Post by RobbW on Aug 19, 2011 16:00:00 GMT -6
Well, fellow members, it looks like this CA **points two thumbs at self** is going to have to get over his fear of public speaking in short order. I am currently planning and preparing for my first outreach presentation in October of this year.
May family and I are going on our first Disney cruise sailing out of Port Canaveral on 10/22. (You can wave Bon Voyage to us at www.portcanaveralwebcam.com). We are forum members over on www.DISboards.com, a forum site for Disney fanatics. There is a large contingent of fellow DISers who will be on the same cruise as us. Apparently, it is customary for DISers to schedule meet-ups and events for members to get together and hang out while on the cruise. I opened my big mouth and asked if anyone else would be interested in stargazing, seeing as how we will be out in the middle of a big dark ocean hundreds of miles from any light-polluting city. Turns out there are MANY who are interested. Since I'm the one who brought up the subject, I have become the de facto organizer and presenter for the event.
So far, a preliminary date and time has been set. We will be getting together on Wednesday night on October 26. As long as the weather is cooperative, it should be a great night for viewing. Not only will we be on a cruise ship out in the middle of the dark ocean, but we will have a new moon that night. Not only a new moon, but it will have set before sunset that night, as well. So, even if it wasn't a new moon that night, the sky would still be unaffected by the moon anyway.
Now, I have been in communication with Disney Cruise Lines (DCL) to get information about planning for this event and also to ask question about what we can and cannot do for it. I have already been given permission by the ships' officers for the responsible use of a green laser pointer during the presentation. Unfortunately, DCL has been a little less forthcoming with info on the nighttime lighting on the ship. Specifically, I have asked if it would be possible to have lights in the immediate vicinity of the event either dimmed or turned off. So far, I have only been told that the official response is that ship lighting must remain on at all times for the safety of the ship and its guests and cast members. It seems that no matter how I ask this question of them, they seem to think that I want them to turn off all the ship's exterior lights for our little outing. I really don't know what is so hard to understand about the words "immediate vicinity."
Oh well, I hope we can work through this before the cruise sets sail. In that effort, I have been provided (by a fellow DIS member) the direct contact information for the Group Events coordinator for DCL. This fellow DIS member is a priest who has sailed with Disney before. In fact, he has held Sunday mass on board the ships in the past and is currently scheduled to hold mass during our cruise, too. This contact of his has been instrumental in getting everything set up: space, seating, microphones, even a blurb about it in the Disney Navigator (the daily newsletter that is distributed to all cruisers to let them know what is going on). I have contacted this person and am hopeful that she will help me straighten things out and set things up so they are conducive to a night of gazing at the stars.
Also, our friend Audrey Fischer has been in contact with me about possibly kicking this stargazing event up a notch. She wants to see if it would be possible to register the Disney ship as a StarPark with the Global StarPark Network. That would be pretty cool! I have also asked her for any recommendations on handouts I could distribute to the group on light pollution. Anything to help spread the word!
So, now on to planning the actual presentation. This is where I need a lot of help and work. I am currently spending a lot of time virtually gazing at the night skies from our cruise ship. By that, I mean I am using Stellarium and some other digital tools to review what will be visible in the night sky during the cruise. The cruise is from 10/22/11 - 10/29/11. We will be sailing in the Caribbean with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. My stargazing presentation is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, 10/26/11, around 8:00pm. That time of the year and at that latitude, the sun should have already set around 6:00 pm. So, it should be plenty dark by the time of my event.
I am trying to put together a list of the best possible targets for the evening. I am trying to keep the list focused on naked eye objects with maybe a couple easy bino objects thrown in for those who are bringing theirs. I will need to not only know where in the night sky these objects will be located (and actually be able to find them), but I also want to be able to provide interesting and/or fun facts about the objects we'll be looking at. I want to try to make this event as fun as possible, rather than some dry, boring speech about stars. I'll try to inject some humor when and wherever is possible!
