Friday night will mark the return of the University of Illinois Springfield’s stars other than the Prairie Stars — the ones people may observe at the university’s longstanding Friday Night Star Parties.
The parties, hosted by John Martin, UIS associate professor of astronomy/physics, run from 8 to 10 p.m. and include the dates Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30 and Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28, weather permitting.
Telescopes at the UIS Observatory on the roof of Brookens Library will be trained on a number of celestial objects, including the planets Saturn and Mars; the moon, when visible; the Ring Nebula; globular star clusters M13 and M15; and other double stars and star clusters.
The parties are free and open to the public and reservations are not required. Groups are encouraged to attend.
This article appeared in The State Journal-Register on September 5, 2016.
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