Every spring thousands of astronomy clubs, museums, and planetariums around the world celebrate Astronomy Day. Its purpose is to bring science alive for the entire community through educational displays, hands-on activities, special presentations, and sharing the splendors of the night sky. The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society (KAS) has been holding its day-long Astronomy Day celebration annually since 1997. Our free event, aimed at families with school-aged children, is intended to widen knowledge and appreciation of science, particularly the field of astronomy.

KAS Astronomy Day features day and evening activities. Daytime activities have been held at a variety of partnering organization locations throughout the Kalamazoo area such as the Air Zoo, Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and the Kalamazoo Nature Center to reach as broad an audience as possible. Solar observing is a popular activity, allowing attendees to safely observe solar phenomena such as sunspots through member telescopes. Displays highlight member astrophotography, light pollution, and our exploration of the solar system and universe. One of Astronomy Day’s feature attractions, hands-on activities, provide a fun learning experience for our key audience: children.

Evening activities are hosted by our program partner, the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Our Astronomy Day Keynote Presentations have featured many renowned astrophysicists and educators, including astronomer and author Phil Plait, retired astronaut Story Musgrave, Caltech astronomer Mike Brown, and SETI scientist Jill Tarter. Astronomy Day wraps up under the stars at our observatory, located on the grounds of the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Guests observe craters and mountains on the Moon, the rings of Saturn, distant galaxies, and much more.

KAS Astronomy Day has garnered many awards and is a four-time winner of the Astronomical League’s “Best Event” in the medium population category; more than any other organization. We have also won their “Quality Event Year After Year” category on three separate occasions. The KAS is proud to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education throughout our community.

For more information, please visit:
www.kasonline.org