BRADENTON, Fla. — Hannah Sparkes has been studying the universe since she was a 4-year-old.

She remembers how it all started.

“I was sitting outside on my balcony with a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor with my dad and my sister. And my dad was just pointing out all the constellations and the stars. And I just started picking out little shapes. And I haven’t stopped looking up ever since.”

Now manager of the Planetarium at the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton, Sparkes teaches people about the night sky.

This past month, interest in the heavens has increased as another eclipse approaches, and Sparkes is showing a preview of the upcoming celestial event, projecting constellations onto a screen.

“These are all shapes that ancient astronomers picked out in the night sky,” she said.

Sparkes offers a look at the upcoming eclipse for people in the band of totality. She said she sees herself in some of her younger audience members.

It’s a full-circle moment.

“And I am so grateful to be able to be in a position where I can now teach them about what I love and about what they love as well,” she said.

After gazing at the night star her entire life, she now only has one goal in mind, finding the next generation of people looking to the heavens to better understand the human’s place in it.