Today we opened the first of a number of posters (one of which is over 30 feet long, a print from ASU SESE of a crater on the Moon). Several Ailanga students who come by each day and help, ask questions, and engage were today looking at the map of the Moon. I explained how false color imaging is used to depict elevation, and asked them to determine, based upon their understanding of geology on Earth which areas were high and which were low.
Then, we continued our investigation of concave and convex lenses and how they affect light. I gave the students the Orion spotting scope to take outside, to focus sunlight and find the distance from the front lens to the focus. Of course, boys will be boys, no matter what country, and these photos show what they captured with my camera.
We also watched the first half of a documentary narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson about the history of astronomy and telescopes. Once the observatory is fully operational, we will have a dedicated learning station with hundreds of science films.
