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Help Wanted – Volunteers

Our organization runs on the dedication of its member volunteers. We seek to give all members a chance to contribute to our mission tor serve the membership and our community with a variety of roles. Some roles are straightforward and some more complex, requiring training and mentorship.

CURRENT POSITION OPENINGS – If you are interested in any of these positions, click on the job description to confirm it involves work you would like to do then click here to contact our hiring coordinator to get thinks rolling.

Publicist

Social Director

ROLES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN FOR THE FUTURE – Help us in our planning by Clicking Here to give us an idea of how you might want to help TAAA

Star Party Telescope Operator

Starry Messenger Outreach

Special Events Volunteer

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Astronomy Camps 2026

In the first half of 2026 TAAA hosted three Astronomy Camp school groups. This year we were able to incorporated our newest instrument, a 32 inch DFM research grade telescope into the program. It provides excellent visual observing of certain types of objects like planets, planetary nebula and galaxies.

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: April 2026

By Erich Karkoschka

Venus is getting better visible at the end of dusk low in the west. By the end of the month, it will have reached Aldebaran in Taurus.

Jupiter transits around sunset 81 degrees high. It moves slowly toward Pollux. Venus is still far away but fast approaching Jupiter.

Mercury is visible until mid-month low at dawn around 5:30 am.

Uranus remains 4 degrees south of the Pleiades, but gets visible only quite low in the sky. The last good possibility of viewing it is on the 23rd when it is visible in binoculars just 0.8 degrees south of Venus.

The moon will be in the evening sky again on the 18th, in the vicinity of Venus. Two days later it can be seen almost overhead (86 degrees high) at 3:30 pm.

On April 20th, there is a rare event that three planets are within a 3 degree circle: Mercury, Mars, and Venus. They are visible from more southern latitudes by naked eye. In Tucson, one will need binoculars to find them around 5:30 am about 5 degrees above the eastern horizon. They will be almost in a straight line.

Around April 22, the Lyrics Meteors are visible after 10 pm.