Wrapped in warm jackets last Thursday night, the astronomy club and Science National Honors Society (SNHS) members met up for Astronomy Night. Astronomy Night is held around once a month and took place on Jan. 16 from 6-8 p.m. It was originally planned to take place on the Jan. 14 but got canceled due to rain. 

Last week, members were able to observe Venus, the full moon and other stars that were visible from McLean High School’s courtyard observatory.

“It was very interesting to find out about the phases of Venus, which was a planet I had never seen outside of a picture before,” senior SNHS member Lima Mutahidy said. 

Members from SHNS were also able to take a sneak peek through the observatory and witness how Astronomy Night was held. 

 “I thought it was an amazing experience to be able to use the telescope and see a bunch of kids’ faces light up when they got to get some treats from the bake sale and see the stars at the same time,” Mutahidy said .

During most Astronomy Nights, SNHS members through project leader Rebecca Rafi hold bake sales to feed astronomy club members and gain profits to purchase goods for the club. 

“I helped out because I thought it was a fun opportunity to get together with some of the other club members and learn more about space while also helping out the club with the bake sale,” Mutahidy said . 

This time the bake sale almost completely sold out and brought in a huge revenue for the club. 

“It went way better than we initially thought since we had so many cookies, cakes, and brownies, but we barely had anything left by the end and everybody seemed to enjoy the treats,” Mutahidy said .

Currently, the club is looking to buy an eyepiece for their observatory telescope and are hoping to do so with the joint profits of multiple bake sales. Through these improvements to equipment, the club hopes to bring better learning experiences to current and future students.