Recent Public Outreach Events

Star Gazing at Lyman Orchards, March 14, 2026

By Donna Pursley

Our first event of the year happened on March 14 at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield.

It was cold. Six of us braved the cold and set up on the cart path near the golf driving range. The view to the west was hampered by a large tent frame. There was also some bad lighting shining from the west onto some of us.

Jupiter was the first object to show. The public starting trickling in about 6:30 and all the scopes were on Jupiter. The groups seemed to come in slowly so we were never overwhelmed. I think there were about 40 people attending. We were able to spend time with each group to show them the constellations and anything we could find in the sky. Most of the people were first time telescope viewers, which I consider to be a very good thing.

We had 5 scopes of various sizes which worked out perfectly. There was a steady flow of people until the stop time of 9:30. By then most of us were pretty cold, though the wind had died down. All in all, I would consider this a successful first public night of viewing.

Family Astronomy Night at Hammonasset, March 28, 2026

By Jim Mazur

Our first Hammonasset event of the year turned out very well. It was cold, but the skies were clear, and 20 telescopes were set up by members of three local astronomy groups (ASNH, Shoreline Astronomical Society, and Thames Amateur Astronomy Society). About 140 visitors had a chance to observe the gibbous Moon, Jupiter and its moons, and Venus. Some of the deep-sky targets were the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy, and the double stars Mizar and Alcor.

Just after 8:30 pm, everyone stopped to watch the International Space Station fly over, passing right through the belt of Orion and then dimming and fading as it entered the Earth’s shadow.

One young astronomy enthusiast with her father brought a table-top Orion Starblast 4.5-inch reflector, which they were delighted to try out under the clear dark skies. They told us the scope was borrowed from the Milford Public Library. It was provided to the library by ASNH as part of our library telescope program.