Science Heads N.E. OK Chapter

09/15/2024

Had a gentleman visit who travels and wanted to talk about what we do!

He works with Rick and was excited to hear about the mobile observatory.

BA Sidewalk Astronomer. Lets see the Stars!!Fantastic day with this awesome people if you want to follow them please like their page https://www.fac...

08/18/2024

Back to Hideaway with the Milky Way ceiling painted. We had visitors from the Bartlesville Astronomical Society.

This event was in preparation for the great unveiling at an astronomy convention at the Jenks planetarium in June.

Richard Stember, CEO of Science Heads, was scheduled to speak about Science Heads at the Friday evening event at the planetarium.

In Datudsy the N.E.O.MIBs with chapter volunteers Don, SusanRick and John would be hosting astronomy clubs from the states of OK, NE, KS, AR, and MO.

08/18/2024

Okay…..

Time for the ceiling. Due to the two metallic pieces of support and insulation on the ceiling a piece of wood was placed in between to make the top level.

I decided to paint the wood to match and tried to find a way to air brush all the constellation through a very large stencil on the ceiling.

It was so challenging to even find the supplies I needed it forced me to seek other options.

So I find the Webb image of the Milky Way Band and I even thought of air brushing but I am not proficient. I tried and then had to hand paint on top of the over spray!

I got plastic table cloths to protect the walls that I polyurethaned four layers on….. whew! And I got my brush s and started to paint the band that would be all the way to the nose of the trailer above Jupiter.

With having to add another securing object to the dome, a belt from the dome handle to the trailer dome base. It won’t interfere with my artwork so that’s good!

I did get the colors in and started in on a few messier objects but soon realized Carl Sagan was right. There are trillions of stars and it’s plain to see in any images that I had a big job in front of me.

People, (trying to help) suggested sponging. I said as an astronomer I’m looking for something more realistic and not what one would do for a child’s bedroom.

Next was Q tips! If you look at the photo you see they are very small and packed together.

So I had to leave it until I found a technique that would work better.

Now 20 months later, I have found two techniques that would work but I’d need to table cloth the walls and pull out the equipment stored inside.

My goal is to get this finished soon so that when we get our Go Fund Me resources to pay for the wrap, it will truly knock people’s socks off!

It’s been too rainy and hot but cooler weather is around the corner.

My special needs neighbor who is 45 and his reaction to my painting of the ceiling!

08/18/2024

Now we have a desk installed below where two tv monitors will be mounted.

These TVs will have the NASA Eyes on the Solar System” software that features NASA missions and craft and objects of said missions.

This allows for students to have a cool session while they are standing in line to wait on their turn at the eyepiece.

08/18/2024

The dome metallic edge was a potential issue for head injury and needed to be rectified. Climbing up to view through the telescope would be unsafe.

So pipe insulation foam tube was sliced and put over the seam of the metal roof and edge of the dome. It has a splice and the opening comes with an adhesive strip. Was a perfect solution.

At the back of the trailer a hand rail was put up vertically for an easy step in. But, we realized depending on sun and day time events, that pipe/hand rail would get extremely hot. So more pipe insulation with adhesive!

The telescope base and pieces was sanded and painted by John Thompson who is talented. He also welded hand grips on one of the scope mounts as it would make stacking much easier.

08/18/2024

The next week we took the Mobile Observatory AKA MOBs to Hideaway Pizza where the BASidewalkAstro Astronomer (who adopted the MOBs) to their monthly first quarter moon sidewalk event. This has been a tradition since 2013.

This was Science Heads’ first night event dry run through. With a long standing relationship with Hideaway Pizza we have an open invitation to set up at any time.

Word got out via the BA Sidewalk Astronomer Facebook and had many of our usual friends show up.

The crowd gave us great feedback and support for us to steward the observatory.

08/18/2024

We did a soft roll out at a nature park in Broken Arrow called Ray Harrell. They host an annual Earth Day celebration which includes beekeepers, Girl Scouts, Broken Arrow Recycling Services, and trail walks, and botany explorations and plant exchanges.

We were well received and were invited back for the next one. Had about 200 visitors for the 4 hours we were there.

08/18/2024

Two major issues presented themselves the first was the silicone on the top of the trailer was an uneven pour and above the doors would have a puddle of water a couple of inches deep on the roof.

New epoxy was poured and it self settled and was applied to other areas for potential leakage.

The fiberglass dome had a crack so that also needed to be looked at. The sealant around the dome needed to be redone since there was some leaking from the rain.

To prevent any more cracking of the dome due to stress from the wind while driving, it was suggested that some sort of brace needed to be in place to secure the dome to.

Drilling into the roof was out of the question so the side trim of the roof and side walls was selected due to it being thicker from support frames underneath.

It also stopped the team from securing the dome to the back latch of the trailer. Much better engineering!

Plus we needed a dome support inside of the trailer and settled on an expansion rod theat freight trucks use horizontally to keep freight from shifting and falling during transit.

08/18/2024

Time to prep the floor after 3 coats of black enamel paint and installation of the electrical outlet for the telescope.

With the constant standing it was vital to have some sort of cushion on the floor. Considerations for the matt placement have to be taken for the mount hole for the telescope base under the trailer and the telescope stand.

Later we will need to have brackets to secure all the equipment for travel.

08/18/2024

The lower left under the interior planets is a star forming region in M42 which will be great when discussing stars.

Comet Holmes was put on bottom right since it has a large coma and tail system.

The whole reason our local cosmic neighborhood was painted was to give us ways to talk and show the guests what potential objects they can see through the scope.

Clearly no Moons of Mars, and the gas giants after Saturn and even the Plutonian system and Kuiper Belt objects will be visible in light polluted skies.

My plan was to create a fully immersive experience for our guests and use the painted objects as lesson objectives and prepare people what they would see especially with Jupiter and Saturn.

08/18/2024

So now Pluto and his moons are on the top right side back of trailer.

Sadly the tv monitors covers the Plutonian system up but you ca rest that Charon, Nix, Styx, Kerberos and Hydra are there.

The other colored bodies are Kuioer belt objects.

Makemake dwarf planet, Haumea and moon, Quaoar and Sedna that take thousands of years to orbit the Sun.

They too are hidden by a tv monitor.

08/18/2024

Neptune is a fabulous deep blue and its largest moon is Triton and is natural sphere shaped. The rest are captured asteroids in rock shapes.

Despina,Galatea, Larissa, Proteus.