The Science of Light: a Spectrum of Color

Friends joined from Orderville, Kanab, and clear down to Fredonia on Wednesday January 14th at Fredonia Public Library.  Eric and Michael from Stellar Vista Observatory were there to teach us all about the science of light.  Geared toward youth, but interesting enough to keep adults and children engaged, we learned about the spectrum of colors present in each type of light.  Eric had special cards we could look through to see the light and we tried them on many different types of bulbs that Michael brough from home for experimenting.  The kids learned how to graph and compare the presence of the various colors and described the appearance of the bands of light.  

As the night progressed, we were able to move outside and measure the light in the night sky in various parts of the parking lot.  We were taught that these measurements can help us know if the sky is healthy. Not only is it nice to be able to see the starry sky, but many animals depend on a healthy night sky.  The darkest spot we were able to measure was just over 20 and the darkest measurement on the scale is 23 so we're not doing too bad! We ended the night viewing Saturn and Orion's belt with the telescopes and a cup of hot cocoa.  Thank you Stellar Vista Observatory for a fun evening.  We plan to do it again on February 12th at 6pm and hope you will come join us.