100 Hours of Astronomy: Saturday 4 April

This activity was done in a central region of Damascus. Mesat Square, which is one of the largest squares in the capital, includes a famous restaurant: Pizza A&M. We had many important activities in this place in the past, including public observation of solar and lunar eclipses.

We mounted only 3 telescopes, one outside the restaurant and two in the yard. Both the moon and Saturn were observed. All by-passers were invited to look and take information about International Year of Astronomy.
As in all activities, we regulated the entry so that all people are counted correctly. We could make 735 persons of all ages have their first look through the telescope.

We leave you with a photo summary of the event. Click on any image to enlarge it.

The outer yard of the restaurant with regulation of entry for correct counting	The entrance of the restaurant with our the stands of IYA and SAAA
One of the public looking to the moon through a 130-mm reflector	A telescope on the sidewalk outside the restaurent in order to draw attention
The activity attracted a large number of children who had their first look through the telescope	Some bypasser listening to an explanation about the surface features of the moon
The presence of the telescope at the street was an advantage at that active hour of evening	A Turkish tourist who was passing nearby wanted to look through the telescope
Hundreds of people looked for the first time of their lives through our telescopes	This activity was broadcasted and recorded on the internet through a webcam

Back