Salem Library teen librarian David Butler, left, and director Janice Augustine with the InOMN kit

The Salem Library is hosting an Observe the Moon Party from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 5. All ages are invited to see the moon through binoculars donated to the library by NASA. They’ll have story time for small children along with refreshments and moon-related activities for all ages.

The Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society and teen librarian David Butler will also bring at least two deep space telescopes for folks to look at the moon and anything else that’s out that night, he said. The kit with the Celestron Skymaster 20 x 80 binoculars, moon books, and moon toys was created by the International Observe the Moon Night Team and was funded by NASA’s Exploration System Mission Doctorate. The kit is for the library to keep, and the InOMN team “hopes to instill in the public a sense of wonderment and curiosity about our moon,” according to the kit.

“Pray for clear skies,” said Butler. The cloudy-sky date for the event is Thursday, May 3. Attendees need to register for the event by stopping by the front desk of the library, calling at 375-3089, or emailing him at dbutler@salemva.gov . The astronomical society needs to know how many people plan to attend so they can accommodate demand for telescopes and astronomers as well as contact attendees should a cloudy night delay the event.

“We’ll have an annual or semi-annual event in the spring or fall if enough people are interested in it,” Butler said.

For more information about International Observe the Moon Night (it’s actually in October, but weather and scheduling delays pushed the event back to spring), visit observethemoonnight.org

-Miranda Beck