You know that students are seriously into stargazing when you find out they each have a favorite planet. Ashlee Shuemaker and Marley Mozzetta recently finished Amazing Astronomy, one of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center's summer science courses. Taught by Larry Brookhart at the Harwich Observatory, the goal of the weeklong course was to teach students how to locate anything in the sky.

Ashlee, who is going into 7th grade at the Nauset Regional Middle School, lives in South Dennis. Her favorite planet is Neptune, but she also finds the Crab Nebula very appealing, with its grouping of reddish star remnants. Last spring, her mother, who is a teacher in Wellfleet, told her about the upcoming astronomy course. "I went on the website and read about the course. It looked fun," she says with a smile. She had studied ecosystems in 6th grade and found her interest in science growing. "I thought I'd learn about stars," she says. She also persuaded a fellow 6th grader to join her in the course. "It was really fun," she says, adding, "they should do it next summer too!"

Marley lives in Sunapee, New Hampshire and will be starting 5th grade there in the fall. Her favorite planet is Saturn. Amazing Astronomy is the only reason she was in Chatham, she says. "My grandmother gave my cousin and me a surprise gift of this class," she recalls. "I love science - it's my favorite subject!" The class exceeded Marley's expectations. "I thought it might be just videos of stars but it was much more hands on. We got to see how people control robots on the moon by using remote robot arms to control actions right here!"

The class ended with an evening stargazing session and both students were "very, very excited" to participate in that. "I'm kind of sad it's already over," Marley said. "I really liked it - it was cool and fun. The teachers are amazing!" Marley will see things differently back home in New Hampshire. "Before I just saw stars," she says, "but now I'll see constellations."