On Nov. 16, McLean’s astronomy club will be hosting a sky-watch at the school’s observatory from 5:30 pm to 7:15 pm. The sky-watch will be focused on seeing Jupiter and Saturn, assuming weather conditions are clear.
“It gets dark early now, so we’re starting at 5:30 [pm] on Thursday,” astronomy club sponsor Jeff Brocketti said. “The [sky-watches] in the winter will generally be about that time, and then when we get later in the year they don’t start until 7 or 7:30 [pm] because it just doesn’t get dark [until then].”
Both relaxed and engaging, the sky-watches provide students with a firsthand opportunity to learn more about the galaxy and its activity. The loose structure of these watches also encourages flexibility from interested students, as their timing and duration is based on several factors.
“We usually plan [sky-watches] for an hour to an hour and a half, but they usually last about an hour and a half to two hours. It really depends on how long people are willing to look at stuff and what the weather’s like,” Brocketti said.
While they don’t follow a regular schedule, sky-watches are hosted monthly with the intent to observe a specific astronomical entity. In the case of tomorrow’s watch, Jupiter and Saturn will be the subjects of observation.
“We kind of plan [sky-watches] around the weather and availability, so there’s no set time but roughly [happen] every month,” Brocketti said. “If [students] want more information, they can join the astronomy club Schoology page.”