Telescopes @ the Library

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Fountain Hills Branch Library partnered with the Fountain Hills Astronomy Club to provide telescopes which can be checked out by library customers for a week at a time. The durable yet powerful telescopes allow library customers to view the rings of Saturn, the craters of the moon and other space objects. The library also offers monthly Star Parties with the Astronomy Club. These are night programs with music, refreshments and telescopes pointed at the stars with volunteers available to tell interested families what they are seeing. Fountain Hills does not have street lights and is far enough away from the lights of Phoenix that its dark skies make it the perfect place to examine the night sky and for the library to promote curiosity in astronomy. In the seven months since the library has had the telescopes, each one has been checked out an average of 23 times and the Star Party programs have had an average attendance of 20 people.