The Farmington Community Stargazers are a group of volunteer amateur astronomers who want to share the night skies with their community in Farmington, Farmington Hills, surrounding areas, and beyond. This club is open to people of all ages who have an interest in astronomy and a curiosity for exploring the Universe from their "backyard".
Our mission is to foster an appreciation for the science of astronomy by providing a platform to our community on which we can share and explore the joys and wonders of the Universe.
We always welcome anyone who is interested in joining our endeavors in operating telescopes and in fulfilling our mission statement. FCS has no fees or dues and operates solely on volunteers and people who are passionate about sharing their knowledge. Anyone who is interested in taking an active role in the club, which includes planning meetings, is welcome to join us! We also welcome members who are just interested in bringing and operating their telescopes at our star parties.
We organize star parties in association with the Farmington Hills Special Services, the Nature Center, and Heritage Park. Our star parties provide an opportunity for visitors to look up at the night sky and view its many wonders through telescopes that our volunteer astronomers graciously share with us.
The evening begins with a short welcome, followed by a brief themed presentation before setting the crowd loose to look through the various telescopes we have set up on the sled hill. A sky tour is held at some point in the evening before we conclude and pack the telescopes up. On occasion, we set up informational and activity tables that include meteorite exhibits, lunar and solar system models, and so on.
If the weather is cloudy/rainy, we may meet at the Spicer House for a featured presentation, or we cancel the event if no presentation is planned. We don't have telescopes set up during rainy/cloudy nights.
Our star party events are free, open to the public, and they usually begin at sunset. We ask that people help us preserve our stargazing experience by avoiding the use of bright LED flashlights and minimizing other ambient lighting from cell phones, cars, and so on. We recommend astronomy friendly, red colored flashlights. Please use caution and care when looking through our volunteers' telescopes as they contain sensitive optical materials, and always ask the telescope operator for assistance if you're not sure how to look through their telescope.
Attendance to our star parties of course is always voluntary - the club runs on volunteers and the way we see it, we're out here to enjoy the night sky anyways, so anyone who wants to join us in doing so is also welcome!
On occasion, we hold astronomy presentations inside the Spicer House or at the Nature Center at Heritage Park. These talks range from 45 minutes to an hour in length and space is usually limited to around 30 people. If the skies are clear, we venture outdoors for a brief sky tour and a chance to look through telescopes at the wonders of the winter sky. Sometimes we'll hold full-on star parties if major celestial events are happening during the winter months.
Several of our members will sometimes have presentations and astronomy talks at the Farmington Community Library and other institutions around the area. These talks usually require registration with the library/host institution.
Astronomy is filled with celestial events that take place at certain dates and times. Such events include solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and transits. In addition, our members are always excited to set up telescopes for events held by the Farmington Hills Special Services and Downtown Farmington. In the past, this has included the Harvest Moon Celebration.
In addition, many of our members are active with other astronomy clubs in the area and participate in events such as The Great Lakes Stargaze in Galdwin and Astronomy at the Beach in Brighton. We have also partnered with Maybury State Park and the Friends of Maybury to host some stargazing events in Northville.
We also participate with events held at various school districts which in the past have included Farmington Schools, Niji Iro Elementary, and Bloomfield Hills.
Some events may happen out of town, or even out of state (northern lights, eclipses, etc...). We will sometimes announce if any of our members are traveling for these events so that anyone else who is interested in voluntarily joining their personal astronomical adventures would be welcome to. In the past, a few people met up with our members in Mackinaw City for some northern lights and dark sky experience. Others met up with FCS folks for the 2017 solar eclipse in Wyoming.
