Aaron Campbell | DP

Members of the West Philadelphia community set up their telescopes on Shoemaker Green to observe the solar system. The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted their fourth Astronomy Night on Friday night.

Friday night, the Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the fourth Astronomy Night on Shoemaker Green, celebrating astronomical science with the community.

The night was nippy and a bit cloudy, but there was an unmistakable community presence on Shoemaker Green. No one seemed to mind the cold or the blocking clouds, and many adults brought little kids or other friends to the event.

This kind of thing is right up my friends alleys, so when I found it on the website, I knew theyd like it, said Maria DArcy, a worker at the Wistar Institute.

Astronomy Night began in April 2011 as part of that years Philadelphia Science Festival, an event that draws over 120,000 attendees annually from all across the city. Astronomy Night is just one of many celebrations where astronomers of all scale from the smallest stargazers to professional scientists can explore the skies.

Last year, Penn was one of three institutions, including Drexel University and the Franklin Institute, to host a special event inviting many astronomers to its campus. Associate Director of Programs and Events for the College Juliana Walker, one of the events main coordinators, called it a great success.

However, the story of Penn astronomy and the community goes back further than this annual event. Simon Dicker, a research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has long been using the observatory in David Rittenhouse Laboratory to host small groups.

Those events became so popular that lines would stretch outside the corridor, and Dicker said that Walker then contacted him to help organize the first Astronomy Night. The organizers hosted it again last November, then once more with the Science Festival this April.

Dicker was omnipresent, constantly hopping between telescopes to replace a part or readjust its point of reference.

Original post:

Exploring final frontier on Shoemaker Green