What's Up?  Check Out These Club and Celestial Events
Tonight's Sky Map  /  Directions to Regular Observing Areas
  • Group Night - Jack Jouett Middle School
    Friday, March 12th, 7:00PM at McCormick Observatory
    Jack Jouett Middle School will have a group night at McCormick Observatory. 20 students (11 & 12 y.o.) and 20 adults are expected.
    Presenter: John Dedecker
    Telescope: Wes Epperly
    Assistant: Ed Preston (after all)



  • Group night - Stony Point Elem. Snow make-up
    Saturday, March 13th, 7:00PM at McCormick Observatory
    Group night make-up day for those Stony Point Elementary kids who missed it earlier in the year!
    Presenter: Larry Saunders
    Telescope:
    Assistance:



  • Group Night - JMU students!
    Friday, March 26th, 9:00PM at McCormick Observatory
    Group night will have 20 JMU astronomy students (adults) and 2 adults (faculty).
    Presenter: John Dedecker
    Telescope: Rob Capon
    Assistant: Not needed.



  • April meeting
    Wednesday, April 7th, 7:00PM at McCormick Observatory

    April meeting!


    Dr. Ed Murphy of UVa will be our April speaker.
    Topic to come...



    Free as always and open to the public.

    Driving Directions





  • Fan Mtn. Open House
    Friday, April 9th, 7:00PM at Fan Mtn. Observatory
    UVA is hosting their Spring open house at Fan Mountain Observatory. Visitors will have the opportunity to look through a 31" or 40" professional telescope at the observatory. UVA professors and students will be giving talks and tours of the observatory. CAS members will have their amateur telescopes setup to give the public views of the night sky through their telescopes.

    01-Scope row WS-500x752

    UVA limits attendance to this event due to the large public interest in this event. Please see the following web site for directions on how to obtain tickets for attending this event.


    www.astro.virginia.edu/public_outreach/pubnite.php


    CAS members are encourage to bring their telescopes and/or binoculars to share the night sky with the public. Additional information will be made available to CAS members at the monthly meetings and via the yahoo group e-mail.




  • Rockfish Valley Starwatch
    Saturday, April 10th, 6:00PM at Rockfish Valley Trail
    From Charlottesville, take Rt. 250 west to the base of the Blue Ridge and turn left on Rt. 151 (the big green road sign on Rt. 250 there mentions Wintergreen and Lynchburg). Nellysford is about 11 miles down Rt. 151. Go about 1.5 miles past the little Valley Green Shopping Center in Nellysford to the trailhead for the Rockfish Valley Trail, which is on the right side of Rt. 151, where visitors to the event will park (the advertised starting time is 7 PM for visitors). CAS members shouldn't use the trailhead parking lot, but should turn left there instead and go into the field on the opposite side of Rt. 151, passing through the farm gate. The observing site is about 100 yards farther along. It's a beautiful site with dark skies.

    New-Rockfish-site

    If you would like to attend Kite Day earlier in the day, it7apos;s from 10 AM to 3 PM at the same location and is free to the public. We are also invited to bring picnic dinners, in which case, it would be better to arrive earlier than 7PM. FYI, there is a Port-a-John at the trailhead parking lot.




  • Group night - Girl Scout Troops 709 & 1264
    Friday, April 23rd, 9:00PM at McCormick Observatory
    Group night! Girl Scout troops 709 & 1264, with 32 kids (ages 6 to 10) & 10 adults will come to McCormick.
    Presenter: Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum
    Telescope:
    Assistant:



  • Group Night-Meriwether Lewis winners
    Friday, April 30th, 8:00PM at McCormick Observatory
    The winners of the Meriwether Lewis PTO silent auction will be at McCormick. 10 to 12 people.
    Presenter: Larry Saunders
    Telescope:
    Assistant:



  • May meeting!
    Wednesday, May 5th, 7:00PM at McCormick Observatory

    May meeting! Topic TBA...


