By Jessica Sierocki, Photo Editor.
Delta astronomy students and staff took a break from the formal classroom setting on Oct. 28 through Oct. 30 at Fish Lake, a 465 acre piece of land located in Barry County. “I’ve been taking students to Fish Lake since 2009,” says Aurelian Balan, astronomy teacher at Delta.
Fish Lake gives students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of astronomy.
“There was solar observing on Friday where we observed the sun in the daytime and then at nighttime we started observing but it was cloudy so we waited. There were board games and astronomy quiz trivia shows in the meantime,”says Balan.
The students who attended the Fish Lake observing event were able to see different objects in space they wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.
“We have lots of light pollution here on campus while Fish Lake doesn’t,” says Balan.
The technology that was available to the students exceeded what they would be able to use on a daily basis.
“We had several telescopes there including a 29 inch Newtonian Reflector. We observed star clusters, galaxies, a couple nebuli and then we gave a startalk for our students. Basically they got to see the sky and got to look at deep space objects that they can’t see with the naked eye,” says Balan.
Antwane Banks, an astronomy student at Delta, attended the event at Fish Lake for the second year.
“We observed and used four different types of telescopes. The biggest one had a magnifying power with a 6 inch diameter so we got to see the rings of Saturn,” Banks.
Fish Lake provided students with instructors that enhanced their understanding of the stars and planets in the solar system.
“It gives [students] the access to about 10 ameteur and professional astronomers and they have access to a telescope much larger than they have access to at Delta so it gives them a clearer, brighter, crisper view of the sky and the objects that they are looking at,” says Balan.
The event at Fish Lake occurs every year and has since the early 80s.
“I’m going again. Next year will be my third time. You get to see amazing stuff there. It’s a no-brainer that students should definitely go,” says Banks.