Galilean Night at UC-Berkeley

I am forwarding on this blog an email fron Steve Croft that was sent to our public list of the astronomy department at UC-Berkeley. Our department will be hosting on Friday October 23 a “Galilean Nights“. You are all welcome, I will try to be there, considering that I am attending a workshop at UC-Berkeley the same day.We have exciting news about a special event that we are hosting on Friday evening, October 23 in celebration of “Galilean Nights“. We’ve obtained 65 “Galileoscope” kits, a simple but high-quality telescope with which you can view mountains on the Moon, the phases of Venus, and the moons of Jupiter. Thanks to a generous donation from our friend Eric Korpela we are able to subsidise the cost. We are requesting a $10 donation (less than half the cost of purchasing one yourself), and a limit of one scope per family – first come, first served. Bring a standard camera tripod if you  have one, and weather permitting, we’ll set up outside to view the stars. If you already own a telescope (perhaps even a Galileoscope!) feel free to bring it along and we’ll give you some tips on getting the most out of it. Kids (we recommend ages 7 and up) are welcome at this event if accompanied by an adult.

We’ll meet in Campbell Hall, on the East Side of the UC Berkeley Campus (map square C-5 at http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/large_map.html) – note, this is not the same location as our regular monthly talks. Doors will open at 7pm and we’ll take you up to Room 544 for a brief talk about building the Galileoscopes, and then our grad students and postdocs will guide you through the process of building your own. We’ll talk you through some of the things you can see in the night sky, answer your astronomy questions, and if the weather is good we’ll have stargazing outside with your new telescopes as well as any other scopes folks bring along. We’ll wrap up around 8:30pm.

Don’t forget we also have a public talk this Saturday, October 17 at 11am, by Imke de Pater, in the regular location, 100 GPB. Details are also at our website: http://astro.berkeley.edu/iya
Steve Croft

See you there!

Franck M.