A cluster of telescopes lined the concrete outside of Kika Silva Pla Planetarium, and families leaned in to take peeks at the moon’s craters through their lenses. Strangers chatted to each other about space, and above them a waxing gibbous glowed in between dark strips of clouds.
Stargazers across Gainesville joined millions of people worldwide Saturday night to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night. The event was celebrated in over 120 countries as part of NASA’s initiative to unite people across the globe. In Gainesville, that celebration stretched across the city to Santa Fe College.
The event connected local families and students to the worldwide celebration, offering a chance to learn about the moon, engage with hands-on science and see the night sky through high-powered equipment courtesy of the Alachua Astronomy Club.
Warren Schmitt, a member of the astronomy club, said space is a powerful part of his life. He and his wife moved from Orlando to Gainesville, where there is less light pollution, drawn by a better view of the night sky.
“It’s awesome, seeing [the moon] up there. It’s almost like a spiritual thing. We go through life and don’t realize how beautiful these objects are in the night sky,” he said. “We’re just little things here for a few seconds. Really, our lifetimes are nothing to them.”
The event’s mission is also to empower people to “learn more about the Moon and space science and exploration, using Earth’s Moon as an accessible entry point,” according to NASA’s website.
For many attendees, that accessibility starts with a welcoming atmosphere. Sam Palacios, an astrophysics major at Santa Fe, said the astronomy community makes space science approachable.
“[Everyone] has been so welcoming and open when it comes to sharing information,” Palacios said. “They just make it so inviting … not dumbing it down, but making it digestible. It’s cool to be part of this community and look at the moon together, just enjoy something so simple and complex at the same time.”
John Terrones, a Santa Fe astronomy major, shared a similar perspective.
“We’re united for one single goal of admiring the moon,” he said. “At the same time we’re looking at the moon, the moon is looking at us.”
Planetarium director James Albury said that sense of wonder drives their outreach.
“When you look at [the moon] through a telescope, it seems like you can almost reach out and touch it … it can be intoxicating,” he said. “We look for events that will interest the public — meteor showers, eclipses, comets — and use them to introduce people to the wonders of the night sky and science.”
The celebration also comes as NASA gears up for its Artemis missions, which aim to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.
For some, the pull of space goes back to that earlier era of exploration. Attendee Donna Blanchard said she still remembers watching the 1969 moon landing as a child.
“I remember holding my dad’s hand in front of the television and him saying, ‘This is history. Remember this,’” she said. “That sparked a love of the stars.”
Standing beneath the glow of the moon, Blanchard smiled at her husband.
“We’re all together looking up at the moon. It belongs to everybody,” she said.
For Lisa Eager, the Alachua Astronomy Club’s public outreach coordinator, the moon’s appeal is universal.
Eager, who started the club with no science background, noted that the moon is an ideal entry point into astronomy, as it’s easy to see and strikingly detailed, even with a beginner’s telescope.
“When someone looks through a telescope for the first time at the moon, they see it and it blows them away,” Eager said. “It’s showing people there’s more out there, and expanding their horizons.”
Eager’s perspective reflects the larger mission of International Observe the Moon Night. From Gainesville to Greece, it’s an easy first step into astronomy, connecting communities to space science worldwide through a shared view.