Spring Stargazing scheduled

The Winnebago County Conservation Board will be holding a Spring Stargazing program on Friday evening, May 3. The program will be held at the entrance to Thorpe Park, five miles west of Forest City, beginning at 9 p.m., and should last about 45-60 minutes.
During the program, Winnebago County Naturalist Lisa Ralls will lead people on an informal tour of the Spring nighttime sky. She will discuss just what stars are and will point out such Spring constellations as the Gemini Twins and Leo the Lion, as well as year-round favorites such as the Big and Little Dippers and Draco the Dragon. People will also learn how to identify some of the brighter spring stars, including the twin stars of Castor and Pollux, Arcturus, and Spica. Interesting facts will also be shared about the various stars and constellations.
The Spring Stargazing program will be free and open to the public and star charts will be handed out to everyone to take home afterwards. People can bring along lawn chairs and a pair of binoculars, if they’d like. Of course, if the skies are cloudy that night, the program will have to be postponed or canceled. If that happens, the announcement will run on KIOW Radio (FM 107.3), as well as on the WCCB web site (www.winnebagoccb.com), the WCCB Facebook page, and the WCCB Twitter feed.
For more information about the Spring Stargazing program, people can contact Naturalist Lisa Ralls at 641-565-3390 or at lralls@winnebagoccb.com.