Jennifer Krestow hosted a “Conversation with the Stars” at the Glendale Community College Planetarium on Friday, Oct.17 with guest speaker Dr. Chris Burns. Both astronomers co-lead a lecture on spectroscopy with live demonstrations. The short lecture was informative and interactive, keeping the audience members engaged. 

Krestow hosts these events once a month, as a way to share her love of astronomy with the community. Her passion for science outreach started in her undergrad when she and a group of friends would set up telescopes on a boardwalk for people to look at the stars. 

“The public was so excited because most of them had never looked at Saturn through a telescope or at the moon through the telescope,” Krestow said “We had fun because they were having fun.”

The diverse age range of the audience was one of the most notable things from the event. From elementary kids to senior citizens, all members were equally fascinated  by the demos. 

Events like these open a whole new love of science for a community that oftentimes doesn’t have the opportunity to experience. Krestow mentioned how inaccessible astronomy can be. 

“Griffith Observatory, is of course, where the big Planetarium is, it is so hard to get up there,” Krestows said, “It is so busy, it is so expensive.”  

A Conversation with the Stars is an event that brings accessibility to an otherwise unfamiliar science concept. People do not usually experience a world beyond the one we live in, but when they do it is something that fascinates everyone. Through these lectures people of all ages can experience the beauty of space without wasting any money, or going through drastic lengths.