Exploring The Skies

Amateur astronomer Frank Perfetti will share with you his love for this great universe and talk about what you are actually looking at when you see the night sky, showing where our solar system is located in our Milky Way and sharing the great vastness of our universe.

Frank was born in Lexington, VA and fell in love with the mountains at a very early age. Looking at the dark night sky and all the stars kindled an awe of their beauty and mystery. When his parents bought his first telescope when he was 14 for Christmas this reinforced his interest. At the age of 15 he started taking flying lessons getting his pilot's license as a junior in high school and not getting his driver's license until over a year later.

He later turned his pilot's license into a great career as an airline pilot. This allowed him to visit many of another of his greatest loves, our national parks. He took a few college courses on astronomy and along with a lot of independent study learned a lot about our universe.

Frank has a great love with the wondrous beauty of our world, its wonder and grandeur and incredible power and he looks forward to sharing it with visitors to Shenandoah National Park.

Big Meadows Lodge presentations will begin with Solar Viewing in the meadow from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, followed by a Night Skies Presentation in the Massanutten Room from 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM.

Skyland presentations will begin with Solar Viewing on the lower level lawn area from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, followed by a Night Skies Presentation in the historic Conference Building from 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM.