The Deep Sky’s the limit at the upcoming DobsonFest!

 (I submitted this story more than a week ago and it will appear in the Sept. 9 print editions of MidRivers and West Newsmagazines.  It may show online prior to that. But posting this now as my own unedited version to give everyone enough planning time to attend this free event!)

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Sept. 19 from 4-9 pm!

That’s when the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri (ASEM) hosts the amazing DobsonFest event at Brommelsiek Park’s Astronomy Site, 1593 Schwede Road in Defiance.

“The event is in celebration (of the September birth) of John Dobson and his vision of bringing the universe to the masses,” said Chuck Simms, this year's DobsonFest Chairperson. “He designed what is now called the Dobsonian telescope, which is an easy to use, inexpensive telescope with a large aperture. This is now one of the most popular telescopes in the world.  John would travel all over America to work with astronomy groups on building telescopes, and he would take his telescopes into a town and just setup on a sidewalk and invite people to view the night sky.”

Fast forward to 2026, and ASEM’s Executive Director Don Ladwig was thrilled to note some selling points of this year’s event.

“What makes it a great event is it’s not just for St. Charles, but for the whole St. Louis Metro area including the Illinois side. It’s family friendly and children friendly. We have a specific area for children as well as a number of booths set up for families to get information.

Simms added a good deal more details to this year’s event highlights.

“For the kids we have puzzles, astronomy word match games, space coloring sheets, making a star wheel, and more. We also have meteorites, telescope making, library telescope information, Dark Skies Missouri will have a booth, and we also have a NASA Ambassador there with a booth.

“We’ll have both solar and night viewing telescopes and we planned it so that the Moon will be out when the event starts at 4pm, so both the Sun and Moon will be viewable. We’ll have cake to help celebrate John Dobson’s birthday, and we have lots of door prizes including 4 different telescope, binoculars, astronomy books and much more. The booths will be open from 4-7, but the viewing goes until 9pm.”

Special telescopes will already be set up when visitors arrive, and everyone will be able to safely view the sun in perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience! In the evening, they’ll transition to looking at the night sky.

Simms also noted that they will have hydrogen-alpha telescope for viewing the Sun.

“You’ll be able to see sunspots, solar prominences, filaments, and eruptions leaping from the Sun’s edge. Other telescopes will be on the Moon, with about 60% illuminated. You’ll be able to see craters, valleys, mountains, and the seas (lava flows that have hardened and turned blackish).”

“Things to really highlight to me is that it’s a great chance for people to learn about telescopes, about astronomy, what dark skies mean,” said Ladwig. “We’re going to have people out there from Dark Skies Missouri and Dark Skies International Group. We’re going to have a few tables specifically for kids to do events. We also have what we call Friday night Open House events at the same park.”

Ladwig also added that the park’s 32” reflecting telescope is the largest public telescope in the state of Missouri. They purchased it from another club, and rebuilt it six or seven years ago using the existing mirror and eyepiece holder unit. They assembled the other units with their own parts.

“We also have a 14” Celestron telescope, a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and a 16” one that is called a Jones-Bird design telescope. Those three are permanent out there, and club members from four astronomy clubs will be bringing their telescopes for the public to view through, and if anyone in the public wants to bring their own telescopes, they’re more than welcome to do that.”

There will be yet another incentive to stay longer. Although people can bring their own food and beverages, there will be a Juan Taco food truck there for dinner.

Regarding the possibility of any inclement weather, Simms added, “Unless the weather is really bad, we’ll have the event. We don’t have a backup date at this time, but if the weather looks iffy the week before we’ll talk with the St. Charles County Parks department about moving it if needed. So far, no DobsonFest has been moved, so keep your fingers crossed.”