Prouty Snow Day! As I have for the last few years, I planned to join my fellow supporters of the huge fundraiser for the Dartmouth Cancer Center at the Dartmouth Outing Clubhouse on Occom Pond. First, though, I continued my condo organization and worked on my taxes. By 1145, I was ready to leave and arrived at the event just as they were starting (1200). Before all the other guests/participants got there, I was able to enjoy a nice meal. Next, I helped the Fundraising Team kick off the year with food, medical research testimonials and music by the Dartmouth Aires. Afterwards, I got to ski the entire trail system at Pine Park (3 miles in 90 minutes). Along the way, I got great views of the frozen Connecticut River and enjoyed the solitude in a Hemlock grove. With a big snowfall last night, clear blue skies and temps in the teens, the sledding hill was very busy. So was Occam Pond - lots of skaters! After putting away my skis, I had a s'more and was allowed to take some of the leftover sandwiches for the road. It was such a nice day! Departed for home (arrived at my condo by 1515) and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, organizing and talking with my neighbor (Monte) about my summer plans. Following my dinner, I started watching movie - I’d already settled for the evening. Suddenly, I noticed a social media post that announced that Dartmouth College was having an Astronomy Night! It was already in progress so I raced over to campus. Normally, it's easy to get there but today there was a hockey game traffic and I got held up by lots of pedestrians. Still, I was there by 1915 and started looking around for signs. Since I arrived in town, one place I’ve really wanted to get inside was the Shattuck Observatory and it was open tonight! I toured the inside of the building and marveled at the telescope - there was a Physics professor there who helped me “get my geek on”. Unfortunately, the roof if this historic building isn’t opened during the winter because it might not easily close again, allowing the next snow storm to fill the building with powder. Instead, I went outside to the nearby Public Observatory Shed. The roof in that building was retracted and several grad students (in the fields of physics, plasma research, dark matter and astronomy) were running the telescope. Venus, Jupiter and Mars were all visible to the naked eye - it was a glorious night for stargazing! We first got to view the craters of the moon but they then moved the scope towards Jupiter. I really enjoyed seeing the striated bands of color and pin-point moons. The students also showed us M37 (cluster) and Castor (bluish star in Gemini Constellation). Wow! Did I mention it was 5 degrees? Feeling a bit chilly, I made my way to the Fairchild Tower, where I was treated to a star show in an inflatable dome and some hot chocolate. I also got to watch spectrometry demonstrations of Hydrogen, Helium and Neon gases - each one looked like a bar code of selected color bands. Grad students managed these stations too and they were quite knowledgeable and talented. There was a crafts station for the kids - the whole event was well planned and executed. With the Big Green hockey game going on down the street, there weren’t many other people in attendance but that’s the way I like it. I stayed on campus until 2030 and then headed home (arrived within 15 minutes). Overall, this pop up science night was awesome and I’m glad I noticed the post in time to attend. Actually, today was a quintessential day in Hanover, NH - I sure am lucky to live here!
