My first serious introduction to astronomy came in 1970. A neighbor had one of the Orange C-8s and I first saw Saturn and its rings. The sky was a deep azure that I have never seen since. Saturn looked like a little jewel that you would swear you could put your hand out and pluck out of the sky.

In 1972 I got my first telescope (a Sears $30 special) for Christmas. It wasn’t up to anything really serious but I got my introduction to the Moon and Jupiter. My mom got a good laugh when I got my first good look at the moon and exclaimed that “Wow-It really is round”. I made up my own names for the area around the Apollo 11 LZ. I call the straight between the Sea of Nectar and The Sea of Tranquility the “Straights of Apollo” and the area between Moltke and the highlands the “Armstrong Passage”.

After taking astronomy under Dr. John Bowen at Cuesta College in the late 1970s I decided to try my hand at making my own 6” Newt from a set of plans for an inverted fork equatorial from Astronomy Magazine. I wasn’t up to making my own mirror but everything else except for the secondary and spider I made from hardware store parts- such as an eyepiece holder made from a pipe flange and a sink drain. I couldn’t figure out how to properly secure the tube assembly and ended up using ropes to secure the tube to the platform. This was my first serious scope and I learned the Messier Catalog and began to follow some variable stars that Dr. Bowen had introduced me to in his class such as R CrB and R Leo (both of which I still follow). I also got to see my first Saturn Ring Plane Crossing in 1980. This one was actually a triple-crossing although I only remember seeing two of them. I also got interested in Eps Aur during its 1982 eclipse but my observations have unfortunately not survived.

I obtained a C-8 in 1985 and this turned out to be my workhorse for the next twenty-three years. I tried my hand at photography and got some decent images. I started to follow my variables in a more regular and systematic fashion when I found some good deep sky sites out behind Ft. Hunter Ligett. I tried experimenting with some digital setting circles but either I put them on wrong or the technology was still immature -or both. Anyway the performance was inconsistent. I went everywhere with this scope and it got pretty beat up being knocked around on forest service roads and the legs became rusty crusty from damp ground. Once at a school sidewalk astronomy in Paso Robles CCAS member Gus Nelson commented that with my little dings in the casing my C-8 looked the way all scopes should-very heavily used. In 2004 I started on the Herschel 400 list. I got all but 40 which I could not positively identify in my C-8. By 2008 the corrector on the front end had become pitted and the coating worn by years of exposure to Morro Bay air. It was time to upgrade

In the fall of 2008 I got my latest pride and joy-my 12” Orion Intelliscope. With this one I was able to easily find those 40 Herschel 400 objects that had eluded me with my C-8. I am now able to follow many of my dimmer variables through their entire cycle. My personal best observations have been R CrB at mag 14.7 and NGC 7320 in Stephen’s Quintet (the latter at the Dancing Deer Ranch site on Jun 5 2010)

After attending a couple of the CCAS monthly events I joined in the fall of 2009 so as of this writing I am completing my “Rookie” year. I have found our monthly star parties at Star Hill the highlight of the month and have begun to schedule my camping trips to avoid missing these.

Dark Skies and Good Hunting!

David W. Majors
12” Intelliscope

The Transit of Venus: June 5, 2012 from 3‐5pm at the Paso Robles Park in the Farmer’s Market. All ages.

First 200 viewers get a FREE solar viewer to take home!

Get your free “Guide to the Universe” by NASA when you view this event!

A transit of Venus is the observed passage of the planet across the disk of the sun.  The planet Venus, orbiting the sun “on the inside track,” catches up to and passes the slower earth.  Venus, appearing as a small dot in the foreground, will move from left to right across the sun.  The word “transit” means passage or movement—in this case, across the face of the sun.

Transits of Venus have a strange pattern of frequency.  A transit will not have happened for about 121 ½  years (prior to 2004, the last one was 1882).  Then there will be one transit (such as the one in 2004) followed by another transit of Venus eight years later (in the year 2012).  Then there will be a span of about 105 ½ years before the next pair of transits occur, again separated by eight years.  Then the pattern repeats (121 ½ , 8, 105 ½ , 8).

