Snuggle Under the Stars - Mike Lynch
Mike Lynch provides an introduction to the world of stargazing. The astronomy and stargazing program includes a half hour indoor orientation with maps and constellation diagrams, then continues outside for a guided tour, including the lore of the Big Bear, Little Bear, Cassiopeia and many more constellations. Mike provides 3 giant 20? reflector telescopes and gives individuals the chance to view ?close up? star clusters, galaxies and other wonders of the night sky.
58 participated
Minnesota winters keep many people inside and not exposed to the winter constellations the way they are in the summer months. Learning about and seeing the winter sky first hand will give people a greater appreciation for what the great outdoors has to offer in the off-months. Also, our children's librarian plans to center her story times around the night sky during the week leading up to the event as our goal for the upcoming year is to help bridge the generation gap and socio-economic gap in our community by echoing programming across all ages and groups. Participant evaluation and anecdotal responses will be collected.
Despite having a cold and cloudy evening we still had a nice-sized program with a diverse audience. Slightly more than 1/3 of the participants were under 18 years of age. One little boy came from a neighboring town with his grandfather. While standing outside taking turns at the telescope, the child turned to his grandpa and said, "Thanks for bringing me tonight, this was amazing." Two groups said they didn't have any money and could only attend because the program was free. Providing educational hands on opportunities like this is very important to our community. It builds a bond between members based on common experiences and provides opportunities for educational and recreational growth for all ages and financial means.
Radio station provided free advertising for the event.