Be prepared: A science-related night under the star is getting ready for liftoff.

The educational event at 7 p.m. Saturday will bring hands-on activities to Turner Farm to help commemorate the Dec. 18 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

The hourlong event invites Girl Scouts to learn about telescopes, particularly the new Webb telescope. NASA notes that the telescope will view the universe at infrared wavelengths, helping show things never seen by any other telescope, to help study galaxy, star and planet formation.

“We are thrilled that the Park Authority is an official host site for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launch community events,” Tammy Schwab, manager of Fairfax County’s Education and Outreach for Resource Parks, said in a news release. “People of all ages and backgrounds will find inspiration in the Webb mission, which will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe for this generation and many to come.”

Hundreds of events across the country are recognizing the upcoming launch of the telescope, which is roughly the mass of a school bus. At the Great Falls event, participants can earn Space Science badges.

The county is partnering with an educational astronomy group, the Analemma Society, to help with providing telescopes for the event. Cost is $8 per participant, and chaperones (who pay no attendance fees) are required. Register online.

Schwab said a virtual event on Nov. 20 will feature a NASA scientist.

For one night this fall, Dr. Jeffrey Kretsch will get to bask in the spotlight as well as the starlight that more regularly illuminates his work at the Turner Farm Observatory Park in Great Falls.

Kretsch is one of three volunteers — and the only individual — who will be honored by the Fairfax County Park Authority with its 2021 Elly Doyle Park Service Awards, which recognize community members and organizations that contribute their time and expertise to support the county’s park system.

As a member of the Analemma Society, a nonprofit that promotes astronomy, Kretsch has logged more than 1,784 hours of volunteer service at Observatory Park since 2012, according to the park authority’s news release.

“I was surprised to hear of getting the award, and greatly appreciate the recognition,” Kretsch said in a statement to Reston Now. “I enjoy doing this, and get satisfaction helping bring our programs to the public. I work with a lot of volunteers and park staff who make this possible.”

The Analemma Society works with the park authority to host public, after-hours viewing sessions at Turner Farm’s roll-top observatory and classroom almost every Friday. The group also organizes special sessions for celestial events like the Perseid meteor shower that filled the sky earlier this month.

When the observatory shut down last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kretsch helped the park authority pivot to virtual programming, including by leading lectures and encouraging other volunteers to follow suit.

According to the park authority, he also “spent considerable time” helping the park authority fill out an application to get Observatory Park designated as an International Dark Sky Place, a program that started in 2001 to recognize parks, communities, and other sites that preserve the night sky for scientific, natural, educational, or recreational purposes.

Virginia currently has five Dark Sky Places — four state parks and Rappahannock County Park — but none in Fairfax County or even Northern Virginia, the International Dark-Sky Association’s map shows.

When Observatory Park reopened for the public viewing sessions on June 18, Kretsch could once again share his interest in stargazing and astronomy with other community members in person, rather than from behind a computer screen.

“Interacting with families and the kids is the best part,” he said. “I have been doing this awhile now, long enough that every once in a while an adult comes up to me and says they remember coming as a child and how it inspired them to go on. That is what is the most rewarding.”

The other recipients of this year’s Elly Doyle awards are:

• The Friends of Accotink Creek, which helps protect the local watershed by removing trash, planting native trees, and supporting educational programs
• Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ D.C. South Mission, who spent the past year clearing invasive species from an area at Lake Accotink Park in Springfield and replaced them with native plants

Established on Dec. 20, 1988, the awards are named after former Park Authority Board of Directors Chairman Elly Doyle for her “years of outstanding service toward the preservation of parkland and establishment of natural and recreational areas for the benefit of Fairfax County residents,” according to the FCPA news release.

This year’s winners will be recognized with a virtual ceremony in November. Their names will also be added to a bronze plaque at the Fairfax County Government Center.

Tonight will be Fairfax County residents’ first chance to observe the Perseid Meteor Shower with a free event at the Turner Farm Observatory Park in Great Falls.

