Last Saturday was Leap Day which also happened to line up with February’s Star Party at Griffith Observatory. I had planned out the day in advance with my friend Emely. We decided to show up around 3pm and take a look around and then catch a show at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. We ended up watching one of my favorite shows “Centered In The Universe”, which I have probably seen close to 10 times already.

For those that don’t know what a Star Party is, it’s a monthly event put on by various science and space groups and programs where volunteers and amateur astronomers bring their telescopes out to the lawn in front of Griffith Observatory and have them be available for any visitor to look through.

The event usually starts at 2pm and goes on well into the night till about 9pm or so. During the day the telescopes are pointed at things like the Sun, with obvious solar filters in place to protect eyesight, also the Hollywood sign or the Moon.

At night, the telescopes then get pointed to things like planets such as Saturn or Jupiter, star clusters, galaxies, or the Moon. Overall it is such a fun event that allows science and astronomy to become more accessible to the general public.