Steeleville astronomy nights drawing crowds

<span>Three telescopes are positioned on the Steeleville Elementary School playground, aimed at the only planet visible to the naked eye almost every day of the year other than the sun.</span>

<span>John Hicks, junior high science teacher and Astronomy Night coordinator, hurries excitedly between each one, explaining to viewers the importance of the night's focus - the moon.</span>

<span>"They have a program like this in Mattoon, where I'm originally from," Hicks said. "And the University of Illinois set up the program and they got a grant for telescopes.</span>

<span>"I thought 'Wouldn't it be great if we could have something like that down here' and so I basically gave a pitch to the (Parent-Teacher Association) and they told me to go find some telescopes, so I picked out some telescopes and we ordered them."</span>

<span>Hicks said he plans to have three or four public observations per year, weather permitting. The observation on this night, Tuesday, was rescheduled from October due to poor viewing conditions.</span>

<span>"We'll try to have one in the spring, one in the winter and one in the fall every year," he said. "If it turns out really well, we'll have one in the summer as well."</span>

<span>Hicks noted that between 100 and 200 people turned out during the first public viewing, which was of Jupiter, with many bringing along their children.</span>

<span>"We've got three different levels of telescopes, but they're all deep space telescopes," he said. "So you can see constellations with them, more than just the planets. We're really excited for the turnout we've had in only our second time out."</span>

<span>Hicks noted that the Astronomy Night program is part of the elementary school's curriculum and he is working on a collaboration with Steeleville High School's Science Club.</span>

<span>"We're trying to coordinate with them to get more of a community-oriented thing," he said. "Right now, it's in its infancy and so, we're just making sure the telescopes work."</span>

<span>According to a handout distributed at the event, November's full moon is called the "Beaver" or "Frost Moon" because Native Americans used it to set out beaver traps before the lakes and streams would freeze over.</span>

<span>The moon also has six phases - New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter and Waning Crescent. Its gravitational influence creates ocean tides, Earth tides and the slight lengthening of the day.</span>

<span>"It's really neat to think how it formed through the collision theory," Hicks said. "It's been here almost as long as the Earth has.</span>

<span>"We were ran into by another planetoid about the size of Mars named Theia about 4.5 billion years ago. It's been our sister planetoid, so to say, and one of the larger moons in the solar system and the second brightest thing in the sky."</span>

<span>Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon on July 20, 1969, one of six manned landings between 1969 and 1972. The United States is the only country to have successfully conducted manned missions to the planet.</span>

<span>"It's amazing to think that the United States is the only country to land astronauts on the moon," Hicks said. "No one else has had the technological ability to do that so far.</span>

<span>"That's what really fascinates me about the moon is that we put astronauts on rockets, launched them up there and were able to get them back. That's a pretty neat thing."</span>

<span>Hicks said the next public viewing could occur in January or February.</span>

<span>"That's when Saturn will start to come out," he said. "We'll be able to see it a little earlier in the evening and so, that's really the next planet system we'll be able to look at."</span>