Consider this brief history:  In 1716 astronomer Edmond Halley calculated that you can quantify the distance from the sun to the earth by having observers across the globe time the passage of Venus across the sun.  Knowing he would not live to see the next transit, Halley predicted global sites that would be suitable for viewing a transit and called upon future generations to pursue his plan.  For the 1761 transit and every transit opportunity since then, explorers sailed to distant lands to time the transit.  The quest to time the transit of Venus in 1761, during the Seven Years War, marked one of the first times the international community cooperated to answer one of the leading scientific questions of the day.

By quantifying the distance from the sun to the earth, a simple application of Kepler’s Third Law gives you the distances of all the planets from the sun, and thus the scale of the solar system.  Knowing the size of the solar system gives more accurate parallax measurements of distant stars.  Today, the transit of Venus as a means to measure the sun-earth distance is largely of historical interest, for tools such as radar have measured distances to planets much more accurately.

A transit is a great opportunity for the public concurrently to study the sun, which influences life on earth on both a planetary and a personal scale.  A dynamic between the sun and earth sustains life here, while our personal lives–which are becoming more technology dependent–are impacted by the sun’s shenanigans.

You may view the sun—and thus the planet Venus passing in front of the sun—only if you use proper solar filters or indirect viewing techniques.

CCAS is handing out free viewers to all club members at their live event on June 5^th 3-6pm. Click here for a flyer for this event!

Transits of Venus across the disk of the Sun are among the rarest of planetary alignments. Since the invention of the telescope in 1609, only seven such events have occurred, and the next transit will occur on 6 June 2012. The transit is an important event because the distance to Venus can be used to calculate the distance from the Sun to all of the planets.

There first measurements were made by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree on 4 December 1639. With each successive transit, the distance was further refined, and, in 1882, measurements of the transit yielded a value of 92,702,000 miles. This distance is now used a unit of measure, and it is called an astronomical unit. Due to the fact that orbit of the Earth is an ellipse, the average distance to the Sun (now 92,755,700 miles) is used for the value of an astronomical unit. Once the distance to the sun was known, the distances to all the other planets could be easily derived.

Observations of the transits of Venus across the sun also yielded information on the size of the planet, its orbit, and provided the first evidence that it has an atmosphere. As better instruments and methods were developed, astronomers began to understand the members of our solar system in increasing detail. We came to understand our solar system’s history, and its likely future.

Once the distance to the sun was known, a race was on to determine distances to nearby stars. The astronomer’s tool once again was parallax, the apparent movement of nearby stars against the background of more distant stars as viewed from different places in the Earth’s orbit. Those measurements required an accurate value for the distance to the sun. With the aid of sophisticated telescopes, the tiny parallax angles to nearby stars could be measured. In the year 1839 the first stellar parallax was confirmed for three stars. The stars were 61 Cygni (Friedrich Bessel), Alpha Centauri (Thomas Henderson), and Vega (Wilhelm Struve).

Astronomers learned more and more information about our galaxy and the universe in general. As part of this journey of discovery, astronomers began to wonder if our solar system was unique among the billions of stars in each of billions of galaxies in the universe, and now able to study the universe using satellites. An impressive array of highly technical instruments scans the heavens gathering information about the wondrous place we call home.

• 1st Contact (Ingress Begins) 3:10 PM PDT Altitude 59
• 2nd Contact (Ingress Complete)  3:27 PM PDT Altitude 56
• Mid Transit 6:30 PM PDT Altitude 19
• Local Sunset approx 8:15
• 3rd Contact (Egress Begins) 9:32 PM PDT  Altidude -13 below horizon
• 4th Contact (Egress Complete) 9:49 PM PDT Altitude -16 below horizon

On May 20, 2012, an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible within a narrow corridor that will traverse the Northern Hemisphere of Earth. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the Sun to look like an annulus (Latin for ring), blocking most of the Sun’s light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometers wide.The shadow of the Moon will begin in eastern Asia and crosses the North Pacific Ocean where it will end in the western United States.

