The 2019 observing season is finally upon us! In this beginner-oriented session, we’ll talk about how to prepare for upcoming star parties and tips on maximizing the use of your binoculars or telescopes. Do you have questions on how to use your telescope? Bring it! We’ll set it up in the lobby and help you figure out how to fix it or use it. Bring your questions and we’ll do our best to answer them as a group.
Author Archives: Nick Monkman
April Meeting – Dr. Gregory Mendell and LIGO
This month at SFCC Dr. Mendell will share LIGO’s exciting discoveries, including the observation of ten binary black hole mergers and one binary neutron star collision. The latter occurred in NGC 4993, and produced a gamma-ray burst and fireball that was followed up by over 70 telescopes around the world and in space. Friday, April 5th 7:30 pm at the SFCC Planetarium.
March Meeting – A Homebuilt Spectrohelioscope
February Meeting – Prof Guy Worthey and Stellar Evolution
Our speaker this month is Prof. Guy Worthey from WSU’s Physics and Astronomy Program. Dr. Worthey will speak about stellar populations, galaxy evolution and more. He’s also one of the principal organizers of the Palouse Divide Lodge Star Party, happening in early July 2019. See the event page for more information.
January Meeting – Winter Potluck!
Please join us at our Holiday Potluck on January 4th, 2019 at Riverview Retirement Center. Details (including what to bring) here!
November Meeting – Dr. Michael Allen and the Rise of the Robots
Ever dream of owning a bigger telescope? What if you never had to haul it out of the garage? Or even leave your warm living room to use it?
This month we are pleased to welcome Dr. Michael Allen from WSU. He’ll demonstrate how robotic, remote-controlled telescopes are giving amateur astronomers a new way to observe and learn about the cosmos. Using tools like Skynet and basic image processing we can continue learning and observing all year round.
October meeting – NUFORC Director Peter Davenport
As astronomers we are sometimes puzzled by the things we observe in the night sky. Most often there’s a ready scientific explanation for the phenomena we observe. But what happens when there isn’t? Director Peter Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center will recount several odd and chilling tales he’s recorded over the years and also discuss new technical means of improving our understanding of these as-yet unexplained occurrences. Bring your questions, observations and an open mind to the SFCC Planetarium on October 5th!
Valleyfest!
Valleyfest is Saturday, September 22nd at Mirabeau Point Park! We’ll be talking to the public about who we are and what we do – Astronomy for the fun of it! Come out and see us or better yet, volunteer. We’ll be there setting up at 9pm and stay until evening, longer if the skies are clear!
August Meeting – Summer Grab Bag!
We have a variety of topics this month. We’ll talk about
- Scenic astrophotography with member Mike Reitemeier. He’ll take us through Milky Way, aurora and widefield techniques.
- Beginner Astronomy Q&A / Astronomy Hacks. We’ll go through a few of our President’s favorite “Astronomy Hacks” – tricks and shortcuts that make our lives easier!
- Beginner Astronomical League programs – this month we’ll look at the Galileo program.
July Meeting NASA Engineer John Barber
(Note – this month’s meeting is NOT at SFCC – it is at Riverview) Fans of NASA’s early years of the Apollo program definitely will want to attend our first summer meeting, as we return to Riverview Community building (the SFCC Planetarium is closed for the summer).
This month we have a very special guest speaker, John Barber, who lives in Spokane, who worked at NASA as an engineer on Apollo. Alas, we can’t bring you an astronaut who walked on the moon to speak to you this month, but Mr. Barber will be presenting stories and memories of his days at NASA.