Tonight, McLean’s Astronomy Club will be hosting a sky watch event from 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. in the cafeteria courtyard at the observatory. The watch will be open to anyone who is interested in learning more about and observing the night sky, and the club plans to look at Saturn as well as the moon.
“[The sky watch] is pretty similar to events we’ve done in the past,” club officer Thamarie Pinnaduwage said. “[We’ve been] keeping track of the weather, making sure the space is ready to use and the telescope is ready to go and monitoring the moon phases over the past few weeks.”
One advantage to the upcoming sky watch is that the moon becomes visible much earlier in the day, allowing it to be observed accordingly.
“[The moon’s] usually up around 10 a.m., so even if the sun’s not down, you can still see the moon very clearly,” Pinnaduwage said.
Taking place before the home game against Edison High School this Friday, the club is hoping to attract some new faces.
“What I’m hoping for is getting people who don’t normally come, or who don’t even know that we have a telescope out there to actually come and check it out,” club sponsor and astronomy teacher Jeff Brocketti said.
The Astronomy Club’s philosophy of being open to all has been documented in their past projects as well, including their solar eclipse watch party which they hosted during and after school last April. With sky watches like the one upcoming as well as those in the future, the club is hoping to extend its hand to both those familiar with astronomy and those not.
“One of [our] goals as a club is to get as many people exposed to astronomy as possible and get more people interested,” Pinnaduwage said. “So this is a good sky watch to get people interested and get them to learn something new about astronomy in general.”
For those planning to attend the football game tonight, consider stopping by the observatory in the cafeteria courtyard first for a closer peek at the moon, as well as Saturn and possibly even the sun.
“Everybody in McLean should come out and check this out one time,” Brocketti said. “It’s unique. It’s a cool thing to have for high school and just an opportunity to kind of mix it with something you’re doing anyway. Take a look at the moon, enjoy it, and enjoy the football game.”
