New Pioneers for a Sustainable Future hosted our 5th annual "Space Night" program at the Rotary Park at the Reservoir in Springfield this summer to connect our community with the night sky and share important education about light pollution!

During this unique program, our local DarkSky Chapter joined us to first lead the community in a series of self-paced learning stations about the night sky. This included crafts, videos, games, and activities to explore local constellations, comets, planets in our solar system, gravity, and light pollution. Participants also enjoyed astronaut-approved snacks, learned more about New Pioneers and DarkSky, and explored local wildlife affected by light pollution during this time!

Later in the night, participants completed three different guided stations to deepen their knowledge and passion for the night sky even more! Jonathan, the Education and Outreach Coordinator for DarkSky KY, led folks on a journey through the night sky with a board game all about light pollution and a unique display to showcase best lighting practices to reduce this pollution. Julia, New Pioneers' Executive Director, explored meteorites and craters through hands-on experiments with participants. And finally, Ivoree, New Pioneers' Community Educator, guided participants in exploring constellations by acting out Greek mythology stories and creating marshmallow and pretzel crafts.

Once the sun fully set and the stars started to appear, participants were given the opportunity to view the night sky with professional telescopes and a presentation led by DarkSky! This brought all the education from the night together to see some awesome space objects and the real-life effects of light pollution.

Thank you to the Rotary Park at the Reservoir for allowing us to use their space again, DarkSky Kentucky for their wonderful partnership, and to Springfield Tourism for their generous sponsorship of this program — We couldn't have done it without you!

We hope each participant of this program feels more connected to the night sky and ready to take action against light pollution!

To view more photos from this program, click here or on the collage above.

Learn more about DarkSky International here.