Students gather in Greek Theatre to stargaze

Students gathered in the Greek Theatre Saturday night for a stargazing event organized by cultural advisers at the University of Richmond.

"Cultural advisers do an event every Saturday night," said Lisa Miles, who is in charge of the cultural adviser program at Richmond and works in the office of common ground.

The goal for the cultural adviser programs are only on Saturday nights and they provide something alternative on campus for students to do on Saturdays, Miles said. On average there are 50 to 70 students that attend, Miles said.

"Stargazing was the most highly rated event that we suggested to students," Miles said.

"The cultural adviser alternative nights are organized by the 12 cultural advisers," said Lorena Bolanos, who helps organize the events for cultural advisers. "For every event two of these advisers are the head of the event and help organize it.

"These events help create a sense of community among the students at Richmond."

These alternative nights are dry events and always have activities to participate in and food, Bolanos said.

Sabrina Islam, a sophomore at the University of Richmond who attended the stargazing event, said she had heard about the event through Facebook and said she had thought that stargazing would be something nice to do on a beautiful Saturday night.

"We don't usually do this," Islam said about stargazing. "I am pretty excited to be here tonight because apparently I am going to see Jupiter and its moons."

Physics professor Henry Nebel was also there to help students get a closer look at Jupiter and the moon through the large telescope that he brought.

"I want everybody to know something about astronomy," Nebel said. "To look at Jupiter and the moon through a telescope is fascinating."

Miles said that they were lucky to have such a beautiful night to stargaze. Because the sky was so clear, students were able to see Jupiter's four largest moons.

Contact reporter Catherine Crystal at catherine.crystal@richmond.edu