Maybe someone has told you to aim for the stars. Well, MSMS’s very own Astronomy Club does just that (with telescopes).

The influence for this club was the Astronomy class that was offered last year. However, with one less physics faculty member, the class could no longer be taught for this school year.

Because of the high interest in the class, Dr. Charles Vaughan decided to be the club’s sponsor. He has planned some fun and rare events for the members and anyone else who would like to attend.

The club has outside astronomical observations, including the 2016 Supermoon on Monday, Nov. 14. The significance of this viewing is that the moon will be much brighter than normal and this event is not predicted to occur again until 2034.

Senior Griffin Emerson is excited about viewing this spectacle.

 “This will be the seemingly biggest moon until 50 plus years, which is pretty significant. I am excited and I think it will be cool,” Emerson said.

Emerson shared that other activities have brought excitement to the club.

“We looked at the sun through a solar filter. We got to see solar flares and you weren’t blinded, which was pretty cool.”

Other club activities include movie watching, talks by Vaughan (as if the club were the class again), a presentation by a speaker who worked on the Ligo Project (dealing with detecting gravitational waves), a trip to the Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium (located in French Camp, Mississippi) and a special viewing in the fall of 2017 of the total solar eclipse.

Senior Uriah Jenkins especially looks forward to the French Camp trip.

“I believe that the Rainwater trip is an exciting opportunity where we can have some fun and learn a great deal about astronomy. I really rather enjoy the very relaxed tone of the club and the opportunities for direct observation and the great deal of information that we learn about astronomy.”

Vaughan has advice for any aspiring astronomers: “Do not look at the sun without a filter.”