This Month we meet at the “Party Palace” located at 8616 N Lehman Road, just north of Bigelow Gulch Road. This location has plenty of space both indoors and outdoors, skies permitting, bring a scope to set up! Our feeding-before-the-meeting BBQ and potluck will begin 6:30pm. Side dishes, deserts, and cold drinks are a welcome addition from those who would like to contribute to the feast. The September 12th general meeting will begin at 7:30pm. This month’s presentation will be by Dr. David Syphers of Eastern Washington University on the topic of the Hubble Tension, a discrepancy in the value of the Hubble Constant, which has arisen between different methods of measuring this most fundamental parameter of cosmology. Hope to see you all at the Party Palace for a great lecture!

This month a family wedding will conflict with our use of the Party Palace venue. The obvious solution in July is to meet outdoors! To catch a more favorable last quarter Moon phase, our general meeting will move to the third Friday, July 18th. We will be having a club star party at our dark sky observing site, Fishtrap Lake. Just a quick 30 mile jaunt West down I-90, Fishtrap has great open horizons, and and is dark, especially to the South. https://www.spokaneastronomical.org/events-2/star-parties/ follow the link for a nice printable map and other information. The feeding-before-the-meeting potluck will go rural this month, with grillmaster John Riegel grilling burgers and hotdogs. Potluck will begin at the usual time, 6:30 PM. Bring side dishes, desserts and drinks to share. If you have never attended a star party, take a moment to read the space.com tips at the top of the page linked above to come prepared. With a little cooperation from Mother Nature, stunning views and fantastic imaging opportunities will abound, hope you will join us!

This Month we meet at our warm weather location, the “Party Palace” located at 8616 N Lehman Road, just north of Bigelow Gulch Road. We will be meeting slightly later than our winter time, the meeting is now at 7:30pm. This location has plenty of space both indoors and outdoors, skies permitting, bring a scope to set up! Food and drink are permitted ( and encouraged!) at this venue. There will be pizza provided, arriving at 6:30pm, any potluck side dishes, deserts, drinks to share would be more than welcome! We will be having a telescope workshop for those who need help learning to set up and use their telescope, help with optical collimation and other adjustments, as well as advise on proper cleaning of optics and other repairs. This event will also be a swap meet for the general membership and an auction of astronomical equipment on the behalf of the family of the late Steve Krause, a long time and very active member whom we unexpectedly lost this winter. Hope to see you there!

We will meet on January 10th, 7:00pm at our winter venue, Spokane County Fire District 9 firehouse, located at 3801 E Farwell Rd in Mead. This month we are fortunate to have NASA’s Kayla LaFrance here, in person, to give a presentation about the James Webb Space Telescope. Many longtime members fondly remember Kayla from her youth as an active member of SAS, I hope you will join us as we reconnect to hear Kayla’s insider perspective on the amazing science mission of the JWST.

This month we will again meet at our new winter venue, Spokane County Fire District 9 firehouse, located at 3801 E Farwell Rd in Mead, at 7:00pm. Matt Wallin will be giving a presentation on the rocket engines used in the US manned space program. There will be a bit of history, some physics pertinent to rocket engines, and an overview of the technical engineering, tracing its development from the Mercury Redstone rocket to the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner. Hope to see you there!

This month’s general meeting will be held at our new winter venue, the Spokane County Fire District 9 firehouse, located at 3801 E Farwell Rd in Mead. After extensive inquiries by our board, we found many venues to be unaffordable. District 9 is accommodating us gratis, many thanks to District 9, and to SAS Secretary, Ed Gill, for doing much of the legwork and setting up these arrangements. We can expect ample space with a parking situation that will be well plowed this winter. Food and drink, with the exception of water, are prohibited by this venue, however, all who are interested, there are plans for a post-meeting meetup at the Hop Mountain Taproom & Grill, located a couple miles north at 14017 N Newport Hwy. This month’s topic is a bit of a rerun, but hopefully the many new members and those unable to attend the original February presentation at our previous winter venue, Sacred Heart, will find my presentation on “Telescopes, Eyepieces, and Optics” to contain some useful information about choosing equipment and getting the best performance from it.

November’s meeting is Friday November 8th, 7pm at Spokane County Firestation 92. The address is 3801 E Farwell Rd, Mead WA 99021