On Friday, June 1st, Profjohn visited a local elementary school in the Charlotte, NC area for the first of many Science Education Outreach Activities sponsored by The Imaging Source and www.astronomycamera.com. Mrs Radley's third grade class learned how lunar eclipses compare to solar eclipses, how the full moon and new moon coorespond to the type of eclipse event, and how the Sun-Earth-Moon configuration determines differnces between partial and total solar eclipses.

Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Barry, the second of the season, brought about a thick barrier of clouds between the students and their closest star. Unable to run the planned solar observing and imaging activity, Profjohn shared another of his interests to young scientists, amatuer rocketry! Using 20 lb copier paper, file folders, and compressed air, the class (and their teachers!) built and launched paper rockets into the cloudy Carolina skies. It was a successful launch and the girls ruled the furthest launch competition!

Back in the classroom, Profjohn wrapped up the session by quizzing the class (and teachers!) on the performance of their rockets and general eclipse science. Then they took Profjohn to their lunchroom for much needed snacks!