Students and community members have the opportunity to leave town and look at the stars without the city lights ruining their view.

The NIU Outing Centre will hold its first stargazing trip of the semester Saturday.

The Outing Centre will use two minivans provided by the NIU Department of Transportation to go to the Byron Observatory in Byron.

The trips costs $5 for NIU students and $15 for community members.

The minivans will leave the Outing Centre, on the west side of the Student Recreation Center, at 4:45 p.m. and return about 10 p.m.

Ben Kinney, student manager of the Outing Centre, said the observatory staff will help participants find common constellations, small galaxies and a quintuple planetary display.

The planetary display consists of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, all viewable by the naked eye.

Participants will be able to view the stars using Byron’s 11-inch reflecting telescope.

Byron outputs little light pollution, allowing participants to take professional photographs.

Students who miss this stargazing trip have two other opportunities this semester on April 13 and April 20.

For more information, call the Office of Campus Recreation at 753-9418.