For more information, maps, and photographs, please open http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
There is no CCAS event planned for this date, as our friendly astronomers are all previously engaged with other outreach events! However, we will be hosting an event for the Transit of Venus…

Here are the local times of the eclipse on May 20th (all times in Pacific Daylight Time):

• 1st Contact (Ingress Begins)  5:21 PM PDT  Altitude 31
• Maximum Eclipse 6:36 PM PDT Maximum Obscuration (79%) Altitude 16
• 4th Contact (Egress Ends) 7:42 PM PDT Altitude 3

My first solar filter incorporated a Hershel wedge design. This system used a non-aluminized diagonal which was inserted into the eyepiece holder, and very dark neutral density filter. The non-aluminized diagonal transmitted approx. 5% of telescopes light to the neutral density filter. Since 5% of the available light (and heat) were still going through the neutral density filter, and 100% of the available light passes through the optical tube assembly before reaching the filter, this solar filter design was not very safe. The neutral density filters were known to heat up and crack (mine did), allowing damaging sunlight to enter the eye. The Hershel wedge has largely been replaced by solar filters that are placed over the front of the optical tube assembly, filtering light before it passes through or is reflected off any optical surface.

Next I bought a Thousand Oaks Type 2 solar filter. Although this filter was a vast improvement of the Hershel wedge filter, this filter gave a false orange-yellow solar image. This filters performance is also dependent upon the accuracy of the optical surface which has been known to vary widely from one filter to another.

After doing some research, several reports indicated that the new Baader solar filter was superior to all other white light filters. I decided to buy one for the C-8 that was on loan to me from CCAS. I was so pleased with the filters performance that I bought another Baader filter for my new TEC 10” f12 Maksutov. Images of the sun in white light were the best that I had ever seen. The Baader filter contains a film surface that does not affect optical performance; a great advantage to using this type of filter design. Because of the superior optical performance, faint details like faculae and granulation were much more apparent.

There was one area of solar astronomy that I had always longed to explore — viewing the sun in Hydrogen Alpha. Twenty four years ago I had my first view of the sun in Hα at Mt. Pinos. I was determined that some day I was going to purchase a Hα filter system. One year ago this month I finally purchased a Daystar Hα filter system and I have been having a wonderful time viewing the sun on a regular basis. Next month I will share some of my experiences viewing the sun with my Daystar Hα filter.

Now let’s address the exciting world of Hydrogen Alpha viewing. This article is not going to be very comprehensive in scope since I am going to refer all of you to what I consider to be the best web sites available regarding Ha viewing and technology.

After getting my first view of the sun in Ha over 20 years ago, I decided that some day I was going to get a Ha filter for my telescope. Each year at the Riverside Telescope Conference I observed with a man who had a 2” f/30 refractor that was used exclusively for Ha viewing. While other people were forming lines around the latest and greatest big Dob’s every night, I felt that I had the best seat in the house viewing the sun through this little scope each day of the conference. The next year I could not wait until I got back to the conference to again view the sun through this marvelous little instrument. It was at this conference that told one of our CCAS members, “If I could only view one type of astronomical object, it would be the sun in Ha”.

Finally in 2002 after more than 20 years of waiting, I finally got my dream system; a Daystar .6A ATM Ha filter system! This last year has been one of my most exciting of all of my 39 years of astronomy. One thing that makes Ha viewing so exciting is that unlike most other astronomical objects that show little if any change over the course of time, the sun is constantly changing! As I am writing this article my scope is tracking the sun in my backyard; and I am going to see quite a difference in solar detail when I return to my scope.

(Oct 9, 2003 3:00pm PDT. I have just returned from my telescope after taking a short break from writing this article. During the short time that I have been writing this article a very small prominence that had just developed has exploded into a HUGE prominence; the largest prominence that I have ever seen! It is approximately 70,000 miles long tip to tip, and is rising about 50,000 miles above the surface of the sun.)

I have often been asked how I chose my particular filter. Ha filters come in various bandwidths. One can purchase filters that have a bandpass as high as 1.0 ångström, to a low of .2 ångström. High bandpass filters are much less expensive, are excellent for showing prominences around the solar limb, but are very poor for showing surface detail. Low bandpass filters are much more expensive, show excellent surface detail, and still show fairly good prominence detail around the solar limb. I chose a 0.6 ångström filter which allows me to see excellent surface detail and still very good at revealing prominence detail.

When one is comparing one Ha filter system to another one has to be very careful to use the same power in each telescope. I have often seen Coronado Instruments set up several of their Ha systems using a short focus refractor and a low power eyepiece to yield approximately 40 power. The views are very sharp and have very high contrast due to the small image size and the minimal effects of the atmosphere at low power. One can look at these systems and then go to another filter system which is using a more modest power (say 100x) and come away with the belief that the first system outperforms the second high power system. This is equivalent to a person looking through one telescope at Jupiter at 200x on a night of average seeing and then going to another telescope and view Jupiter at 500x and coming away with the belief that the second scope was a poor performer because of the large boiling images.

