The County Press

Clouds didn’t spoil telescope event


“Cool,” said 11-year-old Cassie Titus as she gazed through the Seven Ponds Astronomy Club’s 10-inch reflector telescope. The club meets monthly, usually at Seven Ponds Nature Center in Dryden Township. For more information on the club and its activities, visit spncastronomy.wixsite.com/7-ponds-astro-club. Photo by Phil Foley

“Cool,” said 11-year-old Cassie Titus as she gazed through the Seven Ponds Astronomy Club’s 10-inch reflector telescope. The club meets monthly, usually at Seven Ponds Nature Center in Dryden Township. For more information on the club and its activities, visit spncastronomy.wixsite.com/7-ponds-astro-club. Photo by Phil Foley

DRYDEN TWP. — Despite overcast skies scores of people were at Seven Ponds Nature Centers Saturday night for its annual Celestial Skies Over Seven Ponds event.

After holding the event at Metamora-Hadley State Recreation Area for the past five years, local amateur astronomers moved the event back to their home base.

That provided an indoor space for Buddy Start, the planetarium manager at Flint’s Longway Planetarium to do a presentation of the 50 years of space explorations since man first stepped foot on the moon and for local meteorite collector Mark Jeffery to display and discuss some of his prized finds.

Even with the cloud cover of the evening, people got a chance to view the craters of the moon and later in the evening a few breaks in the clouds let people see even more distant objects.

Phil Foley

St. Clair Township’s Joe Lenandowski started out with a 10-inch Mead Star Finder, but he said it was poorly made and fell apart, so he salvaged the mirrors and custom built his own telescope out of wood. “It gets heavier every time I take it out of the closet,” he said.

St. Clair Township’s Joe Lenandowski started out with a 10-inch Mead Star Finder, but he said it was poorly made and fell apart, so he salvaged the mirrors and custom built his own telescope out of wood. “It gets heavier every time I take it out of the closet,” he said.

Mandy Summers, youth services coordinator at Imlay City’s Ruth Hughes Memorial District Library, read a story to Lapeer’s Emma Thomas and Saraphina Dildy at Seven Ponds Nature Center.

Mandy Summers, youth services coordinator at Imlay City’s Ruth Hughes Memorial District Library, read a story to Lapeer’s Emma Thomas and Saraphina Dildy at Seven Ponds Nature Center.