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Challenger Center Children’s Space / Astronomy Fair

Apollo 11 astronaut with Apollo 11 eyepiece ?
Each year, Rockland Astronomy Club member Ed Siemenn (Northeast Astronomy Forum ring-leader), heads the club’s Children’s Fair at the Challenger Center in Rockland County. It’s always a pleasure and honor for me to attend and get kids looking through scopes!

Here’s a note from Ed to all members of the staff of the Rockland Astronomy Club (RAC) who attended:

I just wanted to congratulate everyone on a fantastic Kids Fair this year! I believe that it was our best one to date. Everyone who was involved made a tremendous effort to pull this off flawlessly and all of your hard work has not gone unnoticed, it is greatly appreciated! I saw a lot of happy kids and I hope that we lit a spark in just a few of them, that is of course what this fair is all about, inspiring our next generation of astronomers, scientists and even astronauts.
Again, thanks to all for a job well done!Ed Siemenn, Rockland Astronomy Club Executive Director

I took a few pictures of the event.
The entrance to the Challenger Learning Center. That’s a Tele Vue-76 with Apollo 11mm eyepiece in the foreground.
I set up a table near Camera Concepts (and the food service tent) with two scopes. First,  a Tele Vue-60 with a special 4.7mm Ethos-SX, 110° field eyepiece that has a triangular internal field stop to simulate the same 110° view the Apollo astronauts had through the triangular window of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) simulator.  A second scope, a Tele Vue-76, had one of the prototype commemorative Apollo 11mm eyepieces that will be available later this year.
Suffern, High School robotics exhibit. At right is the Moon target for our “simulator”.
View through our “Lunar Module Simulated Simulator window” at 76x!
Both scopes (above and below) were aimed at “simulated” Moon target about 40-ft away featuring a lunar surface against a background star field. 
Suffern, High School robotics exhibit.
NASA type “Gyro Ball” adventure (above and below)

About the Challenger Center

The Challenger Center organization was founded in memory of the ill-fated Challenger Space Shuttle flight that was to have carried Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher-astronaut, into space.

Although the members of that crew are no longer with us, the legacy of their mission continues through the work of Challenger Centers worldwide.

At the Challenger Center we believe exploration is the essence of learning, and we are confident that you will discover how much fun learning can be.

Greta and Jeff Norwood (CCTS owners) with their granddaughter.
Boys gotta have fun!
Alien astronaut too!
Many fun building projects for kids.
Food tent.
Did you observe, sketch or image with Tele Vue gear? We’ll like your social media post on that if you tag it #televue and the gear used. Example:
#televue #tv85 #ethos #jupiter
Do you want your Tele Vue images re-posted on Tele Vue Optics’ Social Media accounts? Use this hashtag for consideration:
#RPTVO
More Info