Saturday is National Astronomy Day
Sat, May 10, 2008 
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BY DOUG FURTON
What's Up Columnist
Although eclipsed this weekend by Mother's Day, Saturday, May 10, is National Astronomy Day.
Astronomy Day was established in 1973 by Doug Berger who was a past president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California. Since then, the event has grown into an international affair, normally celebrated between mid-April and mid-May on the Saturday closest to the first quarter moon.
The theme of Astronomy Day is "Bringing Astronomy to the People." If you want more than to have a look at the stars in your own back yard, you have a couple of options.
The Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association is opening its observatory — the James C. Veen Observatory — to the public Saturday evening. The Veen Observatory is located in Lowell, and "features two ash domes and a couple of telescopes," according to its Wikipedia entry.
Veen Observatory will be open from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday — if skies are clear, of course.
More information about the public observing session, including directions to the observatory, is available at the GRAAA's Web site: www.graaa.org.
If something during the day suits you better, or if it turns out to be more cloudy than clear, you can visit the Roger B. Chaffee planetarium at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Although the Chafee planetarium isn't planning anything special for Astronomy Day, planetarium shows run regularly during the week and on weekends.
A show called "Mapping the Sky" runs at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. During this 30-minute show, you can learn how ancient and modern people used the sky to navigate and how the stars can be used to find directions and location on the Earth, according to the planetarium Web site: www.grmuseum.org/planetarium.
And at 3 p.m., you can catch "Under Starlit Skies," a live show during which the planetarium operator takes you on a tour of the night sky.
Admission details are available from the museum, located at 272 Pearl St. in Grand Rapids.
There are two active amateur astronomy groups on the lakeshore. The Muskegon Astronomical Society has an observatory located just east of Wolf Lake, and the Shoreline Amateur Astronomical Association regularly holds meetings and public observing sessions in Holland. Unfortunately, neither group is hosting an Astronomy Day event.
The Holland group was planning to hold an event, but Saturday is the height of Holland's Tulip Time festival, so downtown Holland will already be buzzing. The observatory will next be open to the public on June 6.
Both organizations maintain Web sites with lots of interesting information. Visit http://holland-saaa.org and http://www.stargazing.net/mas/.
Finally, although not an officially sanctioned event, I will bring a telescope to the Grand Haven City Beach parking lot Saturday evening — if it is more clear than cloudy. Sunset is at about 9 p.m., so it will be dark enough to start seeing things about 9:30 p.m.
Mercury will be the first target for the evening, as it will be low on the western horizon and setting not long after sunset. Later, Mars and Saturn will be easily visible high in the sky. The crescent moon will also be a nice sight.
Please come for a look, but only if it is more clear than cloudy. And bring your own binoculars or telescope if you like. Hope to see you there.
Doug Furton is a member of the physics faculty at GVSU. Send questions and suggestions to dgf@inbox.com. An archive of his "What's Up" columns is available at http://gegenschein.wordpress.com.
