Southern Illinois Star Party is taking over SIU's University Farms on October 19th.
Southern Illinois Star Party is in partnership with SolarSTEAM National Star Party, an online astronomy event, and the Adler Planetarium. SIU is just one of five anchor locations for the event.
Bob Baer, the Director of the Physics Department’s public astronomy observation program says the Star Party has been happening since 2018 and that they hope to keep this as an annual event.
This is the first year the event will have a virtual component. Hunter Miller from the Adler Planetarium says that during the COVID-19 pandemic the planetarium realized how instrumental live-streaming can be when it comes to astronomy observations. If you are not able to make it to the event in person, you can visit SolarSTEAMs live stream to keep up.
Miller says that astronomy is just one part of this event. Being able to bring together the community to have a shared experience and interest is just as big.
"That's what it's all about right?" says Miller, "It's that, you know, it really connects you to not just the world around you, but the world above you and you start to see yourself as this piece of a much bigger puzzle and I think that's what really makes it special to me.
Southern Illinois Star Party will take from 4pm to 10:30pm on October 19th at SIU's University Farms. This event is free and open to the public, shuttles will be provided from campus.
