Academy Science youth pursue all sorts of science, some more so than others. When it comes to the science of Astronomy, at this time our frame of reference is “Sidewalk Astronomer.” Sidewalk astronomers venture out to the street corner after dark to set up a telescope in an urban setting for entertainment and public education.
The night sky was too cloudy for good star gazing after sunset, so we plan to return in the early morning hours when sufficient clearness is forecast. Obstacles to star gazing include light pollution, which obscures darkness in urban areas, and clouds, which form when meteorological conditions support the condensation of vapor in the atmosphere.
Great opportunity for us, the night sky did clear in the early morning hours. We observed constellations, the apparent rotation of the Big Dipper as the hours passed and used a simple telescope to view a far off star in the night sky.
