Homeschooling

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Friday, 2 March 2012

Cambridge Observatory

My son's cub scout troop went to the Cambridge Observatory for their monthly field trip and we had such a fun time. My family had visited before, as on Wednesday evening in the winter it is open to the public. However the crowd is so big we have not able to see their oldest but still working telescope until this trip.

The telescope we saw was the Northumberland telescope which is 183 years old! It is still operational.

Some of the pictures are in red as I was not able to use flash photography while inside the building:)


The building where the telescope is housed


















Removing the trash bag that covers the lens
















Removing the lens cap




















Opening the ceiling door

















The kids helped position the telescope.




























Looking for Jupiter

















Kids had a chance to ask questions. I was really pleased to hear how much my children remembered from our space study last year. The kids all seemed interested in black holes, worm holes and gamma rays:)










Then we all got a chance to look thru the telescope and we saw Jupiter and 2 of its moons































































After wards the children were taken to a auditorium were we participated in a space quiz. Some questions were easy but some were really hard.

















Some how I was able to answer this question I must have remember this from one of the many books I read last year or I just got lucky:)!










It was a wonderful evening out and on the car ride home my oldest enthusiastically announced she had a fun time. Always so nice to hear!!!



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11 comments:

  1. Lavish Bookshelf2 March 2012 at 14:34

    Think of the discoveries that have taken place there! Amazing. Very cool.

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    1. The Adventurer4 March 2012 at 14:28

      It was neat to be able to use such an old telescope. I always wanted to see what it was like inside one of those building and now I do:)

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  2. Susie2 March 2012 at 20:43

    What a great trip!

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  3. Maureensk3 March 2012 at 05:50

    Cool! What a treat to see Jupiter! And I actually think the red photos look really cool also. Why was the room lit in red light?

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    1. The Adventurer4 March 2012 at 14:29

      red lighting was used to help with night time vision. I wasn't able to use my flash. My husband didn't think any of my pictures would turn out but we were pleasantly surprised.

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  4. Chestnut Grove Academy4 March 2012 at 02:06

    awesome!!! Thanks for sharing at FTF!!

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  5. Susan4 March 2012 at 17:48

    Sounds like a really fun trip! Thanks for sharing with Look What We Did.

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  6. jmommymom4 March 2012 at 20:42

    That's really neat. My husband took my kids to a star gazing event one night in Denver, CO. They had a big old telescope and said the new small ones were many times more powerful. Amazaing. The kids really enjoyed it.

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  7. Diane Stringam Tolley4 March 2012 at 21:30

    Okay, this is the neatest place yet! Imagine a 183 year-old telescope. Can you just imagine who might have looked through it? And the things they saw? Oh, it just makes my imagination soar!!!

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  8. MommyKuehner5 March 2012 at 03:17

    What a neat trip!! I love observatories....just wish the kids had the patience to like them too.

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  9. Kim5 March 2012 at 13:50

    I know I keep saying this, but what fun and excitement and a passion for learning you bring to your homeschooling!

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