SUNRISE, Fla. — Turns out, the universe has a fan club — and their happy hour happens light-years above us.

Every Saturday after sunset, weather permitting, people gather at the Fox Observatory at Markham Park in Sunrise, where members of the South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association open their telescopes and their time to the public, free of charge.

“You just can’t help but look up and wonder what is out there,” said Fox Observatory Director and SFAAA member Ibianny Salcedo.

Passionate amateur astronomers in the group say they want to share the stars up close — and judging by the lines, the public pull is gravitational.

“Some people, they look through the telescopes and they see Saturn and you just hear, ‘wow’,” said Salcedo. “And that’s a reminder why you do it, because it just makes you so happy.”

Volunteers guide guests through views of planets, moons and distant objects in space. Beyond those weekend gatherings, SFAAA members meet regularly to discuss the cosmos and share discoveries — a tradition rooted in Broward County since the 1960s.

To learn more about the SFAAA, click here.

For more information about how to join the SFAAA, click here.

“We live in a very light-polluted area,” said Steve Luxenberg, the President of the South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association. “So when you have all that — people don’t look up because there’s only a couple hundred stars to see. If you go to a dark area, you’ll see thousands.”

The group maintains several high-powered telescopes inside the observatory, including one that is nearly a century old.

There are exhibits and experiments, but the star is … the stars!

The SFAAA promises the best seat in the house as a member or a visitor under a sky that connects us all.

“For me, I think it’s just the vastness,” said first-time visitor, Morganne Stephenson. “Us realizing that we’re a tiny spec on earth or in the universe overall, and people able to see what else is out there. It just makes you realize that there is so much more than what we know.”

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