Globe at Night 2009 on March 28

The Discovery Center is hosting an astronomy program for Globe Night, one of the special events for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 ("IYA 2009"). Join thousands of students, families, and citizen-scientists around the world in observing the nighttime sky at 7:30 PM on Saturday, March 28 at Lake Windwing, South Shore Drive, Ridgefield. As part of the program, participants will learn about light pollution and record the darkness of the night sky by observing the sky in the constellation of Orion. The results will be reported through the Globe at Night website www.globe.gov/GaN/. The 2008 Globe at Night campaign received measurements from 62 different countries.

The IYA 2009 in part celebrates the 400th anniversary of the first use of a telescope for astronomical observations by Galileo. The Discovery Center's telescope will be used to view the ringed planet Saturn and the Orion nebulae, as well as other deep sky objects. The line of sight between Earth and Saturn determines how much of Saturn's rings we can see, and soon we will be looking directly at the edge of Saturn's rings, which will make them appear to have disappeared.

Please contact The Discovery Center for reservations. The program is free for Discovery Center members, $5 per person for non-members, and is co-sponsored by the Ridgefield Parks & Recreation Dept. Please check the Discovery Center website for more info at www.ridgefielddiscovery.org.