Stargazing @ Saguaro NP – East

Star Party – Saguaro National Park – East
Tucson, AZ

Great dark skies on the East side of Tucson at Saguaro National Park – East.
Star Party is open to the Public. Event is free but NPS admission fees apply.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more. Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes.

Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page: (https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/).

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: May 2023

by Erich Karkoschka

Venus is at its best, 40 degrees high at sunset and not setting until 10:45 pm. The Moon is 4 degrees below Venus on the evening of the 22nd, a great sight. Good eyes can see the pair during the daytime, such as around 3:30 pm when Venus is 84 degrees high. On the 22nd, the Moon is 7 degrees to the west, on the 23rd, 6 degrees to the east.

Mars is in the vicinity of Pollux and Castor all month. On the 15th, they form an 11-degree long line of “stars” of similar brightness.

Saturn rises around 2 am.

Jupiter follow Saturn around 4 am during dawn.

Mercury is barely visible after the 24th when it rises at 4:15 am.

On the morning of the 7th, the Moon occults Jupiter from 4:18 to 5:11 am. It takes a minute each to cover or uncover Jupiter’s large disk. The disappearance is difficult to observe since the pair is only 2 degrees above the horizon, 10 minutes after they rise. The reappearance is difficult to watch naked eye because of bright twilight, just 14 minutes before sunrise. However it should look great in binoculars or a telescope. Interestingly, the shadows of Io and Europa will remain on the disk until well past sunrise but the air may be too turbulent to pick them out.

Special Event!

Tucson Astronomy Festival – March 22, 2025

TUCSON ASTRONOMY FESTIVAL

Each year on a Saturday in March or April, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association hosts a family fun event during national Astronomy Day. It is held at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park (3482 E River Rd @ Ramada 1)

3 – 9 pm

Interactive Astronomy Activities include:

Solar and Nighttime Observing

Door prizes to include a Grand Youth Prize of a Small Telescope

Bring your own telescope for help using (recommend arriving late afternoon during daylight)

FREE FAMILY FUN EVENT

The 2025 event. Saturday March 22, 2024.

2024 Tucson Astronomy Festival Flyer

To get any updates as we get closer, follow our Facebook Page event at: TAAA Facebook Tucson Astronomy Festival Event

Pictures from past Tucson Astronmy Festivals

Stargazing @ Saguaro NP – West

TAAA invites you to an evening of star gazing at Saguaro National Park – West
Located on the far West side of town on the other side of the Tucson mountains, this location has very dark skies from horizon to horizon.
Event is put on by Saguaro NP and the IDA (International Dark-Sky Association) to promote International Dark Sky Week.

An introductory talk will be given at 7pm.
The TAAA will have several Telescopes set up to view Stars, Nebula’s, Galaxies, Planets and more starting at 7:30pm!

The event is free and open to the public, but NPS admission fees may apply.
WEATHER DEPENDENT. Follow the event here for any weather updates or changes.

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: April 2023

by Erich Karkoschka

Mercury is visible well at dusk until the 19th. It even sets past the end of astronomical twilight around the 11th, when it is at greatest elongation from the sun. Afterwards, it shows a small crescent in a telescope.

Venus is high up at sunset and sets more than three hours later. On the 10th, it is only 2 degrees from Pleiades, a nice sight in binoculars.

Mars is very hight at sunset. On the 14th it passes only 9 arc-minutes from third-magnitude star Mebsuta in Gemini. Then it aims for Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini.

Saturn is visible just before dawn in the southeast.

The first minor planet (1) Ceres is an easy binocular object near the tail of Leo.

The moon is close to bright Venus on the 22nd and 23rd and then even closer to Mars on the 25th. It causes a hybrid (total/annular) solar eclipse on the 20th, visible in and near Australia. The same evening it can be spotted with binoculars in Tucson in bright twilight, with Mercury nearby. The moon follows with an almost partial lunar eclipse at noon on May 5th. We are only one year away from the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 with more than 4 minutes of totality going from Mazatlan in Mexico through Texas to the Great Lakes.

Evening Under the Stars

Evening Under the Stars Observing at the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) Chiricahua Astronomy Complex. Want to stargaze from a dark site where the band of the Milky Way is clearly visible across the sky? You see so many stars it is hard to pick out the constellations. Twice per year, we open our TAAA Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (Turkey Creek area near Chiricahua National Monument) to the public for an observing session. You can observe through a telescope with a 40″ mirror and see galaxies over 100 million light years away. We will have several large telescopes to observe with.

Our Fall “Evening Under the Stars” will be Saturday October 7th 2023. The gate will be open at 6:00 pm with activities starting 7:00 pm. Observing will be from 7:00-9:00 pm. Come join us for an exciting evening of astronomical observing. The site is about 90 minutes SE of Tucson near the Chiricahua National Monument. If you have friends/family that live in that area, let them know. The event is weather dependent. Reservations are required. