Parents are welcome to bring children to sessions, where they can try out telescopes and binoculars. Families can also tap the expertise of veteran astronomers to help identify planets and stars. Most meetings start just after dusk (around 8:30 in June) and last until 10 or 11 o’clock.

Children as young as four enjoy glimpsing lunar craters or Saturn’s rings through a telescope. According to parents of junior stargazers, the pastime is ideal for kids ages nine to 12, who are more patient and can begin to understand the science behind stars and planets. “At age seven, they look at the moon and then go play,” says George Hripcsak, a Morningside Heights father of three. “And once they reach 12 or 13, they start losing interest.”