Weather permitting, viewing will begin in twilight with a look at some examples of double stars. Our sun is a single star, but about half of what look like single stars in the sky are really systems of two or more stars orbiting around each other. The observatory's 16-inch telescope can reveal some of the diversity of stellar pairings. As the sky grows darker, attention will be turned to the famous Ring Nebula, the outer layers of a dying star in the constellation of Lyra. The evening will end with a look thousands of light years out to the halo of our galaxy to view an ancient system of stars astronomers call a globular cluster.
Globular clusters are leftover relics of the early days of the formation of the Milky Way.
The Student Observatory is located on the roof of the Stadium Parking Garage, 10th and T streets. There is no charge for admission to the observatory and children of all ages are welcome. The observatory will not be open if the sky is totally cloudy.