The Barrington recreation department and The Astronomical Society of Southern New England (ASSNE) are co-hosting Astronomy Day this Saturday, May 3, weather permitting.

From 1:30 to 6 p.m., about a dozen telescopes specially filtered to allow views of the Sun will be set up on the Barrington Town Hall lawn, on County Road. Children accompanied by their parents are welcome to look at sunspots if they appear, and through specialized Hydrogen-Alpha light telescopes to see solar flares and prominences that can extend half a million miles into space. The Moon, with its amazing craters, mountains and lava basins, will be visible throughout the afternoon and well into the evening.

At about 7:30 p.m. as night falls, more than twenty large telescopes will permit public viewing; Mercury may be visible just after sunset in the western sky. Jupiter and its moons will be visible from the main Town Hall lawn, along with many star clusters and nebulae.

Barringtons Astronomy Day has grown in recent years and is probably Rhode Islands largest ongoing astronomy event. Previous Astronomy Days drew more than 200 daytime visitors and over 1,000 at night.

This is a weather-dependent event and there is no rain date. If it is partly cloudy the event will go on, but if it is overcast, or raining, it will not. Visit assne.org to see if the event has been cancelled. A cancellation notice should appear shortly after noon.

WHERE:Barrington Town Hall lawn, 283 County Road, Barrington WHEN: Saturday, May 3; 1:30 to 9:30 p.m. COST: Free MORE INFO: assne.org

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See the stars in Barrington this Saturday