We had perfectly clear skies (and unseasonably warm temperatures) for our Moon Night which helped to make it a successful event – and the first one in a long while!

Looking through the archive of blog posts, the last successful public viewing we had weather-wise was April of 2014! We did manage to squeak in a few minutes of viewing between clouds in December of 2014, but either way you look at it, our recent Moon Night was the first successful viewing of 2015. That speaks to the challenges of doing astronomy in the quickly changeable PEI weather.

Telescopic view of the Moon captured by event guest and UPEI student Hannah Reid on her smartphone.

We had five telescopes set-up on the UPEI campus for the event – the Physics Department’s 6-inch Dobsonian (donated to us by the Sidewalk Astronomers of Charlottetown) plus four other telescopes. Keith Cooper, Judith MacNeil, and Jane Vicary with their personal telescopes, and Ryan Casey, a teacher participating in the Scopes for Schools program. Another Scopes for School teacher, Rachelle Arsenault, also came along to lend a hand in telescope operation. And Physics students Dave, Trevor, Cameron, Aidan, Deanna, Andrew, and Phoenix came out to practice using our telescopes, which hopefully means plenty of potential volunteers for our future viewings.

In addition to viewing the Moon, our astronomers aimed their telescopes at Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, and some double stars, so the 40-plus visitors got to enjoy all sorts of astronomical sights. It was particularly delightful to hear the exclamations of excitement from some guests who had never looked through a telescope before.

Here’s hoping for more clear-sky nights like this one in the future!