St. John's Centre held another successful International Astronomy Day on Saturday, from 3pm to 10pm, at the Fluvarium grounds, in Pippy Park. The weather was a warm 18C, a sharp contrast to last years's -15C wind chill, up on Signal Hill. Eight of our Centre's volunteers showed up with telescopes, brochures and a poster display.

Although the event was advertised in local radio and print media, we only had about 40 visitors, a drop from last year's 120, largely due to the cloud cover that prevailed throughout the day and into the night. However, an occasional break between clouds afforded a look at sunspots through both our 11" and 8" scopes, as well as solar prominences through our newly acquired "Personal Solar Telescope". Some early views of the moon were also had through the 11", 8" and 3" scopes.

In the evening, the cloud cover continued, but occasional views of Saturn (with it's largest moon Titan), Jupiter (and four of it's moons), and our own Moon were had by a few visitors. A few celestial photos were also obtained by placing digital cameras up to the telescope eyepieces. Interestingly, as we packed up all the equipment at 10:15pm, the clouds suddenly dissipated, revealing a clear sky.

A big thanks go to the Fluvarium for helping us out, and kindly providing hot chocolate and coffee for the visitors.