I am going to predict that just like 1980’s which was the decade that the dobsonian telescope came into prominence, and the 1990’s was the decade of the refractor, the first decade of the 21 century is going to be the decade of Ha solar viewing. Do what ever you need to do to get one of these marvelous Ha filters systems. Starting at less than $1,000 , I promise you that it will revolutionize your astronomical viewing.

Editor’s Note: For Baader information, click here. There you will find information on how to make your own solar filter using their (around $10) film for your telescope.

I have done both theoretical and observational research and there have been some awkward moments in both. Early in my career I was a coauthor on a paper which involved computing the interior structure of the sun throughout its life. Standard practice in scientific research publications is to submit your paper to the Editor of a professional journal. The Editor in turn sends the paper out to be ‘refereed’ by an anonymous reviewer who passes judgment on whether the paper should be published and makes suggestions for modifications. In this case, the report was favorable but suggested some changes which I thought were nit-picking. I made these corrections for the Editor and in a separate letter to my coauthor listed them but also expressed my minor irritation about the referee as well as making a few snide remarks about the Editor, who, I thought should have ignored the referee’s comments. No big deal—BUT— I mixed the two letters up and sent the ‘snide’ one to the Editor and the ‘nice’ one to my colleague. I should point out that the Editor was not exactly Mr. Nobody, but Prof. S. Chandrasekar, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics and one of the most famous astrophysicists of the middle of the last century. As a recent phrase has it, (which will be well known to those of you who follow politics): OOPS!

An embarrassing observational moment occurred when I was observing at the University of Arizona’s 90″ telescope on Kitt Peak. I was working with a colleague and good friend, Dr. Harland Epps, one of the premier designers of astronomical instruments. Harland had designed a new instrument for the telescope and we were making the first long exposure with this instrument (it was a kind of spectrograph called an ‘echelle spectrograph’). I need to explain that this was long before the age of electronic detectors like CCDs, so sensitive photographic plates were used. You loaded the plate into the light-tight plate holder, then mounted the plate holder at the focal plane of the instrument, pulled the dark slide, and after 2 or 3 hours went back to the dark room to develop the plate and see how your exposure had turned out. In this case, after the exposure, when I went to retrieve the plate holder I found–a gaping hole. I thought that Harland had put it in and he thought that I had put it in, while all the while it was warming itself in the dark room. Another ‘oops’ moment.

A third recollection could have turned out to be more embarrassing than it did, but also involved photographic plates. I was just beginning to start a program of observational research a couple of years after getting my PhD at Princeton, which emphasized theoretical astrophysics. So, as a novice observer I was looked upon by the veteran observers with great skepticism and as an ‘all thumbs’ theoretician who probably didn’t know one end of the telescope from the other. I was scheduled for a few nights at the Lick Observatory using their (then) fairly new 120″ telescope with, again, a spectrograph using photographic plates. These photographic plates were made by Kodak and often came only in large 8″ by 10″ sizes. The plate holder for this instrument required a smaller thin piece, so it was necessary to use a plate cutter to cut the glass to size. Of course this had to be done in complete darkness. The cutter was intended to produce a straight scratch along the glass surface. If all went well, applying appropriate pressure on either side of the scratch produced a satisfying “snap” sound and a nice clean cut. But all did not go well. There was a horrifying splintery sound which I knew (and confirmed by feel) resulted in a jagged, ragged, and useless piece. I tried several times with the same result and was beginning to panic. The sun had set and it wouldn’t be long before it was time to start observing. What do to? I finally decided to swallow my pride, call one of the veteran observers to help me out and face the inevitable derision of the greenhorn theoretician-turned-observer. The gentleman I got on the other end of the phone was Dr. George Herbig, a very distinguished spectroscopist (and still active now at the University of Hawaii). I explained the problem and he came over and I prepared for mortification. I listened for the first crisp snap–but heard the same splintery sound. And again. And again. I must admit though that the sound was music to my ears. It turned out the cutter had a bad diamond and was also in need of some subtle adjustments. But George did save the day (or rather the night) and I was able to get some wonderful observations and gain some experience as on observer.