Anyway, I just thought I post on something I was up to these days. If anyone has ideas, advice, suggestions, recommendations, or commentary they feel would help me with my presentation, I will be all ears. I'll keep y'all up to date as this progresses along and my event gets closer. Thanks for listening!
May family and I are going on our first Disney cruise sailing out of Port Canaveral on 10/22. (You can wave Bon Voyage to us at www.portcanaveralwebcam.com). We are forum members over on www.DISboards.com, a forum site for Disney fanatics. There is a large contingent of fellow DISers who will be on the same cruise as us. Apparently, it is customary for DISers to schedule meet-ups and events for members to get together and hang out while on the cruise. I opened my big mouth and asked if anyone else would be interested in stargazing, seeing as how we will be out in the middle of a big dark ocean hundreds of miles from any light-polluting city. Turns out there are MANY who are interested. Since I'm the one who brought up the subject, I have become the de facto organizer and presenter for the event.
So far, a preliminary date and time has been set. We will be getting together on Wednesday night on October 26. As long as the weather is cooperative, it should be a great night for viewing. Not only will we be on a cruise ship out in the middle of the dark ocean, but we will have a new moon that night. Not only a new moon, but it will have set before sunset that night, as well. So, even if it wasn't a new moon that night, the sky would still be unaffected by the moon anyway.
Now, I have been in communication with Disney Cruise Lines (DCL) to get information about planning for this event and also to ask question about what we can and cannot do for it. I have already been given permission by the ships' officers for the responsible use of a green laser pointer during the presentation. Unfortunately, DCL has been a little less forthcoming with info on the nighttime lighting on the ship. Specifically, I have asked if it would be possible to have lights in the immediate vicinity of the event either dimmed or turned off. So far, I have only been told that the official response is that ship lighting must remain on at all times for the safety of the ship and its guests and cast members. It seems that no matter how I ask this question of them, they seem to think that I want them to turn off all the ship's exterior lights for our little outing. I really don't know what is so hard to understand about the words "immediate vicinity."
Oh well, I hope we can work through this before the cruise sets sail. In that effort, I have been provided (by a fellow DIS member) the direct contact information for the Group Events coordinator for DCL. This fellow DIS member is a priest who has sailed with Disney before. In fact, he has held Sunday mass on board the ships in the past and is currently scheduled to hold mass during our cruise, too. This contact of his has been instrumental in getting everything set up: space, seating, microphones, even a blurb about it in the Disney Navigator (the daily newsletter that is distributed to all cruisers to let them know what is going on). I have contacted this person and am hopeful that she will help me straighten things out and set things up so they are conducive to a night of gazing at the stars.
Also, our friend Audrey Fischer has been in contact with me about possibly kicking this stargazing event up a notch. She wants to see if it would be possible to register the Disney ship as a StarPark with the Global StarPark Network. That would be pretty cool! I have also asked her for any recommendations on handouts I could distribute to the group on light pollution. Anything to help spread the word!
So, now on to planning the actual presentation. This is where I need a lot of help and work. I am currently spending a lot of time virtually gazing at the night skies from our cruise ship. By that, I mean I am using Stellarium and some other digital tools to review what will be visible in the night sky during the cruise. The cruise is from 10/22/11 - 10/29/11. We will be sailing in the Caribbean with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. My stargazing presentation is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, 10/26/11, around 8:00pm. That time of the year and at that latitude, the sun should have already set around 6:00 pm. So, it should be plenty dark by the time of my event.
I am trying to put together a list of the best possible targets for the evening. I am trying to keep the list focused on naked eye objects with maybe a couple easy bino objects thrown in for those who are bringing theirs. I will need to not only know where in the night sky these objects will be located (and actually be able to find them), but I also want to be able to provide interesting and/or fun facts about the objects we'll be looking at. I want to try to make this event as fun as possible, rather than some dry, boring speech about stars. I'll try to inject some humor when and wherever is possible!
Anyway, I just thought I post on something I was up to these days. If anyone has ideas, advice, suggestions, recommendations, or commentary they feel would help me with my presentation, I will be all ears. I'll keep y'all up to date as this progresses along and my event gets closer. Thanks for listening!
