On a recent chilly evening, more than a dozen people of all ages lined up at dusk to view the early night sky in front of Volunteer Park’s Seattle Asian Art Museum. That’s where Noah Anderson had set up a trio of telescopes.
Those gathered but not at the front of the telescope line craned their necks upward, trying to spot the first star of the night — it’s a regular contest at these stargazing events, with the winner taking home a small prize (on that evening, a pack of Post-it Notes).
Anderson has been organizing this informal stargazing gathering at the park since 2008, when he brought a refurbished telescope for a test run.
“Right away, I had people coming by interested in it,” Anderson said. “Someone asked for an email invite to the next one, so I created a distribution list, and I send out an announcement whenever the conditions are good.”
Over 1,000 stargazers now receive Anderson’s updates, mainly during the fall and winter months when sunsets are earlier and families can be back home before bedtime. The telescopes are all hands-on, and Anderson enjoys teaching first-timers how to adjust the equipment themselves.
“Last spring we had a 9-year-old girl out here for the first time and she really got into it,” Anderson said. “After I showed her how to focus the main telescope, she ran it for a good ten to fifteen minutes while I set up the other scopes, constantly tracking Venus for everyone wanting to take a look.”
“We’ve had families come back year after year and see the kids grow up,” he added. “We also get teachers telling their students about us, and then they’ll come out with their parents.”
On that particular night, more telescopes appeared as the light faded — Dobsonians, Newtonians, Schmidt-Cassegrains, and Refractors. Several of them trained on a ring nebula to the south. With the help of a few participants, Anderson moved the largest scope for a better view of Saturn rising in the east. Stargazers, young and old, moved from one telescope to the next and back, sharing fun astronomical facts and exclamations of wonder.
Depending on conditions and the time of year, spectators can view a vast array of stars, planets and astronomical points. But for Anderson, the moon is still a favorite: “The more I look, the more I want to look.”
Join the stargazing: Email VolunteerParkTelescopesEmail@gmail.com to be added to the watch list.
