Before the meeting: 

1. Become familiar with identifying items in the night sky, stars, planets, and satellites.  
   • Stars in the night sky often have a “twinkle” this is due to the light interacting with the atmosphere.  Stars will move across the night sky but very slowly.  So if you see something and you can tell it’s moving, it isn’t a star. 
     • Sailors and travelers have used the stars for hundreds of years to find their way both on land and at sea. One of these stars is called the North Star. It is located almost directly above the North Pole. People could figure out which direction was north from this one star! The North Star is a dim star and not very bright. But it is an important star to be able to pick out. To find this star, first look for the group of stars called the Little Dipper. The Little Dipper looks like a spoon with a long handle. The North Star is located at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. 
   • Constellations 
     • Set the star finder to the correct month, day, and time. 
     • Face north and look up using the star finder and match what is in the night sky to what is on the star finder. 
     • It’s recommended that you start by looking for either the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, or Orion as they contain bright stars and are easier to spot.  Once you have found one constellation you have a reference point to find others. 
   • Planets can often be seen in the night sky without a telescope.  Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the most common planets that can be seen without a telescope.  Mercury and Venus are between the sun and the Earth.  Mars is the next planet after Earth from the sun.  Jupiter and Saturn are known as gas giants.  They are much larger than the Earth.  Saturn is approximately 9.5 times larger than the Earth and Jupiter is 11 times larger.  Planets in the night sky tend to be brighter and you may even see the color such as Mars being red. 
     • Planets do not twinkle like stars do. Planets have a constant light. This is a good way to figure out whether you are looking at a star or a planet. Look for these planets: 
       • Mercury is hard to see because it is always close to the sun. 
       • Venus is white and very bright. When Venus can be seen, it is always right after sunset or right before sunrise, near the horizon. 
       • Mars often looks red in the night sky. 
       • Jupiter is bright yellow. 
       • Saturn is also yellow but not as bright as Jupiter. 
     • Our word for planet comes from the ancient Greek words asteres planetai, which mean “wandering stars.” The Greeks knew thousands of years ago that the planets slowly moved across the sky over time. If you look at the planets often, you may notice that they change their position in the sky a little bit every day. 
   • Satellites can be spotted by their speed across the night sky.  For example, the International Space Station orbits the Earth 16 times in 24 hours!  That is 5 miles a second.  That means you could see the International Space Station cross the night sky several times in one night.  
   • Meteors – If you get lucky, you might see a streak of light shoot across the night sky. The light is caused by bits of rock and dust called meteoroids that fall into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up before they hit Earth. Some people call these falling stars. Every once in a while, a bit of space rock hits Earth. This is called a meteorite. Nine major meteor showers happen every year. They last for several nights. If you go stargazing during a meteor shower, you may be able to see many falling stars in a single night. 
2. Identify a location that has minimal light pollution.  Check the forecast for an evening that is projected to have clear skies.  Confirm the date, time, and location to conduct the activity. 
3. If the location is different than your normal meeting location, have parents and legal guardians complete the Activity Consent Form. 
4. Set up the telescope to view the moon.  

During the meeting: 

1. Gather the Cub Scouts and adult partners and share with them how to identify stars, planets, and satellites in the night sky.  
2. Pass out the scavenger hunt activity to each Cub Scout.  Point to the moon and ask what shape is the moon in?  Have them look at their scavenger hunt activity sheet. Share with the Cub Scouts that the moon looks different because at times because of the changing positions of the Earth, sun, and moon.  When you can not see the moon because we on Earth can not see where the sun is hitting it, it is called a New Moon.  The moon has eight phases.  The moon will go through all eight phases 12 times in 354 days.   
3. Share with the Cub Scouts that it takes the Earth 365 days to go around the Sun.  This is how we measure one year.  The moon goes through its phases 12 times in 354 days, which is almost one year.  Ask the Cub Scouts, “What do we have twelve of in one year?”  (Months)  Humans came up with the concept of having 12 months in a year from the number of times the moon goes through its phases in the time it takes the Earth to go around the sun. 
4. Have Cub Scouts work with the adult partners on the night sky scavenger hunt.  Use binoculars to confirm if something is a star, planet, or satellite.