The NASA-approved glasses were strapped on, and dozens of University Village Thousand Oaks residents took their seats for the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. While the area didn’t see total darkness, the seniors were excited to observe this natural phenomenon.
University Village hosted a solar eclipse viewing party for the event. Many of the attendees have backgrounds working in natural science, including several former NASA engineers and scientists. Many of them attend the Astronomy Class at their University Village home.
Attending the class requires no experience; it is just an interest in the subject matter. Dozens of residents from different backgrounds, including retired nurses and professors, are among those who discuss all things space-related twice a month. Karl Martersteck facilitates the meetings. Karl has no formal training in astronomy but did some work with NASA’s Lunar Landing program for Bell Laboratories before retiring.
Some residents observed the solar eclipse for the first time, while most have at least seen a partial eclipse and were excited to take advantage of the opportunity to see another one.
“There’s still a lot of excitement,” Martersteck told KCLU reporter Caroline Feraday during an interview. You can listen to the interview here:
“Nature is wonderful,” claimed another resident who attended the event. “There’s so much up there that we don’t know about, and we’re still learning.”
The next total solar eclipse to be seen in California will be on August 12, 2045.
Discover Lifelong Learning Activities and New Friendships at University Village
University Village, a Life Plan Community in Thousand Oaks, California, has a reputation as the Ventura County retirement community where seniors pursue their passions and forge meaningful connections with new neighbors. Residents enjoy immersing themselves in various experiences: joining clubs, signing up for group exercise classes and birdwatching hikes, participating in art and lifelong learning activities and presentations, or socializing over a meal or glass of fine wine in one of our dining venues. Here, every single day is full of opportunity.
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