar, and also the nice view of Munich and some other events.”

JL aimed these little telescopes at the Moon, in anticipation of the International Space Station crossing.

More astronomy fans. Smile, you´re going to be on the LiveBlog!

Ready for the International Space Station? It´s happening soon! Maybe JL should explain what it is:

“We are going to observe the International Space Station crossing the Moon. It’s a rather rare event because the sky is large and the Moon is small, only half a degree. So you’ve got some kind of crossing perhaps once a month and the timing is very critical because if it’s in broad daylight you miss it because the Moon is hard to see and also the ISS. If it’s night-time you can be blinded [by the bright Moon] and not even see it properly. So you need really the right contrast between the ISS and the Moon to enjoy it. So just before sunset is the best time. Such an event with the optimum conditions and the Moon high in the sky is perhaps a once-in-a-year event. So it is quite important.”

Stop looking at me and look at the Moon! The ISS will be crossing in 3, 2, 1… yes! We saw it! With unaided eyes no less. The space station streaked across the Moon in a fraction of a second, but long enough to see. JL’s countdown was perfectly timed.

Oooh, what’s this? It looks like a Celestron FirstScope.

It is, it is a Celestron FirstScope!

Unless there´s something else in the box.

FirstScope CONFIRMED. I hadn´t seen one of these up close before. I like!

Other people like it, too.

Next question to JL: when did you first decide to get involved in the 100 Hours of Astronomy project?

“Rather early, because I am in close contact not only with Pedro Russo [IYA2009 Global Coordinator] but also with Mike Simmons from Astronomers without Borders [and the 100HA Co-Chair, along with Douglas Pierce-Price]. So I could even say that we started almost simultaneously. It’s a long-term idea to have people of Munich, people of EurAstro, involved with 100 Hours. I also have a section of the EurAstro association in Belgium, so we are also active there. Of course I cannot split myself into two so they got telescopes and a programme. They are cooperating, they are sending me e-mails right now.”

Now, a mini-competition. Which is the best photo of someone looking through a telescope?

Maybe this one? It´s quite good.

Or maybe this one? It´s got all the ingredients. Let´s try one more…

WE HAVE A WINNER.

Next question to JL: do you think that 100 Hours of Astronomy is important? Why?

“It is of course important, otherwise we wouldn’t put so much energy into it. But it’s not important to science. It’s important for education, for popularisation, for outreach, in order to have a maximum of people who are not previously interested in astronomy. You see how many children there are today. They are perhaps tomorrow’s astronomers.”

This photo is great, too. It´s JL and I, after the interview. Thanks for taking the photo, Lu! Actually, Lu took lots of good shots which I´ll post once he´s edited them. He has a D300, which is better than my D80. If only my Opening Ceremony LiveBlog fundraising attempt had been more successful, I´d have a D700 by now

Once the Sun had set, the telescopes were turned to Saturn as well as the Moon. Saturn´s rings are almost edge-on now as seen from Earth, which is an unusual sight.

This guy was particularly great. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten his name. Normally that would be considered  shoddy journalism, but standards for this LiveBlog’s writing are very low. Let’s call him Mr. Nice Guy, because he was a very nice guy. He let Lu and I spend quite a bit of time using his telescope to see the Moon, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula. Thank you! [UPDATE: Mr. Nice Guy's real name is Dr. Markus Breidenich].

The final question to JL: will you be celebrating 100 Hours of Astronomy in any other ways?

“Yes! In the office we had the opening event at noon, looking at the Sun. The Sun was not very active at the time but anyway we looked at it. Tomorrow we observe the Sun as well and tomorrow evening I have a small private observatory and the programme will continue from 20:00 to 23:00, from 4 o’clock in the morning to ten, and the same the day after, finishing with the Sun-Day.”

And then it was time to leave. I´d like to thank Jean-Luc Dighaye and the rest of the EurAstro group for being excellent hosts. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and the way they´ve embraced the International Year of Astronomy 2009 makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks, however, do not go to the security guard, who probably made us miss the tombola.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 pm and is filed under 100HA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.