Alachua Astronomy Club: Alachua Astronomy Day (AAD) at Marlboro Farms: Spring 2000

	Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc.	Member Astronomical League	Member International Dark-Sky Association
	A Special Public Event	Member Astronomical League	Member International Dark-Sky Association
	29°39' N, 82°21' W Altitude: 50 Meters (more or less)		Updated Jan. 5, 2000
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Alachua Astronomy Day at Marlboro Farms
March 20, 1999
A Star Party and Hayride To Benefit the Eighth Avenue Solar System Project

Look through our scopes
or bring your own! Don't know how to use the telescope you got for Xmas? . . . Bring your 'scope to Marlboro Farms!
Want to buy a telescope but don't know what to buy? . . . Come to Marlboro Farms!
Never looked through a telescope? . . . Look through our 'scopes at Marlboro Farms!
Want to talk about astronomy? . . . Meet us at Marlboro Farms!
What will I see?
(Click on me!)

When Saturday, March 20, 1999; 5:00 – 10:00 p.m. EST
(Rain Date: Sat., Mar. 27, 1999 — tickets are non-refundable)
Map

Where Marlboro Farms, Newberry, FL, 5.9 miles west of I-75 on Hwy. 26 (Newberry Rd.), follow signs. (See Map)

Activities Hayrides, Star Gazing at Telescope Alley, Telescope Workshop, Demonstrations, Slide Show, Displays and Games!

Amenities Refreshments, picnic area, restrooms

Tickets
Advanced
$2.00

At Gate
$5.00 (Adults); $3.00 (7 to 12); Free under age 7
(Group discounts available)
What do you get?

Ticket Sales Call (352) 495-2243 or stop by

Omni Books: 99 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, (352) 375-3755
Spin Cycle: 309 N.W. 13 Street, Gainesville, (352) 373-3355
Blue Star Nursery: Hawthorne, US 301, (352) 481-3300
The Ranch Burger: 102 N. Main St., Newberry
[US 27, one block north of Newberry Rd.], (352) 472-3215

Details

The Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. (AAC) is sponsoring Alachua Astronomy Day at Marlboro Farms on March 20, 1999. The event will run from 5:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Activities will include hay rides, demonstrations, displays and children's games. Club members will present over a dozen telescopes of all makes and sizes for public viewing. Visitors are welcome to bring their own telescopes and receive hands-on training at the Telescope Workshop, available all evening. (Here is a chance to learn how to use the telescope you own but really never knew how to use!)

Alachua Astronomy Day kicks off a year-long fund-raising campaign for the Eighth Avenue Solar System Project (see below).
The Eighth Avenue Solar System Project

Solar System Walk
In 1993, Chip Sullivan, a Gainville businessman, erected a "Solar System Walk" along a 0.9 mile stretch of N.W. 8 Avenue from N.W. 34 Street (Westside Park) to N.W. 24 Street in Gainesville, Florida. Ten street signs depicted the Sun and the nine planets in a four billion to one scale model which showed the relative sizes and orbits of each planet. The model served as an educational tool for local schools and an interesting curiosity for motorists and pedestrians. Over time, vandals stole most signs and the Solar System Walk has not existed since 1996.

During late 1998, the Alachua Astronomy Club and the Gainesville City Commission began work to bring back the "Solar System." The City Commission will contribute at least $5,000 but this project will likely require several times this amount. This time, the Solar System Walk will use permanent, artistic models. A selection committee, consisting of the Art in Public Places Trust and representatives from the AAC, will review proposals for recommendation to the City Commission.

Interested in Designing the Gainesville Solar System Walk?

Interested qualified Florida artists should see the AAC Solar System Walk Page for further information. This page includes the history, locaton map and scaled data for this project.

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