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Students make telescopes

Children learn about telescopes, outer space at free Library program

Children from kindergarten to eighth grade attended Making a Telescope on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Grissom Library.

Sam Favreau, age 5, tries out the new telescope he made at the Making a Telescope event on Feb. 4 at Grissom Library. Children from kindergarten to eighth grade made telescopes and won prizes for answering trivia questions. Photo by Isabella Pence-Lanctot

Twenty-two students from kindergarten to eighth grade took a look at the stars on Feb. 4 at Grissom Library’s Making a Telescope event. The children made their own telescopes while learning about outer space as part of the free program and the Library’s Visions of the Universe exhibit.

The students used markers to decorate cardboard tubes, added the lenses and put the tubes together to make a pocket-size telescope to take home to see the stars.

While they were working, students answered trivia questions for a chance to earn prizes. Jessica Hartley, youth and family services librarian, announced the winners of the big prize questions.

The children answered questions such as “How old is the sun?” The correct answer is 4.5 billion years old. Varun Kamath, age 5, had the closest guess with 10 billion years and received a prize bag containing a NASA keychain, activity book, and “Journey to the Stars” DVD.

The prizes were donated by Ron Shaneyfelt, NASA speaker and astronomy teacher, who spoke at the opening event of the Visions of the Universe exhibit on Nov. 29.

The exhibit, which celebrates Galileo Galilei first peering into the cosmos using an astronomical telescope and how astronomy has evolved over the 400 years since then, will be on display at Grissom Library through Feb. 15. It is free and open to the public.

The exhibit is presented by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland; the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the American Library Association, Chicago, through funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Part of the Newport News Public Library System, Grissom Library is located at 366 DeShazor Drive, Newport News, VA 23608. Call 757-369-3190 or visit www.nngov.com/library for more information.

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