Despite the colder temperatures outside, McLean’s Astronomy Club has no plans to shy away from continuing their explorations of the galaxy this winter. The club has already hosted several sky-watches at the school observatory this year, and are preparing projects to begin after winter break, such as the Astro-Journal.
“We have all of our club members write articles about astronomy topics that we’re interested in, and we’re going to compile them all into a book,” said senior Thamarie Pinnaduwage, Astronomy Club officer.
The club hopes to partner with the Science National Honors Society to get more McLean students involved. In terms of publishing the journal, the club will likely turn to Amazon self-publishing in order to compile all the articles into an accessible and polished access point. Before that, club members are hoping to peer edit each others’ articles.
“We are dedicating some meeting time to [let] students bring up their articles to us [so] we can edit them,” Pinnaduwage said.
Aside from specific projects like the Astro-Journal, the club will continue to pursue astronomy through its open-door meetings and sky-watches, the next of which is planned to focus on Jupiter and possibly Saturn.
“It’s hard to tell because the weather changes so much, but we’re aiming to [host the next sky-watch] in the first or second week after we get back from break,” Pinnaduwage said.
These sky-watches will also feature additional forms of science-related entertainment to increase attendance.
“The plan [is] to show movies while we [host] sky-watches, so the next one [will] be whenever the next sky-watch is, which is weather-dependent,” physics teacher and club sponsor Jeff Brocketti said.
In addition to providing a form of student outreach for the club, these sky-watches are a chance for students both within and outside the club to expand their horizons and collaborate around a shared interest in astronomy. For any students interested in participating in an upcoming skywatch, information will be posted on the club’s schoology page, which can be joined by reaching out to a club member or Brocketti.
“I really like the observatory nights,” Pinnaduwage said. “It’s nice to see not only kids who are always at the meetings, but also a lot of other kids come.”
