Technical Services Clerk Paolo Viola uses the new telescope kit from Lambton County Library. August 7, 2024. (Photo courtesy of The Corporation of the County of Lambton)Technical Services Clerk Paolo Viola uses the new telescope kit from Lambton County Library. August 7, 2024. (Photo courtesy of The Corporation of the County of Lambton)
Sarnia

Telescopes available at local libraries ahead of meteor shower

Lambton County Library cardholders can now borrow telescopes to view this weekend's Perseid meteor shower.

The library's new telescope kits include a Celestron Travel Scope 80 Telescope, a tripod, and a smartphone adapter for taking pictures.

Library Services Manager Darlene Coke said they've been working to expand their collection of non-traditional items for some time and the introduction of telescopes seemed timely.

"We've been thinking about the telescopes, there's certainly been a lot of interest in our skies and our solar system this year of course with the solar eclipse, we've had some wonderful northern lights, and thinking this was perfect timing with meteor showers coming up that perhaps now is the time to introduce telescope kits," she said.

Coke said the library has other materials, both physical and electronic, that could be useful during celestial events as well.

"Certainly lots of books or potentially articles within some databases that we have. As well, we do have binoculars in our non-traditional library collection which might be useful in this situation," she said. "So a few other items that could be paired with this telescope to help people on their journey to discover more about the night sky."

Coke said there are 10 telescope kits in their collection, which serves Lambton’s 25 libraries.

Telescope kits can be borrowed for up to seven days.

"There are a few different ways you can make a reservation for one of the library's new telescope kits," she said. "We would ask cardholders to either call or visit their local library, they could use their library card number and their [PIN] to make their own reservation on the online catalog that they would access through our website, or they could download the Iguana library app on their smart device and they could make their reservation through the app."

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Perseids is considered to be the best meteor shower of the year.

The American Meteor Society said the peak of Perseids will be during the nighttime hours of August 11 to August 12.

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