The rings around Saturn, moons that orbit Jupiter and various constellations were a little closer to Earth for a crowd of families and astronomy enthusiasts that sat on St. Stephen's Episcopal School's athletics field Saturday night.
The local Episcopal school and the Austin Astronomical Society hosts Austin Under the Stars, a once-a-year star observation party.
Members of the astronomy society set up telescopes and invite the public to view the night sky. Telescopes at the event, which are normally used by professional astronomers, ranged in size from 6 to 20 inches.
Susan Orrell and her husband, Skip, brought their own burnt-orange telescope for the public to enjoy and enthusiastically explained astronomical terms and how telescopes work.
"The beauty of it is that you get to use telescopes that a lot of people would never be able to afford," said Susan Orrell, a member of the astronomy society and a pharmacy senior at UT. "You get to enjoy the top of the line."
Frank Mikan, science department chair and observatory director at the Episcopal school, said the event helps children attain an interest in astronomy and allows people from the city to see what really exists in the sky.
"It's good for the club, and the school, and the Austin community," Mikan said. "People in the city don't get to see that this exists. It's really a lot of fun."
The Austin Astronomical Society was created in 1969, and has been hosting Austin Under the Stars for six years, said society member Bill Tschumy. The society holds a public star party once a month at the Eagle Eye Observatory near Lake Buchanan.
The event, originally hosted in Dripping Springs, has since been moved to the Episcopal school in Westlake to attract more residents, despite the area's higher light pollution, Mikan said.
The school's observatory houses a 9-inch telescope, one inch larger than the telescope that UT has on the roof of Robert Lee Moore Hall.
"We beat you guys by one inch," Mikan said.
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