Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Hosting Star Party

By Sara Hammond
Published: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 12:54pm
Updated: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 12:55pm
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(Photo via tucsonastronomy.org)
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association was founded in 1954.

Saturday is International Astronomy Day and enthusiasts in Tucson are having a star party to celebrate.

The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will set up telescopes at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park on River Road starting at noon. There will be hands-on activities like making sun dials and meteor impact craters.

The club will provide safe viewing of the sun during the daylight hours, and as the sun sets, the focus will shift to objects in the night sky.

“We’ll be able to look a some really cool stuff like Jupiter, Jupiter will be up, it will be high in the sky and that’s our largest planet. We’ll look at Mars, it will come kinda up late in the evening, we’ll look at star clusters, some galaxies," said Jim Knoll, who organizes events for the group.

If you have a telescope and need a little help operating it, the astronomers will assist. The club will give away a 2-inch telescope at 7 p.m.

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