Many of us stop gazing at the sky each day after watching a magnificent sunset. Others, though — especially members of the Everglades Astronomical Society, or EAS — look up after darkness sets in. The views are wondrous, especially during season, thanks to the clearer skies and comfortably cool nights.

“The atmosphere has less moisture, it’s more transparent these days,” said Denise Sabatini, former president and a current director of the Naples-based nonprofit which was launched in 1981. “We get better, crisper views.”

And while always awesome, the skies are always changing — the proximity of each planet to the Earth; the moon’s various stages; the locations of many constellations and so much more. Then there are special occurrences: Among many others, mid-November will bring both the North Taurid and the Leonid meteor showers, and the Geminid and Ursid meteor showers will streak by in December.

The approximately 50 members of the EAS are on top of all of this. They’ll hold evening meetings open to the public on the second Tuesday of each month from now through June at the North Collier Government Center and also via Zoom. Members and guest speakers present lectures and demonstrations; there’s also plenty of networking and sharing of best practices and equipment.

Members also conduct periodic darksky “star parties” for guests and the public, including monthly at Collier Seminole State Park — the next two are Nov. 30 and Dec. 28 — and periodically at Big Cypress Preserve. Neophytes can view the skies and get advice on obtaining a telescope or binoculars.

EAS members also inspire budding Galileos. EAS Observing Coordinator Mike Usher organizes members to bring telescopes to Everglades Oak Ridge Middle School and Park Side Elementary School on a regular basis, especially to look at the moon around sunset. “The kids love it,” he said. “We have long lines.”

Helped by a grant from Champions for Learning, EAS member Bart Thomas, in his eighth year as a science teacher at Beacon High School, led three workshops earlier this year for a total of approximately 20 Collier County Public School teachers on building Safe Solar Viewers — a cardboard box equipped with a Barlow lens — to provide to their students.

“They help them see sunspots on an ongoing basis,” he said, adding he’s developing some demonstrations for students on how sunspots affect the Earth and is having a spectroscope made to observe the sun. He’ll run an astronomy-focused booth at the annual STEAM event for the Collier County School System on Jan. 25.

“I love getting kids excited about our skies,” said EAS Treasurer Kathy James.

More casual opportunities also abound, as members sometimes set up their scopes in their driveways to afford neighbors and friends views of celestial wonders.

Paul Leopold, who became EAS president in September, welcomes new members and is looking to educate folks more about light pollution. He has been an amateur telescope maker for five decades, since he was a teenager, and said: “It’s especially gratifying to see an object millions of light years away with a scope I made, and to know I’ve helped others do the same!”