by Dave Skitt, Observatory Chair

Enthusiasm outweighed hope as the AAAP volunteers arrived for the May 3rd, “Night of Stars, 2025” outreach event in honor of Princeton University’s “Star” undergraduates facing finals week and the semester end.  Thickening haze and storm clouds crept in from the northwest as the cheery organizers greeted us, profusely apologizing for the poor forecast.  They promised to pick a better night next year.  I kindly suggested to “have the Princeton climate-change researchers begin working on that right away”.

Tom Swords (SeeStar50), Tim Donney (C-8/Evolution), Hongkun Zhao (C-6/Vixen Porta II), Jason Mak (Meade refractor) and I (Orion Mak-Sutov on Celestron StarSense mount) all lamented paring down our rigs to ease breakdown in the event of a downpour.  I handed out Hefty bags, should we get caught off guard.

I scrounged up a table to proudly display our club banner and brochures.  Once set, we waited for something to appear where could point our scopes.  The crescent Moon popped out.  But not long enough for us to slew over and achieve final focus.  And, certainly far too briefly to align the go-to scopes.  Tom’s SeeStar exclaimed “Moon not Found”.  “Whaddaya mean ‘Moon not Found’, it was there just a second ago”, Tom replied.

Our position on the Frist student center lawn placed us in the midst of the popcorn/cotton candy vendor and the marshmallow/S’more barbecue pit lines.  This gave ample opportunity to chat with the “Star” (high-achieving) students.  Many were intrigued with our organization and our assorted telescopes.  We talked about our smart (and dumb) technology and showed them what we would have seen, were it not for the clouds, on our tablets and phones.  And of course, we invited them out to our club meetings and observatory.  We also took the opportunity for a group pose by an event photographer.

The flicker and booming audio from a blow-up movie screen projecting the 2008 movie, “WALL-E”, competed with our visual non-show and the distant effects of an approaching storm cell.  A phone call from my wife, Jennifer, alerted me to the danger and we began to cover or dismantle our gear.  Tom and I barely mange to scavenge some popcorn and marshmallows before the raindrops arrived just after 9 pm.

Upon securing our gear, we reconvened in the nearby Frist center.  There, we chatted some more and showed curious students the storm’s progression on various weather apps.  I had big hopes that clear skies might follow.  But that was not to be and the organizers decided to call it a night.  For our efforts, we each received a hearty “thank you for coming out” and a complimentary “Night of Stars, 2025” emblem blanket adorned with black and orange university colors.  And so it was, the only stars visible throughout the night were the AAAP “Star” volunteers and the Princeton University “Star” students.