The Astronomy Club plans on setting up the campus telescopes in Falcon Square to bring distant stars and nebulae the new moon and Jupiter into focus this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with its ‘Night Sky Observation’ event, the first in many nighttime campus activities.
All of Cerritos College students and their guests are invited to a night of star-gazing in an effort to bring more attention to the Astronomy department.
Hot chocolate, snacks and chairs will be available for guest in attendance.
A nearly first quarter moon will be clearly visible, as well as Jupiter and its pearlescent moons.
Thad Szabo, a professor of physics and astronomy, hopes more students will find interest in both the club and the department. “We’re just getting started up again. The club has been dormant for a few years here, but with club days, we had a lot of people signing up; it seems that people are interested in coming out and to see what we’re doing.”
There are other celestial events occurring in the near future and the Astronomy Club will be closely following and providing live images for the entire student body to view.
Szabo said, “By the end of March and the beginning of April, Saturn will rise around the time the sun sets. So, Saturn will be visible all night long and it will be close to the earth as it gets for this appearance.
“We’ll probably do this evening observation session probably once a month, I would say, and starting next semester, we’ll be featuring Saturn,” he said.
Joseph Torres, undecided major, wasn’t aware of the Astronomy Club or its activities, but once he was informed, he was excited about the “Night Sky Observation” event.
“It sounds like a pretty good time. I’d be down,” Torres, said, “I never looked through a telescope before. I would absolutely love to, given the chance.”
James Roth, automotive repair major, is very interested in attending and enjoying the Astronomy Club’s event and remembers his first time viewing the universe through a high-powered telescope when he was younger, “It’s indescribable. You really have to experience it for yourself.”
Carlos Diaz, history major, is a self-proclaimed astronomy buff.
When he found out about Wednesday’s “Night Sky Observation” event, he launched into a story of his last visitation to Joshua Tree National Park, “If you can put a grid on the sky, every grid would have so many stars in it. I was actually a little terrified by how small we really are.”
Diaz plans on attending the event.
A trip to Griffith Park, as well as a camping new moon-viewing trip to Los Pinos, are just a few activities the Astronomy Club is planning for its members.
The Astronomy Club is open to everybody and meets the first and third of every month, at 11 a.m., in PS 2 in the Physical Science building.
