1st Star Observation Night by 4th GEL of Rhodes.
On Sunday 23 rd of October in the courtyard of the aquarium we had the opportunity to observe through the telescopes of the observatory “Evdemos” and under the guidance of the amateur astronomer Stratos Koufos the planet Jupiter and some of its satellites, as well as the planet Saturn.
It is worth noting that the event organized by the 4th GEL of Rhodes with the cooperation of Mr Koufos was open to the public. Indeed, many people attended the event during which Mr. Koufos showed the constellations present at the night sky that period of time, while explaining basic elements of uranography. On the occasion of the inability to observe many stars, due to the light pollution of the night sky, Mr. Koufos explained to the attendees the importance of the dark sky, the existence of a particularly dark sky in the area of Monolithos on the island and the effort to integrate the Monolithos region into a global network of dark sky areas through IDA (International Dark Sky Assosiation) certification. The students who attended the star observation arrived early in the area and stayed until late, taking an active role, even in the telescope settings, in order to make the planets visible in the ocular lens. In general, the response of the attendees was enthusiastic, while most of them showed particular interest in repeating the astral observation in the area of Monolithos as well.
