Global Star Party: Evening under the stars

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May 01

2018

by Bojan Jandrašič

On Friday, April 20^th, 2018, pupils of the 9^th grade under the Global Star Party project organized an observation of the evening sky titled Evening under the stars. Pupils worked in 7 different groups. The observation started at 8 pm with a short introduction (star poetry) and instructions on safe observation. Then the visitors were divided into groups and the leaders took them along the stations.

At the first station, they presented the Moon and it’s phases .The Moon phase on Friday was the first phase (the right half of the Moon was illuminated). They also observed The Moon with a telescope. Venus was observed with another telescope. They also had a model of Venus, where they presented it and told a love story about the goddess Venus. At one of the stations they explained star orientation, also with the help of an umbrella (with constellations) brought by the teacher and told the story of the Big Bear. With technology it's a lot to show, so at the next station, the pupils showed the constellations that appear by moving the tablet or a phone. Also on the phone they presented various applications on this topic. In addition to telescopes, they also had binoculars and displayed their magnification. Many celestial bodies could be observed. For a pleasant atmosphere, music and lighting were provided with small electric lights.

The pupils who organized the event told in the interview that they were interested in working in the group and that they were well organized. Because of interest, the work was also fun. They want more similar events in the future. Pupils of the 6th grade were impressed with observing the sky with telescopes and applications. They were asking a lot of questions. 9^th grades were happy to answer their questions. Parents were also present. One of them said that the event was a surprise to him because it was different. Observing with telescopes is what he found interesting. In the end, the principal said: "The atmosphere is beautiful, as well as decorating with lights. The observation is very interesting and educational. She concluded with the thought that “the stars are very interesting and also mysterious because of their distance.”