Located at 925 Springvale Road, the Turner Farm Observatory will open for the public to view the shower today (Wednesday) from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

In case of inclement weather, the park grounds will open on Thursday (Aug. 12) from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Peak viewing for the annual Perseid shower is tonight and tomorrow, according to the Analemma Society. The shower consists of debris and dust burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere after being left behind by the Comet Tuttle-Swift, which orbits the sun every 133 years and was last seen in 1992.

Anyone interested in attending the event is advised to bring lounge chairs and blankets to watch from the park grounds. The public is also encouraged to bring their own telescopes or binoculars to observe the night sky.

The event is a part of a cooperative effort between the Fairfax County Park Authority and the Analemma Society to provide celestial observing sessions at the observatory.

After being suspended last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner Farm’s regular observation sessions returned on June 18, allowing members of the public to study the night sky every Friday from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m., weather permitting.

“Interest in astronomy has not waned during COVID. Sky watching is a great COVID-friendly activity,” said Judith Pederson, a public information officer for the Fairfax County Park Authority.

“Since we resumed our programs and public viewing sessions, classes have been filling up and we have seen an average of 40 people per session on clear Friday nights. What’s great about meteors is that they are best viewed with the naked eye and no telescope is needed. It’s a great family activity as well.”

She added that Park Authority naturalists expect “excellent viewing conditions” for the Perseid shower this year due to the moon’s thin crescent setting in the west shortly after sunset, which will make late night viewing in the eastern sky ideal.

The shower could produce as many as 100 meteors per hour.

Turner Farm also hosts a variety of in-person classes for anyone, ages 8 and older, interested in telescopes, astronomy, stargazing and more. There is an $8 enrollment fee for each class. Signups for classes are available on the Fairfax County Park Authority’s site.

The site follows COVID-19 protocol policies consistent with Gov. Ralph Northam’s directives and CDC guidelines.

(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Efforts to rehabilitate the Turner Farmhouse in Great Falls have been underway for a few years now, and community members will get a chance to glimpse the progress that has been made later this week.

The Fairfax County Park Authority will host a watch party at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday (May 27) for the premiere of a virtual open house to showcase the 116-year-old property, which is located at 10609 Georgetown Pike in the 52-acre Turner Farm community park.

Built in 1905 as part of the Turner family’s dairy farm, the Turner Farmhouse is now part of the park authority’s Resident Curator Program that enables individuals and nonprofit or for-profit organizations to lease historic properties in Fairfax County rent-free in exchange for a commitment to rehabilitating the property.

Preceded by the Stempson House in Lorton, the Turner Farmhouse was the second property added to the program after it was established by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2014. Other sites include Herndon’s Ellmore Farmhouse, which will be restored by the disability support services nonprofit ServiceSource.

The nonprofit Turner Farmhouse Foundation led by equestrian Sarah Kirk has been the resident curator since Nov. 1, 2018. Turner Farm primarily hosts equestrian facilities for horse riding, but it also has a picnic pavilion, a playground, and an observatory park, though the latter has been closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic also prompted the park authority to go virtual for the upcoming Turner Farmhouse open house, which will be streamed on the FCPA YouTube page. The agency held similar premiere watch parties for the Stempson House on May 1 and the Hannah P. Clark House in Lorton on May 15.

According to the FCPA news release, open houses are held annually for each of the Resident Curator properties under rehabilitation to fulfill the program’s requirement that “reasonable public access” be provided for the sites.

The park authority says the 3,216-square-foot, four-bedroom Turner Farmhouse “is significant due to its Queen Anne style architecture and because it exemplifies the cultural, economic, and historic heritage of the Springvale and Forestville/Great Falls communities in Northern Virginia.”

The original dairy farm exemplified the kind of farm that was prevalent in the Great Falls area during the early 20th century, according to the county.

FCPA Resident Curator Program Manager Stephanie Langton says the Turner Farmhouse Foundation has helped preserve a vital community asset that serves as a reminder of Fairfax County’s rural history.

“Two and a half years into a twenty-year lease, Ms. Kirk has made substantial improvements to the Queen Anne style farmhouse and the milk house outbuilding on the property,” Langton said by email. “Exterior and interior improvements continue at the farmhouse, with repairs to be made on the garage structure and historic crib barn remaining as well.”

Photo via Fairfax County Park Authority