Night Skies in the Observatory

by Lauren F. Friedman

It's been at least 15 years since I've entertained fantasies of being in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — a book about kids hiding in a museum overnight — but upon entering the vaulted front hall of the Franklin Institute after hours, it was my first thought.

Night Skies in the Observatory offers planetarium shows, a space-themed lecture and the rare opportunity to use the museum's rooftop observatory. My fellow stargazers fell into three camps: parents and their very excited children, fresh-faced urbanites trying a creative date, and middle-age adults wishing out loud that they'd taken astronomy when they were younger.

It's an extraordinary moment when one of the Night Skies volunteers pushes a button and the observatory ceiling slides away like a giant sunroof, revealing the nearby tops of Philly's skyscrapers and — naturally — the titular night sky. A heavy cloud cover made for extremely limited viewing when I was there (even with the Franklin's massive telescope, whose range extends 2.9 million light years).

But on a clear night? "Wow, the stuff you can see!" says Derrick Pitts, Franklin's chief astronomer, who's spotted Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and its moons, Mars' polar ice caps and Uranus — all from the museum's roof.

"Giving people that experience changes them," Pitts says. "It's like stepping into a different realm."

Nine-year-old Victoria Sillo agreed. "Usually when you look up, you can't see anything," she said. "But when you look through the telescope, it's like it's right there."

Maybe the clouds would break and show me Jupiter — I was almost tempted to spend the night and find out.

Every second Thu., 6-9 p.m., $5, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., 215-448-1200, fi.edu.