This Valentine’s Day, you’ll probably be seeing metaphorical stars of love, but for those of us who aren’t, Pima County Parks and Rec will host a night of actual stargazing with their “Night Under the Stars” event.
There are two opportunities to learn about the stars from pros and semi-pros alike: one the night of Feb. 12 at the Historic Hacienda de la Canoa in Green Valley, and the other Feb. 13 at Agua Caliente Park here in Tucson. Volunteers from the Sonora Astronomical Society will help visitors learn about the night sky through telescopes at Canoa Ranch, and volunteers from the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will show event attendees how to use telescopes at Agua Caliente Park. Visitors can also take an optional self-guided tour at Canoa Ranch before the stargazing begins.
Event organizers recommend visitors bring flashlights for after-dark walking and lawn chairs if they please.
Both “Nights under the Stars” run from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information on the events, visit the Canoa Ranch website or email eeducation@pima.gov.
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2016.
And if you would like to see the stars closer to home, you can join us on FRIDAY night at GET SWEET…..where we will have the Tucson High School Observatory open (quite a rare event). GET SWEET starts at 6:30 at Tucson High, and, although the event itself is free, is a fundraiser for Fine Arts and participating clubs. You can buy tickets and donate them to consume a wide variety of home cooked and restaurant donated sweets and treats. And you can sample all of the different skills of the Tucson High kids–they will be dancing, steel drumming, acting, showing artwork, photo soothing–you name it, they are doing it. Join us!