Summer Series: Astronomy of the Night Sky

Summer Series: Astronomy of the Night Sky is a four week introduction to the Night Sky.  We will focus on a handful of constellations in each meeting.  We will discuss the naked eye stars—their names, position on the H-R Diagram (size, color, temperature), distance from Earth, and likely end state (white dwarf, neutron star, black hole).  We will also talk about other visible objects within the constellations (perhaps a galaxy that is mistaken for a star), along with images of the amazing features that can only be seen with a telescope.  
During each meeting, we will also have a brief discussion of the mythology behind the stars' and consteallations' names.

The idea behind this class is to give the students some actual astronomy and astrophysics, using stars that they will be able to find and identify in their own yards.  This class is much more than showing students a star map, but it is also meant to be an engaging summer activity.