Halloween Night Astronomy Event

Tom Campbell and Warren Bracewell provided opportunities for Trick-or-Treaters to observe the night sky this past Halloween night, one of the coldest Halloween nights on record for College Station. Tom commented that the thermometer said 50 degrees, which would have been warm in Kansas, but he said his bones have gotten way too used to Texas.

Tom and Warren's wives, Juliana Campbell and Donna Bracewell, assisted with the night's activities. They distributed candy, controlled the crowd and provided photography services. The group effort gave Halloween night Trick-or-Treaters and their parents and extra special treat.

Tom's scope is a Skywatcher Flextube 300P Synscan and Warren's is an Orion XT12G. They set up their telescopes in Tom's driveway before the Trick-or-Treaters and their parents hit the streets. Along with the candy treats, Warren and Tom showed Saturn and Jupiter to the kids.

More than 120 folks showed up to enjoy the view, and besides all the "oohs" and "ahhs," Tom reported it was great to hear that his house was a favorite stop that Halloween night.

There were Trick-or-Treaters and parents who had the opportunity to look through a telescope for the first time. Warren noticed the older kids were very excited to look through the telescopes, but there were a lot of parents who had never seen the planets, either. One child, who was getting a first glimpse at Saturn through a telescope, asked Warren if what they were seeing was real or just a picture.

Tom said there were several cute highlights of the evening:

One boy looked at Saturn and exclaimed to his dad, "I saw Buzz Lightyear!"
A girl asked Tom if he was a real astronaut. His reply: "Only on Halloween."
A teen dressed as a dinosaur came up to the telescope and Tom asked him if he wanted to see the asteroid that destroyed his people.

Warren said one of his favorite moments during the night was when he was explaining to one child that the four little lights in a line around Jupiter were the moons, and the child responded that there were a lot more moons than that around Jupiter.

Of course, precautions were taken with the telescopes on this excitement-filled night. Although Warren said he repeated about 50 times during the night, "Please don't touch the scope or you will move it," the instructions still didn't work.

The Halloween night astronomy event is all set to become a tradition at Tom's house, with Trick-or-Treaters making this their favorite stop of the night.