We started our Summer Reading program at the Maben Public Library on June 11.
Edwin Faughn, director of French Camp’s Rainwater Observatory, came and presented a PowerPoint of interesting space pictures. His enthusiasm for astronomy is contagious. He also showed some of his space artwork that he does. His artwork has been published in magazines and on the NASA website.
One of the planets that you can see now at night is Jupiter. It is in the southeastern sky and is now its brightest. It has a Great Red Spot that has been seen over 300 years. It is now unraveling. Mars has a canyon that is the size of the state of Arkansas.
The pictures were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope is being replaced by one much better, the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the largest collection of telescopes in the southeastern United States.
The observatory is open to the public the second Friday of each month. Some of the programs do require a fee. You can go to its website at www.raiwaterobservatory.org to find out more about the programs.
Some of the artwork was of blue giant star, or supernova, the sky with sun rays coming out of clouds. Much information was presented but if you want to learn more about space, you can visit the planetarium or check out books at the library.
We had 45 children in attendance. We gave prizes to the most read; ages under 4 we had a four-way tie. Prizes went to Aiden and Nathan Scerbak, and Lydia and Mason Thornton. For the most read ages 4-7, Kalee Scott, and ages 8-12, Carolyn Pawlow.
Come join us next Tuesday at 10 a.m. for Pam Awad, nutrition educator with Mississippi State University Extension Service, and don’t forget to READ-READ-READ!
