On the evening of October 10, a lovely Harvest Moon rose through the clouds, delighting a crowd of children, their siblings and parents, and the teachers who assembled their students for the occasion of their annual Full Moon Party. Even before then, in the deepening twilight, Stellar Vista Observatory’s telescopes were trained on Saturn for the young students’ eyes to behold the planet, its rings and largest moon, Titan, gleaming in the inky vastness of space.

As clouds parted and reformed, creating and concealing ethereal telescopic views of the full moon, the planet Jupiter was suddenly revealed. Immediately, another line of enthusiastic kids formed to get a close-up view of the largest planet in our solar system and its four Galilean moons. Excitement peaked in all four lines leading to the telescopes as two teachers and two members of the SVO working group kept the scopes aimed on their celestial targets until everyone had their chance to observe the spectacles.

SVO would like to thank teacher Jeana Jones, for inviting our nonprofit to enhance the experience of her Kane County science students in viewing through the eyepiece of a telescope, the marvels of earth’s full moon as well as the 5th and 6th planet of our solar system in the night sky above Jackson Flat Reservoir. We also thank J.C. Stimson for his service in operating one of SVO’s telescopes, and look forward to the opportunity to serve Kane County’s science classes again in 2023.