One night, he also managed to get a good look at Saturn and Jupiter. That did it. Rifkin was hooked on astronomy.

Today, as president of the Springfield Stars Club, Rifkin, who lives in South Hadley, encourages people of all ages to get to know the sky around them. Western Massachusetts offers many chances to do so.

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The Springfield Science Museum, for example, offers programs for children and families in its Seymour Planetarium every weekend.

The programs range from locating celestial bodies to a song-and-story session for little ones to a look at ancient myths about the stars.

Richard H. Sanderson, curator of physical sciences at the science museum, also collaborates with the Springfield Stars Club on "Stars Over Springfield."

That's what the club's monthly meetings are called. They take place the first Friday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the science museum.

"If the sky is clear, we go to the observatory," Sanderson said. "If it's cloudy, we go to the planetarium." Twenty to 50 people show up.

"Stars Over Springfield" is oriented to a broad audience, Rifkin says. Presentations at these meetings have included such diverse subjects as NASA, cosmology and moon rocks.

CBS-3 TV weatherman Nick Morganelli spoke on meteorology, and Rifkin gave a talk on his own passion for "chasing eclipses," which has taken him far as Egypt and Alaska in pursuit of solar and lunar eclipses.

Admission to "Stars Over Springfield" is $3 for adults and $2 for children.

"It's a really good program," said Max Lu, 15, of East Longmeadow, who got interested in astronomy at age 7.

What drew him to it? "I just kind of looked up at the sky!" said Lu, who is especially interested in astrophysics.

Adam S. Jermyn, of Longmeadow, also 15, says his mom started taking him to "Stars Over Springfield" meetings when he was in preschool. Today he gives talks on cosmology.

The magic of astronomy, said Rifkin, is that "it's as big as the universe." It encompasses everything from weather patterns to UFOs, history, constellations and the observation of shooting stars from a lawn chair in a field in the dead of night with a cup of hot cocoa.

"In the younger grades, children go absolutely wild about looking through the telescope and seeing planets and stars and nebulas," said Rifkin, who visits classrooms as part of his club's educational outreach.

The Springfield Stars Club will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a party and cake Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Science Museum.

Edward G. "Ed" Faits, president of the Arunah Hill Natural Science Center in Cummington and a Springfield Stars board member, said he became intrigued by stars at around age 6.

One night, his neighbors allowed their kids to set up sleeping bags outdoor to view a lunar eclipse. "I thought that was the coolest thing!" said Faits. The rest is history.

While clubs and programs offer avenues for sharing information and enthusiasm, exploring the sky doesn't have to be an expensive pastime.

"I started exposing my own children to stargazing when they were babies, just by watching the night sky," said Faits, of Southwick.

"Mostly we watched the cycles of nature, the different times of sunrises and sunsets, the longer days in summer."

Faits' older son is now a guide at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

One day about a month ago, when Venus, Jupiter and the moon were in the same part of the sky, Faits had the pleasure of getting long-distance phone calls from both of his grown sons about the phenomenon. How's that for a family experience?

Faits tells wonderful stories about observing the sky with youngsters. Arunah Hill Days, which is scheduled this year for Sept. 5-7, is "a fabulous event for families" in which kids make working rockets.

In Tolland, Faits helped a Girl Scout group view the international space station directly overhead, shining brilliantly. He has also given outdoor laser shows to point out constellations in the sky.

Most events at Arunah Hill are free and open to the public.

Among the other resources available to families who want to explore astronomy is the Amherst Area Amateur Astronomers Association.

The Amherst group offers classes, school outreach, free observing, planetarium viewing and other public service programs.

On Saturday, these hardy souls plan to meet on Mount Pollux in Amherst at midnight to view the Quadrantid meteor shower.

Learn more
Here are some area resources to learn more about star gazing:
Amherst Area Amateur Astronomers Association
Call: (413) 256-6234; www.amastro.org
Arunah Hill Natural Science Center
218 Trouble St., Cummington 01026
Call: (413) 569-6336 or (860) 818-8130; online, www.arunah.org
Springfield Science Museum
21 Edwards St., Springfield 01103
Call: (413) 263-6800, ext. 379; online, www.springfieldmuseums.org
Springfield Stars Club
Call: (800) 336-9054; online, www.reflector.org