Through the millennia mankind has been on earth, humans have looked up to the sky for answers, explanations and understanding. The Baton Rouge Astronomical Society continues this tradition with its sidewalk astronomy series.
Members from BRAS head out with their telescopes to a local Community Coffee House once a month during the colder months to educate people on the celestial ceiling and let participants take a look at the sky for themselves.
Trevor McGuire, BRAS’ outreach coordinator, said the main objective of the event is to get people to pay attention to what’s going on in the sky.
“One of our motives is to spread our concern about light pollution,” McGuire explained. “It is a very, very terrible thing. So we show them what they can see and then basically explain this is nowhere near the whole story.”
He said sidewalk astronomy is a fairly international endeavor, and Baton Rouge didn’t have a formal event for these stargazing exercises, so he created one last year.
Sidewalk astronomy has been around for hundreds of years, essentially since telescopes became portable, according to McGuire.
He said since the observatory is generally targeted toward children, the sidewalk astronomy events are aimed at college-aged students and non-parents.
McGuire said it’s fairly universal for groups to host sidewalk astronomy sessions in the middle of the week.
“We always try to get it lined up to where the date’s closest to the first quarter-moon,” McGuire clarified. “That way, no matter how bad the light pollution, you’ll be able to see the moon.”
He said the activities will stay the same throughout the series, but the observable cosmic objects will change.
“We focus on whatever is bright enough to see. This season is going to be the moon and Jupiter, although last year we were able to briefly catch Neptune,” McGuire said.
Geoff Michelli, BRAS’ treasurer, said he finds astronomy intriguing and wants to share his passion with others.
“I find it fascinating that those things have been in the sky way before we’ve been here, and they’ll continue to be there many years after we’re gone,” Michelli said.
Michelli said he thinks two things bring people out to peer at the stars, the foot traffic from the surrounding areas and also the curiousity and inexperience that most people have in terms of astronomy.
McGuire went on to recount the various reasons why astronomy is an important facet of life.
“It’s one of the original sciences, if not the original science. It was the first time that humans actually started to predict things in nature with accuracy,” McGuire pointed out.
“Additionally, it’s pretty much the basis of every religion in the world. Also, it’s there, and it’s free for everybody to look at. We all see it in the same way — that’s the draw for me.”
The sidewalk astronomy event will take place at 7 p.m. tonight at the Perkins Road Community Coffee House. The event is open to the public.
