Museum's star parties go virtual

To launch their summer programming series, the Carter County Museum blasts off with two virtual star parties. These virtual events will take place on Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23, both at 8 p.m. The star parties will be posted on the Carter County Museum Facebook page as live events.

Museum Educator Steve Hobe will host the night, providing in depth presentations and narration for the evening. Each program will be roughly half an hour packed with a dive into each location, crafts, experiments and a virtual view of that night's sky in an interactive show designed in World Wide Telescope. Topics explored will include how telescopes work, ultraviolet light, the conjunction of Venus and Mercury and more. Each party will have different content, so be sure to check in to both!

Both star parties are co-hosted by the Montana Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association. Those that feature Medicine Rocks are in conjunction with Montana State Parks and for MacNab, the museum has partnered with Custer Gallatin National Forest Service.

If you ache to see the stars in southeastern Montana, there will be four more opportunities to experience them (pandemic pending). Join in on the fun at Lantis Springs Campground on June 13 at 8 p.m. for sunset yoga with Melissa Schwede and an interactive star tour and more with Steve Hobe. On July 3 at 7 p.m., the CCM crew will host a geology hike and star party at Capitol Rock. The end of the summer star parties will bring you back to Medicine Rocks State Park and MacNab Pond to experience a new season of constellations and activities. These will be August 18 and 19 at Medicine Rocks and MacNab Pond, respectively.

For more information, contact the museum at (406) 775-6886 or email [email protected]. Links to the Facebook Page and events for this week can be found below:

CCM:

https://www.facebook.com/CarterCountyMuseum/

Medicine Rocks:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2594365730807160/

MacNab:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2463654827071202/