Article By: Mark Gibson 
Thanks to the Richmond County, NC 4-H for hosting the first Astronomy Night event on 1/4/2025. This was the first official outreach event for the Richmond County Astronomy Club. Members present were Carl Howald, John Sullivan, and Mark Gibson. If I forgot anyone that wants to be included as a member please email me at markgibson6822@gmail.com.

I thought I was prepared for cold weather with a hoodie and a coat and thermal socks and one fingerless glove but I needed two full gloves and a face mask. According to official records it got to 37 degrees but felt colder as it usually does for astronomy.

As this was our first 4-H event not our first public event. I heard John giving lessons on taking photos of the Milky Way and Carl discussing the differences between reflection and emission nebulae. We had two, Seestar S50 Smart telescopes, Unistellar, eQuinoxSmart Telescope, and a Celestron 8 Edge HD telescope.

I had trouble finding objects with my Celestron 8 due to finder scope not being aligned but we did find the moon. I’ll work on that for next time.

The hot chocolate served by the 4-H really hit the spot for me

Not your father’s telescope! Just a word about the evolving technology in astronomy that I have experienced in my 50 plus years of astronomy. When I first started star gazing, the research observatories had technology that wasn’t available to amateurs. The amateurs had to adapt their cameras to the telescope and hope they got everything right. In the last couple of years, the technology has come to the amateur astronomer through several companies (including Unistellar and Seestar) and at a price that people can afford. Speaking for myself, I am still learning how to present astronomy to the public using the new technology. Comments about this article or Astronomy send me an Email.