On March 5th, 2025, the Outdoor Adventure staff Reagan Bronwalt ‘27 and Hunter Norwood ‘26, as well as Associate Professor of Physics Dr. Mark Bottorff, hosted an exciting Pirate Adventure. Students took a trip to Garey Park in Georgetown for some dazzling stargazing to observe and learn more about the visible stars and planets that night.  Originally planned to occur on February 22nd, the weather conditions forced the event to be rescheduled for March 5th.  That night worked out perfectly—-it was  clear and crisp, perfect for gazing at the stars. 

The meeting location was initially going to be at the Southwestern University Fountainwood Observatory, but was instead relocated to Garey Park when the event date was changed. Garey Park is 15 minutes away from the campus and is less light polluted.  The event lasted from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; all attendees met on the right side of the Howry Center building for delicious hot cocoa and s’mores by the fire pit. Students got to chat and visit with one another before the Outdoor Adventure crew set off for Garey Park at 7:30 p.m for a night of fun and great company. Students had the option to take the bus together or carpool with friends. When students arrived, all were given a headlamp to navigate through the darkness shrouding fields of the park where stargazers gathered. 

There were multiple telescopes set up by astronomy enthusiasts that night. The SU Pirate Adventure crew shared the night stargazing with the Williamson County Astronomy Club and the Austin Astronomical Society, who set up their telescopes and were happy to educate students and visitors that night about the celestial bodies their telescopes focused on. One telescope was focused on Jupiter and its 4 moons that night. Another telescope magnified the faint orange glow up in the night sky: Mars. 

Dr. Bottorff showed eager onlookers an impressive greyish green dot, Uranus, which existed 2 billion miles away from earth that night, captured with a Dobsonian telescope at a magnitude of 5.6.  For context, a light-year is the distance light travels in one Earth year, which is about 6 trillion miles. 

Stargazers also witnessed three stars including Castor, the second brightest star in the Gemini constellation. One telescope even magnified a dying star. One astronomer described the differences between a regular star and a dying star, where the dying star was grey, fuzzier, and dimmer than its healthy counterpart. 

While floating from telescope to telescope soaking in the celestial glow from the magnified images, I spoke with an astronomer that night whose story really amazed me. I had the chance to meet Gregory Rohde, a passionate astronomer who has been a member of the Austin Astronomical Society for nine years, and hosting public star parties since 2003. He has built his own telescopes with the Austin Astronomical Society and now has his own telescope building workshop that he started just last month. Rohde told me he has never taken a course for telescope construction but that he learned so much from just going to star parties and lectures. The telescope he brought to Garey Park was an impressive string telescope, which are massive in size. Rohde emphasized the extraordinary qualities of the mirror of the particular telescope – the mirror is made from quartz glass and was polished “to a degree unheard of.” Commercial mirrors, he stated, are measured by a fraction of 1/4th wavelength, while this telescope measured 1/35th of a wavelength, resulting in incredibly crisp images at a high magnitude. The “spider” of the telescope, or the wires holding the secondary mirror, were incredibly small, and were actually guitar string wires fastened by guitar tubers. None of the wires crossed, resulting in no spikes in imaging. The strings that give the telescope its name were made of archery bow strings stretched under enough tension to where there was no more movement left, resulting in fixed length cables that would never move again, according to  Rohde. It was a wonderful time getting to learn not only about the stars but also the care and craftsmanship that is put into telescopes to bring stars trillions of lightyears away closer to us. When I looked through the ocular lens of  Rohde’s string telescope, I saw a shooting star that passed right by the magnified star. 

After having the wonderful opportunity to learn more about Rohde’s telescopes, my friends and I got chilly and made our way to the car to call it a night, but not before having a word with Dr. Bottorff himself to get his insights on that night’s stargazing event. He told me that most people here besides the SU Pirate Adventure crew were part of the Williamson County Astronomy Club, a loose group that have been meeting for decades now, and first came to SU in 2002. He met with them and collaborated with them on public stargazing nights. He noted how public nights used to take place at the observatory at SU, but made the decision to continue relocating to Garey Park. The park is not only close to campus and the skies are darker, but it is also a win-win for the Garey Park staff, since utilizing the space would popularize the park, bringing about “good synergy” and fostering community through shared love for astronomy.

It was truly a gift to have the opportunity to see the stars and planets above that were so bright on a clear, crisp night. Coyotes howled and yipped in the distance as students and visitors at Garey Park rotated between telescopes, fostering community through learning about astronomy. The SU Outdoor Adventure staff and Student Life Division are always planning fun campus recreational events, with upcoming events planned including windsurfing, paddle boarding, rock climbing, and more. Events such as the stargazing event are typically free unless stated otherwise and are great ways to get outside and learn, get active, and make memories with your SU peers. For those interested in learning more about astronomy and/or attending more stargazing watch parties, you can learn more about the Williamson County Astronomy Club here, with the next planned Garey Park Stargazing event to be held on April 30th, with pre-registration required. The Williamson County Astronomy Club is a small club with a diverse membership spanning all ages, open to anyone with an interest in astronomy and space, with no club dues or membership fees, and visitors are always welcome. The Austin Astronomical Society is a nonprofit organization that exists for those passionate about space and astronomy, hosting events, educational events and programs for the general public.