Star Gazing in the Desert

Star-gazing IV

This Saturday the museum held it's fourth star-gazing party. Over 160 people - many of them first timers to the museum - came out to enjoy a night with the stars.  Steve, our resident astronomer, gave a brief talk and showed some wonderful pictures he's taken with his telescope.  There were four telescopes for visitors to look through set up around the museum. Many got the chance to see not only a beautiful full moon rising, but also the "Dance of the Planets" when Jupiter, Mercury and Venus appeared together after sunset.  The next "Dance" won't occur until 2021.  One visitor enjoyed the event so much that she sent us an email:  "My husband and I attended your function on Saturday, May 25. I had never been to your museum  . . . What an enjoyable evening! The weather was great, we ran into old friends, saw Jupiter, Mercury and Venus and an informative presentation on asteroids. Well done! I plan on bringing my grandson to your next star gazing function. Thank you!" What worked really well was having enough volunteers that we were able to not only have Steve's talk and the telescopes outside, but also have volunteers answering questions about the Gold Rush exhibit and having volunteers working with the kids doing coiled clay- always a huge hit and always at least 25 kids seemed to be at the tables. Multiple focal points may be a little harder to prepare, but they pay off big time! We even made two of the local papers: IV Press: http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-news-community-takes-in-dance-of-the-planets-at-stargazing-event-20130527,0,1072911.story The Desert Review: http://www.thedesertreview.com/dance-of-the-planets-over-ocotillo/ Thanks also to Sobe's Restaurant in El Centro for generously sponsoring this event! People used their apps to find constellations Steve presenting NASA's "Near Earth Objects"