On Friday, April 26, RAC astronomers presented an observing session as part of an astronomical program for Girl Scouts at Camp Mary Atkinson, located outside Clayton NC. We had about 45 girls from all over eastern North Carolina and 4 volunteer astronomers, Frederic Fogg, Michael Mantini, John Nigro, and Clay Coor. The girls divided into 2 shifts of about 22 girls each, and each shift of girls spent about an hour at the telescopes.
We had a good deal of high cirrus cloud during the time the Girl Scouts were at the telescopes, which mostly limited our viewing opportunities to bright planets; we were fortunate to have Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn visible in the sky. RAC astronomer Mike Mantini came prepared with a multimedia presentation and prints of his astronomical images, which was an excellent idea for entertaining young observers when conditions were cloudy and the number of visible celestial objects limited. After the girls retired to their cabins, the sky cleared and darkened. Fred Fogg and Clay Coor stayed another couple of hours to enjoy the stars.
While conditions were not ideal, they were adequate to present an observing session for the campers. The Scouts were engaged and curious and had questions for our volunteer astronomers. The Girl Scouts have held an astronomical program at Camp Mary Atkinson in recent years but this was the first time the program was offered with an observational component. Our astronomers considered our outing with the Girl Scouts a success and we look forward with working with the Carolina Pines Council of Girl Scouts again in the future.
