When Daylight Saving Time shimmys back around, as it will again on Sunday, March 9, people start thinking of time, clocks, and, possibly above all, sunshine.
The sun itself, of course, does not have a Daylight Saving Time app on its phone -- nor does it have a phone, which would disintegrate each time the sun picked it up -- but people connect the heavenly body and the human-made time construct. Which means that a moment to look up and consider stars, time, life, and other profundities is well-timed when it falls on the weekend where we spring forward.
The Griffith Observatory's monthly Public Star Party points a bevy of telescopes toward the sky on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, March 8. That's just hours ahead of when you'll need to set your clocks forward, if you need to get in the thinking-about-stars-and-time mood.
A moving element to this particular Public Star Party? Friends will gather in the Leonrad Nimoy Event Horizon Theater at 4 p.m. to remember James Dobson, who recently passed away at age 98. Mr. Dobson's knack for "building large telescopes at low cost" via "unorthodox" methods made him a favorite with sky-watchers. That and the fact that Mr. Dobson's love of astronomy was positively infectious.
Remember the man and take a moment to look through a telescope or two; you'll find them hither and thither around the Griffith Observatory grounds courtesy of a caboodle of astronomy organizations. The springtime constellations are coming into focus, so seek them out. Wait, does that mean Orion, a winter favorite, is nearly out the door? We always miss you and your easy to find belt, dear Orion.
Public Star Party hours are 2 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
