Astronomy Club spends night with the stars
By Lauren Kendrick
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Premiere
Originally published: 3/13/08 at 11:06 AM CSTLast update: 3/13/08 at 5:37 PM CST
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This free event takes place the first Friday of every month and is open to the public.
"We make sure we have information tables with pamphlets as well as interactive things like the telescopes set up for the people who don't make it in to the show," Keith Little, marketing director of the San Antonio Astronomical Association, said.
"That way, the kids aren't sad, and the parents can learn with the kids."
Little said the telescopes that are brought out for people to use during the Friday viewings are personally owned by members of the astronomical association.
Group members take their telescopes to McAllister Park every Wednesday night, as well. "We have people from all over come out for this, even from Castroville," Little said.
Once the planetarium was filled to capacity, the people who were not able to get in and watch the show came outside and were able to choose from various activities.
Tony Villanueva, a psychology behavioral sciences professor at Palo Alto College, brought his 7-year-old son, Antonio, but they were a little too late to get into the first show.
Villanueva was thankful there were telescopes set up for viewing because that kept his son entertained while they waited for the next show to start.
"This is great. We weren't sure if we were going to stay for the next show or not. We didn't want to just stand around for an hour," Villanueva said.
Environmental science sophomore Sabrina Engelhardt, president of the Astronomy Club, is proud of it.
She wanted to start the club because there was not one on campus as of last semester.
Engelhardt said the club has 16 members and welcomes new members. "All you have to have is three hours in any course and a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher to join," said Engelhardt.
Engelhardt had candy ready for the guests interested in testing their knowledge of the solar system.
She even tried to stump Wood, but no luck.
Club members tested the children with questions such as "Which Disney character has the same name as a planet?"
There were informative DVDs set up showcasing various planets. After the DVD finished, Engelhardt gave a brief lecture on the planets.
The Astronomy Club meets from noon to 1 p.m. on Mondays and 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
For more information on joining the Astronomy Club, call Dr. David Wood at 733-2840.
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