Of course I have made more goofs than these, both in the area of theory and observing. So, we are all human and make our share of mistakes. The main thing is to learn from them and not repeat them, a lesson not only for astronomers but for life in general.

I am 58 years old and have been involved in amateur astronomy for approximately 10 years, ever since attending a CCAS Santa Margarita Lake KOA star party and seeing Saturn for the first time though Kent Wallace’s monster 20″ Dobsonian telescope. Listening to Kent describe the objects in the night sky is an experience that is so enjoyable, he exudes his excitement, fascination and wonder of it all. Like so many astronomers, I was immediately hooked, mesmerized by realizing that Saturn was actually there and looked like the pictures, but far grander and more energizing in person. Wow! Look at the rings! Unbelievable! So, I slowly became outfitted with a telescope and immediately became CCAS president for about 6 years. It was a thrill helping guide KOA star parties and share it all with the public, especially children.

A number of years ago, when Mars was to be at its closest-ever to Earth, CCAS astronomers were eagerly looking forward to the Saturday star party occurring at that time. We all wanted to see Mars up close and personal in our telescopes. As some of you probably already know, the KOA star party hill is not very big and can get crowded quickly. Well, on the Friday before the star party, I was leisurely reading the Telegram Tribune newspaper and stumbled upon a large photo of a telescope and story about Mars being at its closest and that a CCAS star party would occur Saturday night at the KOA, which the public was welcome to attend. When I saw that article, the hair stood up on my neck, my heart began racing, I think I stopped breathing, and my brain began spinning as I quickly realized what this could mean. Sure enough, my worst, yet exciting, fears did come to pass.

I was normally scheduled to direct traffic Saturday night before it got dark. What happened was unbelievable, for the CCAS and the KOA. Literally hundreds of cars began arriving, filled with people of all ages and dogs. They were coming from Santa Maria to Fresno to see MONSTER MARS! I directed traffic for 3 to 4 hours solid, putting cars all over every empty square inch in the KOA campground area, and up and down the main road for hundreds of yards!

Star hill was absolutely JAMMED with hundreds of people, lined up about 50 deep at our collection of ten telescopes. It was truly a spectacular situation, showing the sky to so many people (and their dogs). I think the last person left close to midnight, then our small group of CCAS astronomers got a breather and spent another couple hours observing Mars and other objects. It was a gorgeously warm evening, so it was absolutely perfect. Lesson learned … be careful what you advertise!

On another occasion, a couple years ago I obtained a new Orion SkyQuest 10″ diameter Dobsonian telescope and was anxious to experience “first light” with it. So, I decided to go to the highest point in SLO County, on top of the Caliente Mountain ridge way out in California Valley near Soda Lake. It was a spectacular day with crystal clear weather as I made the two-hour drive out Hwy 58 from Atascadero. 5,000 feet is a nice elevation. And, I was planning to spend the night.

I arrived and got all set up for the night. The sun was about to set, so I had dinner and took a walk around the hill top. I could not have asked for more perfect weather. Not a breath of wind, warm and you could see a hundred miles in all directions. As I was preparing to begin observing, I sat down for a few minutes to absorb it all, taking in the breathtaking beauty. I was stunned and my heart began racing as I was looking to the southwest just after the sun had set, to see the gorgeous arc of a Delta II rocket launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, then hearing the rumble of the exhaust blast. What an incredible experience! I was all set for a long night of observing. Or so I thought.

As it was getting dark and I was studying my star charts and beginning to view objects, I felt a breath of a breeze. Pretty nice, being on the slight cool side. I was in Seventh Heaven. But it quickly ended, as the wind began to increase. After about 45 minutes things were starting to fall over and blow off my tables. I realized that I might be in trouble. Sure enough, I quickly closed up everything and stuffed it under and in my truck. Then I retreated inside the bed of the truck (under a hard-top canopy) to sleep for the night. I did not get much sleep that night because the wind rapidly turned into very strong gale force, buffeting the truck and sage brush hitting the truck every now and then. For most of the night it felt like a freight train was blasting by. Ah …. what an enjoyable night! Not!

The next morning was super calm, not a breath of wind. Bright sun and crystal clear blue sky. I enjoyed the morning for a couple hours, again taking a long walk and studying the many valleys below through my binoculars. Then made the picturesque drive back home. The country really is spectacular from Caliente Ridge, seeing the while Soda Lake far below and mountain ridges all around. I loved every minute of that solo trip. But did not care much for the lousy stargazing evening. Lesson learned … be prepared for anything.

