Saturday was one of those designated days that no one pays much attention to – it was International Observe the Moon Day – and it turned out to be a pretty big deal for Fountain Hills. The local Dark Sky Association (FHDSA) and the International Dark Sky Discovery Center (IDSDC) teamed up with Arizona State University to create an interesting and educational event.

ASU had a display hosted by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team and the ASU School of Earth and Space Sciences was there to provide world-wide outreach for the Fountain Hills event. The school’s Public Outreach Manager Rick Alling was on hand and conducted live interviews from Fountain Hills that went world-wide through the NASA website. Alling interviewed two locals, Joe Bill, president of the IDSDC about the proposed discovery center, and Scott Adams, who is with the DSA, but talked about his astrophotography hobby.

The turnout was great on the Centennial Circle Plaza with nearly a dozen telescopes set up for people to view the not-quite waxing to first quarter moon in the clear sky. Ted Blank also did one of his laser tours of the galaxy.

This may be the type of event that will help the IDSDC with the contributions it needs to fund the facility.