A new astronomy club has joined the ranks of the dozens of clubs at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.
 
Teachers Zachary Rittner and Adric Quackenbush founded the club to teach students about the  history and science behind the night sky. It has been a huge success, as the Astronomy club has already become one of the most popular in the school.
 
Meetings are after school on Fridays, and students research things to view, learn about how to set up the various telescopes to use, and think of ways to inform the public about astronomy. The club also has periodic stargazing field trips on the football field, where all of their hard work is put to use in learning about and viewing the various bodies in the night sky.
 
“Something I noticed in my freshman classes last year was that there was a lot of interest in space and space science, so when I found out that we had a bunch of telescope equipment just laying around in storage, I figured let’s bring it to the kids and let them play around with it,” said Rittner. “There’s been a lot of positive feedback about that and students really enjoy it.”