NASA / Chris Gunn

A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was on display from March 8-10 at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

By Megan GannonSpace.com

With their eyes turned up at the Texas night sky, NASA and 526 space fans in Austin have set a new Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor astronomy lesson.

Guinness World Records

About 529 people attended the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) presentation on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and astronomy on March 10, 2013, setting a new Guinness World Record.

The huge group gathered on the lawn of the Long Center for the Performing Arts at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival on March 10 to learn about how astronomers use light and color to understand cosmic objects, from the moon to distantgalaxies.

"Astronomy awakens the natural curiosity and awe in all of us," Frank Summers, an astrophysicist from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, said in a statement. "Many people think that astronomy and physics is only complicated math equations. They don't recognize how natural it is and how much they already know."

Summers and Dan McCallister, an education specialist at STScI, used colored filter glasses to show how light can be broken down into its different wavelengths. They explained how certain wavelengths are selected for specific studies of an astronomical object. In the background of the lesson was a full-scale model of NASA's next giant space observatory, theJames Webb Space Telescope, which is the size of a tennis court and as tall as a four-story building. The real space observatory is slated to launch in 2018.

Guinness World Records

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Things are looking up: Record astronomy lesson