Starry, Starry Nights

If you’ve come to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis or Michael Jackson, you’re at the wrong Star Party. But if it’s a peek at a genuine celestial body you’re after, then this monthly event at the Griffith Observatory is just the ticket--the ticket at the right price, too. It’s free.

One Saturday a month, the long flat lawn in front of the observatory appears to sprout dozens of telescopes, deck chairs and an unearthly hubbub. Astronomy buffs from the L.A. Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers and anyone else with an interest in the skies gather here as they’ve been doing for the past 25 years. The purpose is simply to share the wonder.

“On a good night we get 20, 30, 40 telescopes down here,” says L.A. Astronomical Society member Shirley Sunada. She joined the society after returning from Australia where she had gone to see Halley’s comet in 1986. Her group also throws smaller weekly star parties at the Monterey Park observatory, in addition to the Griffith Observatory event.

The Griffith Observatory party actually begins at 1 p.m., when society members set up their telescopes for sun observation with sun filters. (Never look at the sun through a telescope without one.)

As dark falls, participants train their lenses on whatever interesting bodies are out that evening. On this recent evening, Sunada has pointed her Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at our largest planet.

“Jupiter is always fun to look at,” she explains, “because you can follow the Galileon satellites--the four large moons--and they’re always doing something.”

Others, including Walter Bacall, a member of an astronomy club called the Local Group, have already switched their aim to Saturn, which is beginning to climb in the eastern sky. It’s a ring-plane crossing, meaning the view from Earth looks directly at the rings that are now perpendicular to the horizon. Thus, the planet appears to be a ball with a vertical slash of light.

Like many here, Bacall’s instrument is a “Dobsonian”--a homemade telescope based on the design of John Dobson, an astronomer and educator. Dobson, who lives in Redwood City, often comes to star parties, but missed the one on this day, his 80th birthday. “The whole concept that Dobson teaches is to introduce the public to astronomy because it’s so hard for the public to even imagine the planets and the stars,” says Bacall.

Each telescope attracts a clot of families, tourists and other passersby who stop to look at the planets, stars and nebulae and ask questions. For most, finding all these telescopes and astronomical knowledge comes as a pleasant surprise--even though this is an observatory with a howitzer-size telescope permanently mounted on its roof.

“I didn’t know all this would be here,” says Benjamin Tabibian, a Beverly Hills physician who’s visiting the observatory with his girlfriend and her children. “I just came for the Laserium show. But it’s very interesting because I’ve never seen a real planet.”

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Where: Griffith Park Star Party, Griffith Observatory, 2800 E. Observatory Road.

When: One Saturday each month. For information call the L.A. Astronomical Society, (213) 727-7909.

Admission: Free.