March 29, 2024

Guides of the stars

As a child I remember peering out the car window up into the night sky. My family and I would be on the way home from being in town and when we would reach a certain point out of city limits, the stars would illuminate our drive home.

As a teen, I don’t think I really understood the uniqueness of being able to step outside on any clear night and being able to see an abundance of stars — some much brighter than others.

I never took it upon myself to try to locate different constellations, and I definitely never attempted to find a planet in the sky. I would’ve thought it was impossible.

In high school, I was required to take one more science class my senior year, and I dreadfully scanned the list. I ended up signing up for astronomy, and I was honestly hoping to learn more about the moon, the stars and the sun. The class was more by the books than interactive.

I remember being so disappointed by the teacher’s lack of enthusiasm and the number of quizzes and reading materials.

To top off the disappointing class, the scheduled time for my class to stargaze ended up being canceled due to bad weather. We never looked at the sky. What a rip off.

I remember the teacher instructed us to see if we could find several constellations on our own time and report back what we saw, not exactly the best method. I stood in my yard and stared up at the sky. All of the stars blended together, and I couldn’t figure out how you could differentiate one plethora of stars from the next.

My ability to find the Big Dipper wasn’t looking very bright. Following high school, I lived within city limits, and I didn’t really have the time to pay attention to the stars.

Moving back home to Iowa’s beautiful skies has offered me the opportunity to get a second chance at learning. This past Monday, I attended the stargaze at the Newton Public Library, and I was intrigued.

Two members of the Des Moines Astronomical Society were informative, friendly and answered all of the groups’ questions.

Following a seminar, the large group of attendees and I had the opportunity to look through telescopes. The instructors first pointed lasers in the sky to point out different constellations with names I couldn’t remember if I wanted to.

I even got to see the planets Jupiter and Saturn, along with the International Space Station. I credit my ability to now be able to tell what way is east versus west as a big contribution to finding God’s creations in the sky.

An even bigger contribution to my mere astronomical skills are the two instructors who took the time to explain and answer questions. If anyone hasn’t been to the Ashton Woodland Park Observatory, I would highly recommend it. You can sign up and look through telescopes and ask questions for free.

I may not be Galileo, but I can proudly say I had my first productive and positive astronomy experience. I owe it all to the guides.

Contact Kayla Langmaid at
klangmaid@newtondailynews.com