Learning About the Stars

---

Have you ever gone outside on a crisp, clear, winter evening to look at the stars?  Perhaps you tried to connect a few of them together to make your own constellation? Or maybe you found the three stars that make up Orion’s belt? What if you could see all of these stars in an area the size of your living room?

At Basalt Elementary School, the fourth graders are learning about the earth, moon, and sun in their environmental science classes with Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. As a conclusion to the solar system unit, all fourth graders will take a trip to the Basalt Library to visit a temporary Skylab planetarium!

Inside the planetarium, students will be just a few feet away from thousands of stars and dozens of constellations that light up against the planetarium walls. They will hear Native American stories about how the stars came to be in the sky, and learn about Greek constellations, all while watching the stars circling around them.

If you would like to join ACES educators for an adventure in the stars, the planetarium will be free and open to the public on Wednesday February 6th and Thursday the 7th from 3:30 pm to 6 pm at the Basalt Regional Library.  ACES Educators will also lead a winter star-gazing adventure at Rock Bottom Ranch on Tuesday, February 12th at 7:30. Please RSVP for that program here.

~ Erin Cushner, ACES Educator at Rock Bottom Ranch