BILLINGS — Saturday morning, MSU Billings Department of Biological and Physical Sciences hosted a solar eclipse star party that drew many people to gather to view the partial eclipse.
The Yellowstone Valley Astronomy Association also joined in on the fun, offering up their telescopes for people to view the sun.
“It’s looking up there, just 93 million miles away," Yellowstone Valley Astronomy member, Jerry Hanson, said about his telescope on Saturday. "It is safe because I put on a lens that will protect your eye.”
Noah Dowell, 12, was having a great time looking through the multiple telescopes available and learning about what he was viewing.
“Cool stuff like sun spots, like where the sun has cooled down and plasma energy lifting off from the sun. It’s really cool,” Dowell said.
He has been looking forward to the eclipse for a few weeks now because his science teacher taught his class about it.
“This is my first time watching it,” Dowell said. “It’s really cool.”
Randy Begger, Yellowstone Valley Astronomy Club Treasurer, was pleased with the outcome of the event.
“Oh, it’s great. The number of people coming out to see this is fantastic,” Begger said. “The amateur radio folks are here to also do some testing with what happens when the eclipse is happening with their VHF side of their radio system.”
