About 25 people gathered at Browns Creek Bike Park & Nature Trail in Elizabethtown on Friday, April 24 for a Star Party hosted by Bladen County Public Library.
The event was among 41 statewide parties held last weekend as part of the North Carolina Science Festival.
This year’s Star Party theme was “Mission to the Moon” in honor of NASA’s Artemis program. The Artemis II mission earlier this month featured a crew of four astronauts completing a 10-day lunar flyby which set a distance record from Earth.
Jasmine Peterkin and Miranda Johnson from Bladen County Public Library along with Monique McKoy from Jones Lake State Park shared information about the moon, planets and stars.
Peterson used various sizes of balls and marbles to demonstrate the relative sizes of Earth and planets. McKoy showed youngsters how to make a Star Wheel that showed where constellations are in the sky.
For the kids, the highlight of the evening were the Stomp Rockets. A hard stomp would send foam rockets soaring skyward.
The moon and the clouds didn’t cooperate when looking through a telescope. It was directly overhead at twilight and ducking in and out of large clouds.
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