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Star Studded Parties

On a clear-skied night in August, in a place around 30 km away from Bucharest, a few people are gazing at the sky through telescopes. The weather is mild, and people are whispering. We could call this a star studded party.

România Internațional, 21.09.2014, 14:00

Oana Sandu and Adrian Sonka brought all these people here together. Stargazing is more than a passion for them. Sonka is an amateur astronomer, coordinator of the “Amiral Vasile Urseanu” Astronomical Observatory of Bucharest, and a member of the Bucharest Astroclub. Oana Sandu is a communication sciences graduate, and spokesperson for the “To the Stars” project. For seven years, they have been telling anyone willing to listen about stars, galaxies, clusters and nebulas.

Oana Sandu told us about how the project started: “It emerged because Adrian, my partner, and I wanted to show city dwellers the starry sky, the sky we used to call ‘countryside sky’ when we were children, which you cannot see in cities because of light pollution. Once you see the sky like that, you want to share it with others. The project aims to take city dwellers out to the edge of town, to a dark place where to show them what they can see in the sky: stars, planets, objects outside the Solar System, such as deep sky objects.”

The invitation extended by the organization, posted on their website, sounds as follows: ‘Our intention is to unveil the secrets of the stars above through methods that inspire and challenge. We use astronomy to cultivate critical thinking and as a different means of spending our spare time, with our friends, family, colleagues and partners. We want all our activities to transpire passion, enthusiasm and precision. We want to spark curiosity and a wish to discover and inspire.”

Oana Sandu told us how a star studded party unfolds: “Ideally, you go several miles outside the city, and we picked a place about 30 km away from Bucharest, on the highway to the seaside. However, we want to keep this place our little secret, because if too many people find out they would crowd there and produce too much artificial light. When we get there, we try to familiarize our guests with the sky, to teach them what major constellations are visible at a given time, teach them orientation by the stars, and after that we start using telescopes. We start with simple things, checking out single and double stars, then we move on to star clusters, galaxies, nebulas, and, depending on the season, we show them the visible planets. We generally start at 9 in the evening, and end around 1 or 2 o’clock at night. We don’t provide transportation, but we try to get people to car pool, to encourage socializing.”

We asked Oana Sandu about the people who answer the call: “People are very surprised at what they see through a telescope, and reactions are mixed. Children are the most vocal. Some are disappointed that the images they see are not the way they are on television, in color. In fact, what you are seeing is a trip in time, because the light that goes through that telescope comes from light years away, so actually we are looking back in time.”

When the sky is expected to be clear, Oana and Adrian gather up their guests, encouraging children to participate: “We want to avoid bringing very young children in, the environment is a bit hostile, it is dark, we are out in a field, it is not the right environment for very young kids. We want all kids to be accompanied by parents. We want city dwellers to discover what can be seen in the sky, and to build some sense of familiarity. When you know the sky, everywhere feels like home, there is a constant. Whatever is above your head will always stay the same. The clusters, galaxies and nebulas will always be there.”

If you are curious to get to know constellations, or how to put together a telescope, or where star signs come from, or the nature of the Universe, a star studded party is a good place to start. You can find out more at lastele.ro.