By JIM HILDEBRAND
The Pilot
BAYVIEW — A cheer resonated at a small party in Bayview when Jim Gillard clicked on the map of sites registered to the International Observe The Moon Night (InOMN) website and found the Twillingate Astronomical Observatory.
Twillingate was one of 577 registered events held in 49 countries around the world to mark InOMN 2012. InOMN has created the opportunity for people to take notice of the moon’s beauty and share that experience with one another. Through InOMN scientists, educators, and moon enthusiasts from government, non-profit organizations and businesses across the globe hope to instill in the public a sense of wonderment and curiosity about the moon.
It is certainly Mr. Gillard’s passion and his enthusiasm was bubbling as he hosted the event to a small gathering of approximately a dozen guests.
“Interest in the moon is really picking up and it is growing rapidly around the world,” he explains. “I think that there will be more manned flights to the moon with the possibility of building a station on its surface.
“With the discovery of ice in some of the moon’s craters it leads to the possibility of transforming it into fuel for expeditions to mars. Water is worth more than gold in space and if it can be used as a means to propel a ship to mars it would certainly be a viable solution to reducing the huge costs associated with such a voyage.”
Jan Pomeroy was one of the guests for InOMN. She’s on holidays from Peterborough Ontario.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be here and sharing in this event,” she said. “I was at the inaugural event that Jim hosted two years ago and this is just great.”
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