    Scott Ransom of the NRAO!



    Free as always and open to the public.

    Driving Directions





  • June meeting
    Wednesday, June 2nd, 7:00PM at McCormick Observatory

    "June meeting placeholder"


    This is a placeholder for our June meeting.
    More to come! Stay tuned!


    Free as always and open to the public.

    Driving Directions





  • ATS 2010 - Antique Telescope Society annual meeting
    Friday, September 10th, 1:00PM to Sunday, September 12th, 11:45PM at McCormick Observatory

    The Antique Telescope Society will have its 2010 meeting at McCormick Observatory for 3 days!



    More information to come, so stay tuned! Bookmark this page often!

    The ATS Home page.

    The Antique Telescope Society, Inc. is organized and operated exclusively for educational and/or scientific purposes. The purpose of the Society is to unite colleagues interested in antique telescopes, binoculars instruments, books, atlases and related items, and to promote the membership's interests in astronomical history and discovery, the history of optics, and the preservation and use of the antique instruments through stewardship and education.
    The ATS publishes a journal, organizes conventions, publishes this web site and moderates an email discussion group. ATS members provide assistance in the restoration of instruments, host educational shows and displays, work to preserve historical data, and assist and guide collectors.





  • Video clips of the moment...
    Thursday, November 11th, 2:00PM at The intertoobz
    Just checking to see if any of you all are watching...
    ;-D
    Here is our February 2008 meeting, now on YouTube. You can link to it here as well:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMo4V2XO0S0&feature=channel_page
    and then see the 6 other segments that make up the whole meeting.






    Here is something from the fine folks at JPL on the IYAs Year of Astronomy:



    Here is a little something from NASA to whet your appetites:



    Know anybody who thinks we never sent astronauts to the Moon? Show them this video clip and see what their reaction is:



    Here is something about that recently discovered methane on Mars:



    This is just to make you smile:



    This one too...



    This one by popular request! Hi Nicole! ;-)




  • Website of the month archive
    Thursday, December 2nd, 12:00PM at The intertoobz


    Year In Space


    The Fermilab colloquia.


    Dr. Richard Pogge"s audio recordings from his astronomy class.


    AAS 112th meeting in Austin TX


    Atom - The Clash of the Titans - Part 1


    AstroShorts


    Dark Sky Finder! [Verrrry useful!]


    History of the Telescope.


    “Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time”


    "The Making of the Goods Zoom"


    “Space is Fun”


    “The Adventures of J. Judson Wynne”


    “Magnetic Movie”


    “Brilliant Noise”


    arXiv


    32 Nearby Stars


    SDSS Digital Sky Survey/SkyServer


    Flight Aware Live


    365 Days of Astronomy


    One Astronomer"s Noise (Nicole Gugliucci)


    Planetary Society Catalog of Exoplanets


    Star Formation: The Game


    Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility


    The Pickering Seeing Scale.


    Nikon: Universcale.


    The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System


    Giga Galaxy Zoom


    MarineTraffic.com


    Information is Beautiful


    Royal Society Library


    USGS Moon General Image Viewer


    Cell Size and Scale


    Logarithmic Map of the Universe


    The Known Universe


    The Scale of the Universe


    Wheel of Stars


    My Solar System 2.02


    APOD: Exceptional Rocket Waves Destroy Sun Dog




  • CAS loaner telescopes
    Monday, December 13th, 12:00PM at Tri-county area...
    This is a list of the telescopes that are currently loaned out to CAS memberss.

  • 10" Avellone Dob - Larry Saunders

  • 8" Dynamax SCT - Tom Ayers

  • 8" Orange tube Celestron SCT - Paul Quenneville

  • Orion refractor with Ha filter - Chris Bortz

  • CaK PST - Wes Epperly

  • Meade ETX-90 - Tom Ayers

  • Celestron C-90 Maksutov - Bill Phillips