Hopewell Furnace site of StarFest 2023

2023 marks the 25th anniversary of StarFest, an event presented by the ChesMont Astronomical Society (CAS), which allows members of the public to view the night sky through more than 20 amateur and high-powered telescopes.

StarFest 2023 will take place on Saturday, Aug. 19, from 6 to 11 p.m. at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, located at 2 Mark Bird Lane, Elverson. The program will also feature speakers, astronomy presentations and giveaways. Admission and parking are free, but donations will be accepted.

StarFest will open at 6 p.m. for solar observing and telescope setup. Attendees will also be able to meet the astronomers and check out their telescopes.

Opening remarks will be offered at 7 p.m., followed by a talk by Gary Becker, a professor at Moravian University, who will discuss his May trip to Australia to view the solar eclipse.

Described as an "eclipse chaser," Becker will discuss the Australian eclipse and how he plans to view and photograph the upcoming American eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024, including the equipment and techniques he will utilize and weather considerations. "The (eclipse) that he viewed in Australia was not visible in the United States," explained CAS member Rob Cordivari, who leads the StarFest committee. "The next one coming up in 2024 will be visible in the United States."

Becker was referred to CAS by past StarFest keynote speaker Pete Detterline. "People who are eclipse hunters will travel all over the world to see them," noted Cordivari. "(Detterline) is already signed up to view an eclipse in 2028 in Egypt."

Keynote speaker Veronique Pettit will talk from 8 to 9 p.m. about her work studying massive stars in the universe. Pettit, who studied physics at Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, is interested in the lives of massive stars, which are 10 times larger than the sun, especially in the study of these stars' magnetic fields.

All attendees will be given free tickets to win door prizes, such as small telescopes, binoculars and astronomy-related books, which will be given out throughout the evening.

Public stargazing will begin around 9:15 p.m. Participants will be able to view objects such as planets, star clusters, globular clusters, double stars and supernova remnants. "The highlight of the evening will be 10 Object Row; 10 of our members' telescopes will be focused on a different deep-sky object so the public gets a variety of astronomical objects to look at," explained Cordivari. "People can go down the row in any order. There will also be other telescopes set up that are not part of the 10 Object Row."

Attendees are welcome to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating during the speaker presentations. A food truck will also be on-site.

The rain/cloud date for StarFest 2023 is Sunday, Aug. 20. Cancellation information and weather updates will be posted at http://www.chesmontastro.com/home/events/starfest-2023 and at http://www.facebook.com/ChesMontAstro. More information about CAS and upcoming observing events can be found at http://www.chesmontastro.com.