My last very short story is this. Please be very careful when walking around the KOA star hill, as you may encounter some rather interesting animals, which I have experienced so far without any problems. First, watch out for skunks. Leave them alone and make some noise to scare them back to their home. Second, watch very carefully on the ground during daylight to be sure you do not step on a Tarantula, as you might sometimes see several of them as you walk around the KOA’s dirt roads. They will not hurt you. Just help guide them off the roadway to help protect them. They are precious and fascinating creatures.

So, have a great time as you venture into our beautiful country to be involved in astronomy. Share it with family and friends, having them look into the heaven’s to marvel at the magnificent universe in which we are so very fortunate to live. Above all, when possible, show the night sky to children and have them look through telescopes, encouraging them to “Reach for the Stars”!

The evening started off with a bit of a scare- the infamous “Observing Night Clouds” were hiding precisely the objects we wanted to show-Venus ,the Moon, and Jupiter.

Early on we were chasing holes with these objects but fortunately at this time there were relatively few viewers. As twilight faded the clouds finally began to clear. Almost like a curtain going up they cleared about the time large numbers of kids and their parents began to filter out of the main gym.
We explained the various phases of Venus and it was still high enough and the atmosphere calm enough to clearly show Venus is still on the far side of the sun and in its’ waning gibbous phase.

The moon was in its’ waxing crescent phase with the morning terminator at Theophilus. The sun had not yet risen over the Apollo 11 Landing Site. The seeing condition were quite good as Petavius showed the central peak complex and the associated Rille quite clearly.

Jupiter was the big show with the equatorial bands very apparent and all four Galilean Moons visible. Io and Europa were very close together and appeared as double moons.

Jupiter is always a thrill for the youngsters anyway and the usual “AWESOME” remarks. You can always tell when the youngsters actually see what you hope they did- even the shy ones suddenly exhibiting uncontrollable grins. We also showed M42 and parents as well as the kids were fascinated to learn about this stellar nursery.

From about 6:30 to after 8:00 we never got a break as kids and parents just kept coming. I stopped counting after about 100 people. Joseph explained to several of the parents about his double star work , Dave covered why M42 looked green and Gus explained how there is no surface per se to Jupiter but the atmosphere of the gas giant just gets denser and kind of becomes like soup.

We would like to thank Teachers and Staff at Kermit King for a thoroughly enjoyable night.

David Majors
Gus Nelson
Joseph Carro

From a participant:

I want to thank you so much for coming out to our Math/Science Night at Kermit King and sharing your time, knowledge, and enthusiasm- families loved it! I am so sorry I did not get a chance to bring you pizza and something to drink. The attendance was much greater than we expected and we were a bit overwhelmed inside. Again, we really appreciate you being there. The students are still talking about seeing the moon, Jupiter, and all of the other neat astronomical bodies. I overheard one student from 1st Grade tell his friend that he “Met a wizard from Hogwarts!” – the wizard get up was a hit! Please relay our heartfelt thanks to everyone else who helped. Hopefully, you would be willing to do it again next year:)

Click here for a calendar.

Here are some guidelines and tips for getting the most out of our star-gazing event:

In a nutshell, it is a very dark, nighttime gathering of stargazers to view the cosmos through telescopes and binoculars. This is a fundamental activity for astronomy clubs. For some people this is one of their high points each month.

Once a month, CCAS members and friends gather on a very dark hilltop to gaze deep into the cosmos, Ooooing and Aahhhing at each of their deep space discoveries, sometimes grumbling to themselves over not being able to find that particular distant star or get their computerized telescope to work properly.

It is a very friendly atmosphere. The astronomers who participate with their telescopes are always anxious to share their love of astronomy with each other and with anyone who decides to join them for the evening. The public is welcome to attend, learning a little something about telescopes and the skies and hopefully developing an excitement about astronomy. There is no admission charge to attend the star party. One of the driving principals of the CCAS is to promote astronomy in our community, especially the younger generations. As our motto states “Sharing the Skies”.

What if it rains?

We highly suggest joining our email list, where you’ll get the latest information on whether a star party is a GO or NO-GO depending on weather conditions. Click here to fill out the simple form. We’ll also send you an astronomy guide to help you get started in your astronomy adventure!