'Here are Vega, Altair and Deneb ' bright stars drawing a triangular imaginary line, known as the summer triangle,' said Adisetyo 'Adis' Panduwirawan, 24, to people around him, pointing at the brightest golden lights in the dark sky with an outdoor green laser pointer.



As soon as he had finished his introduction about the stars, his curious audience began asking questions about the sun, planets, galaxies and other topics related to astronomy.



All of sudden a 6-year-old boy shouted, 'So, where is Papua?', to everybody's surprise, which made them burst into laughter moments later. The boy was curiously looking at the sky through a white telescope on a vast grass field.



Some meters away from Adis and the boy, 11-year-old Ibnu Fauzan Koswara and Maulana Amr Hakam reminded each other to update their statuses on Facebook.



Ibnu, Maulana and the boy were among 200 participants of the second Star Party held by the Jakarta Amateur Astronomer Community (HAAJ) at the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) in Rumpin, Bogor, West Java, last weekend.



'Don't forget to update your status on Facebook and say that we've just seen Saturn,' said Ibnu to

Maulana.



Maulana took his smartphone from his pocket and started typing.



The HAAJ, established 31 years ago as a community for astronomy enthusiasts, annually held a star-gazing event for the public, called Star Party, said HAAJ chairman Indra Firdaus. He added that the community usually chose places with low light pollution, like islands in Jakarta's Thousand Islands, to hold the event, so that the participants could see the sky objects clearly.



The star-gazing event attracts not only amateur astronomers, but also children and parents with toddlers.



With dozens of committee members taking part as mentors, this year's Star Party allowed the participants to look at sky objects alternately through five different telescopes.



Some children stayed up all night gazing at Saturn, Venus and stars.



'I am happy that I finally could see Saturn and its ring. It's so beautiful,' said Ibnu. Maulana agreed, adding, however, that they could not stand waiting in line so long to look through the telescopes.



Coming with Maulana's younger brother and father, the two friends said that at the Star Party, they could finally satisfy their curiosity about sky objects, which previously they had only seen in books. Looking at the stars through telescopes gave them a different perception of space and confirmed what they had learned at school.



Even though the event left little time for sleep, parents like Derry and Arief Budiarso did not hesitate to bring their toddlers along.



Derry said that his wife had helped him search out information about the Star Party; he joined the event with the aim to expand the knowledge of his 5-year-old son, Dzaki, about the world and space.



Arief Budiarso and his wife from Cakung, East Jakarta, joined the event with their 4-year-old son, Khanza. Arief said Khanza was enthralled by the event's atmosphere and all the talk about the sun, stars, moon and outer space.



Satisfied with the HAAJ's second Star Party, the parents, children, toddlers and other participants eventually went home with smiling faces, even though they had no group-photo session and closing ceremony. (agn)

Your premium period will expire in 0 day(s) close x Subscribe to get unlimited access Get 50% off now