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Summer Public Observation in Ramon Crater, Negev Desert, Israel

By Eden Orion posted 08-07-2022 12:22

  

Once a year, my wife and I go to the desert in the Negev, in the southern part of the State of Israel, to watch the stars.

What is special about these trips is that I invite everyone who wants to come with their family to give them the best astronomical experience possible.

Usually between 100 and 250 participants come to these observations, and we set up a small camp in one of the parking lots in Ramon Crater.

On Friday the 5th of August, we drove to the "Nahal Nekrot" (National Reserve Park) in Ramon Crater  around four in the afternoon. The temperature outside was 38 degrees Celsius - very hot!



We set up the tent, I assembled the telescope and we waited for the guests to come.

Little by little they began to arrive and towards sunset I could count about 120 participants.

Until sunset we flew kites of different types.



Immediately after sunset, I gave an organized briefing on rules of conduct in the desert and rules of conduct in an astronomical observation.

 

Then we started watching the moon followed by Saturn which drew many exclamations of admiration. Later Jupiter also joined the party and I told about the discovery of its moons by Galileo more than four hundred years ago.

I explained to several families who brought their telescopes from home how to use them, aim them and look through them.

 

At midnight the moon had set and the milky way could be clearly seen.

 

I taught a number of participants who were interested in this, how to photograph the Milky Way using a cell phone.

Towards four A.M. , when the dawn began to rise and the starlight began to go out, I retired for a short sleep in the tent.

In the morning - after breakfast, we flew water rockets into the sky and the children received a chapter on Newton's laws of motion.

Another public observation closed.

See you next year…




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