Daily Gazette, Monday, 11/3/2008, p. B2
DUANESBURG
Student with eye on the sky to share love of astronomy

BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

   All it took was one glimpse at Saturn’s rings to turn Caitlin McKinley into an amateur astronomer.
   The 15-year-old Duanesburg High School sophomore was learning how to use her first telescope when the solar system’s second largest planet came into focus. Around the gas giant swirled the majestic rings that McKinley had never seen in such detail.
   “That was the first time I had looked through a telescope and seen something like that,” she recalled. “You could see the rings really clearly.”
   Now McKinley is now hoping to share her knowledge of the evening sky with other stargazing aficionados. On Friday she’ll host a “star party” at the district’s upper soccer field and attempt to turn others on to the joy of observing the celestial bodies in the night sky.
   McKinley is among 10 students and two teachers from the area participating in the Dudley Observatory’s Rising Stars internship this year. The program was established by the observatory six years ago to generate interest in amateur astronomy.
   Each year, Dudley uses grant money to purchase individual 6-inch reflector telescopes for the interns, who are taught how to locate objects in the sky and directed to keep “star journals” of their fi ndings. They are also allowed to keep their telescopes and encouraged to bring their skills home to their schools and communities.
   “They’re definitely ambassadors for Dudley that double also for encouraging an interest in astronomy,” said Janie Schwab, Dudley’s executive director. “With the rising star internship, we can work with a lot more students, we can do it over a longer period of time and they have much more of an effect on the community.”
   Applying for the internship isn’t difficult and requires no previous experience with astronomy. Schwab said aspiring students don’t even need to be at the top of their class, as long as they can demonstrate a passion for the field.
   Interest in the program has grown since its inception in 2002, when three students were enrolled. Schwab said Dudley has enough funding to take 20 additional interns.
   The program is run in cooperation with the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers, an organization that hosts many of the area star parties. Interns also regularly attend observatory events throughout the Capital Region.
   McKinley said her fascination with the stars as a child prompted her to investigate the Rising Stars internship last spring. Since that time, her love of astronomy has grown.
   “It’s definitely something I want to keep doing for the rest of my life,” she said.
   McKinley scheduled her first star party after the school’s performance of “Anything Goes” finishes around 9 p.m. She said the gathering has already generated interest from around the community, including from people she never recognized as amateur astronomers.
   “People I had no idea were interested in astronomy are saying ‘oh yeah, I’ve got a telescope.’ ”

BRUCE SQUIERS/ GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Caitlin McKinley, a Duanesburg student who is also an intern with the Dudley Observatory, uses a six-inch reflector telescope to observe the night sky near her home in the Town of Wright on Thursday night.