Students, professors and families from around Athens started their weekend early Thursday with a night of stargazing.

Dr. Shaw looks at Jupiter at the observatory in the physics building on campus. MICHAEL BARONE/Staff

The University’s physics and astronomy department hosted its observatory open house on a Thursday this month, instead of the usual Friday. The switch was done in anticipation of limited parking Friday night for Saturday’s game, as well as to align with the Leonids Meteor shower.

Though the best time for viewing the shower was around midnight, early open house visitors were able to spot nearby galaxy Andromeda in a 10-inch telescope and Jupiter in the 24-inch telescope.

Jeff Gritton, a graduate student in the physics department, assisted visitors with the 10-inch telescope and explained the galaxy they were seeing. He said what he shows people in the telescope depends on what is visible in the night sky from month to month – this month, Andromeda is high in the sky and easily viewable with the telescope. He said Andromeda is interesting for a few reasons – it’s about the same size as the Milky Way and also shares a distant fate with it.

“Adromeda is actually moving at us at 75 kilometers per second right now. Eventually, Andromeda and the Milky Way will collide. When galaxies collide they don’t actually touch, they just kind of spiral around each other and become a new galaxy in the end. That won’t happen for approximately a couple billion years, though, so your plans for next Thursday are safe.”

Gritton said he enjoys being able to tell observatory visitors about the night sky.

“I basically educate the public on something that’s been a hobby to me since I was six,” he said.

Tiffany Tunno, a junior photography major from Athens, said she’s been to the open house twice before and enjoys coming back. She said some months have been more crowded than others – this month, she said, saw more visitors, which meant longer lines for the telescopes. Still, she said the observatories are always worth coming to.

“They’re pretty awesome. I wish there were more of them,” she said.