International Astronomy Day

The Barrington Recreation Department and The Astronomical Society of Southern New England (ASSNE) are co-hosting a FREE day of family fun, education and amazement.

At 1:30PM until 5:30 PM, about a dozen telescopes specially filtered to allow views of our own star—The Sun—will be set up on the Barrington Town Hall Lawn that borders County Road (RI Route 114). Children accompanied by their parents are welcome to look at sunspots (if they appear, Solar Weather is as unpredictable as Earth weather) and through specialized Hydrogen-Alpha light telescopes to see solar flares and prominences. NOTE: You should never look directly at the sun without proper equipment: blindness may result. Daylight viewing of our moon may also be possible.

Later, at about 7:30PM, when it is dark enough, more than twenty large telescopes will be set up to permit public viewing of Jupiter and its moons, various star clusters like “The Beehive” AKA M44 and The Great Orion Nebula and our own Moon – with amazing craters, mountains and lava basins. Some specialized cameras which allow the viewing of dim nebulae may also be on the field. There will also be an Iridium Flare in early evening. An Iridium Flare, AKA Satellite flare, is the visible phenomenon caused by the reflective surfaces of passing satellites (such as polished sides, antennae or solar panels), reflecting sunlight toward the Earth below and appearing as a brief, bright “flare”. Many more objects may be visible, depending on obstructions, brightness and other factors.                                             

Barrington’s Astronomy Day has grown in recent years and is probably Rhode Island’s largest ongoing astronomy event. 2007’s Astronomy Day drew about 200 daytime visitors and over 1,000 at night. 2016’s Astronomy drew 200 daytime guests and over 600 at night.