Astronomy Camp

Cole spent a few days of his April vacation at Astronomy Camp at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium. The camp was a birthday gift from Godparents, Cedric and Susan.

We arrived a little early on the first day, so the front desk man said, "Feel free to explore the museum while you wait."

We looked around a little bit and then I left him with his class. They spent the day visiting the planetarium, building rockets, and learning the stories behind the names of stars, planets, and constellations. They also played with liquid nitrogen and learned about nebulas, galaxies, and black holes.

On Wednesday evening, the class met at the Northern Skies Observatory in Peacham.  Below, one of the camp instructors, Bobby Farlice-Rubio, explains how the observatory works and introduces the powerful telescope.

The group went outside while it was still light and used the telescope below to study craters on the moon. In their class, they had learned some of the stories behind the names of the craters.

As it got darker, Jupiter became visible.

We were able to see its stripes and 4 of its moons, similar to the photo below.

Bobby also pointed out several constellations and talked about the names and their stories.

It was chilly that evening, so the group eventually went back inside the observatory and used the massive telescope to take photos of a nebula and some planets.

On the last day, the camp walked to a ball field nearby and fired off the rockets they had made.

Below, the instructor sets up Cole's rocket on the "launch pad." Then  when the coast is clear, Cole fires off his rocket.

I was shooting this video with my phone - it was hard to track the rocket in the sky...

Cole had a great time and looked forward to going each day. Thank you Cedric and Susan!