Astronomy Club | Photo by Bethany Althauser | The Wright State Guardian
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, students from all different majors came together to share their passion for Astronomy. The meeting took place in two different locations. The first was in Fawcett Hall room 204, and the second was on the North Lawn in front of the Student Union.
Stargazing and the history
The meeting was split between learning about the history of astronomy, and then leaving the room to go outside and look at the stars. On Tuesday, there was some severe weather, so some clouds did interfere. However, a little while later the clouds ended up clearing, and the members were able to see over a dozen stars.
Marcus Acton, a mechanical engineering student and the longest member of the club, had some great points to add about why he joined.
“Just looking up at the stars, and knowing that there’s more out there,” Acton said. He went on to explain how comforting it makes him feel through the stresses of everyday life.
Acton highlighted some of his favorite events since being in the club; the best one was the solar eclipse event that happened earlier this year. He explained how excited he was to bring together all sorts of people and celebrate something truly incredible within our universe.
The Astronomy club was honored with the President’s Award for Excellence for their help in organizing the event. The club brought glasses and telescopes and held a viewing for all different people to come out and watch the phenomena together, earning them the reward.
Acton spoke about how he was excited to see one of the stars go nova. A star going nova is a fairly rare occurrence, but people will be able to see it with their naked eye. He said that nova is Latin for “new star.”
“Nova is essentially when a new star is taking matter from another star, and once it takes enough, it will get really bright,” Acton said.
He wants students to keep a lookout for this rare phenomenon, as it is extremely rare to be able to see it with your naked eye.
“You know, it should be happening anytime now,” Acton said.
Benefits
The Astronomy club is beneficial in many ways. For Rory Delong, the president of the club, it is a fun way to meet people and learn about something that has always interested them.
“This is an outlet for you to meet like-minded people who really connect with this type of stuff,” Delong said.
They went on to highlight that they love stargazing and looking at the stars while learning about space.
A telescope owned by the club was brought so that the members could truly see the stars, and look at the different planets that surround us every day.
“I'm just having fun with it,” Delong said.
According to Delong, if you want to learn about how parts of the world were used astrologically, then this club would be a great way to get involved here on campus.
Arial Boyer, a student who expressed interest in astronomy, attended this meeting for the first time. She saw it on Engage and thought it was right for her.
“It was super [informative], and I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning more about astronomy,” Boyer said.
She explained how she thought the stars were always really interesting, and that she already had learned so much about space from this meeting.
The astronomy club will have weekly meetings on Tuesday nights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Students interested in joining should check out their Engage page.
