Stars lit up the planetarium as nearly a full house of astronomy lovers and curious minds explored the galaxy on Saturday.
The Tallahassee Astronomical Society hosted its monthly planetarium show “March Skies over Tallahassee” at the Challenger Learning Center. The event focused on prominent constellations, planet positions and stars in the March morning and evening skies along with daylight savings time. Some learning constellations also included the constellations Cancer “the crab” and the non-zodiac constellation Auriga “the charioteer.”
TAS is a non-profit scientific and educational organization devoted to introducing amateur astronomy to the community.
The purpose of TAS is to share the exhilaration of viewing the stellar night by building bonds and friendships through the love of astronomy.
Juanita Raymond has been a member of the Tallahassee Astronomical Society since 1986.
“This is a way for us to get people excited about astronomy. It’s free to the public every first Saturday and we put out everything we can think of that is happening with astronomy and learning an astronomy topic of the month. You learn a lot about astronomy as well as what’s up in the sky,” Raymond said.
Raymond enjoys educating the community through astronomy. The society has various spots viewing constellations through telescopes around Tallahassee, including at Cascades Park.
Ayana Burchell, a first-time attendee, was more than pleased with the astronomical learning experience.
“I went into the event not knowing the impact that would be left on me. I was really amazed by the visual presentation and it was my overall favorite part throughout the whole experience. It is something that I would definitely want to come back and learn more about,”Burchellsaid.
The Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Association also exhibited various scientific and engineering demonstrations including a vortex cannon. A vortex cannon is used with a fog machine to make vortex rings visible.
Tso-Kang Wang, a graduate student studying at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, talked about his love for engineering and how it is important to involve the community’s participation into his studies.
“As a mechanical engineering student, we want what we do to be connected to people. We don’t do research because it’s fun, we do it to be useful and it’s important to let people understand why we are doing this. We bring the simplified versions of what we do inside the lab out here to show people and listen to people about their thoughts.”
You can follow Tallahassee Astronomical Society on Facebook and visit its website for updates on upcoming events.