Cerritos College Astronomy Club president Hugh Rivera and treasurer Enrique Rueda have a goal to raise money for their club field trip, selling donuts on last Wednesday in Falcon Square.

On the table with the sugary sweets was a poster board displaying the different planets and constellations that the club will be viewing when they get to Joshua Tree, which is located near Big Bear Mountain.

Rueda said, “Joshua Tree is a preferable place because it is away from civilization and we’re surrounded by hills and mountains which will block and cover light pollution, which will allow us to see the stars and the night sky a lot better.”

He said about fundraising, “Astronomy itself is not really that popular but the donuts, the sugar, is definitely bringing in the students.”

The club had sold over 10 donuts and are hoping to sell more so that they can afford to rent a bus to take the students to Joshua Tree.

Rueda added that there were also many students who signed up to join the club.

Rivera said that there are already over 30 members in the club, however, not all of the members will be attending the event.

Rueda added that anyone interested in attending the field trip is welcomed. The club will announce the official date of the trip once it has collected all of the funds.

He said, “Over 10 (students) will join us on that trip.”

Rivera said about the types of heavenly bodies the club might see, “Jupiter might be there, Saturn might be there, last time Venus was present, most likely we’ll be observing nebulas, the Orion Nebulae and the Andromeda Galaxy.”

He added that he wants to see if the club can catch a binary star because binary stars are hard to see.

“(We want) to let students experience something different that they don’t normally see in the cities because there’s too much light pollution, they can’t see (anything).

“(They see) an average of 20 to 30 stars. When they go with us to Joshua’s Tree, the luminosity is so low that you can see about hundreds to thousands, even close to a million stars.”

To see the official dates of the field trip and learn more about the Astronomy Club, you can visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CC-Astronomy-Club/160018927361717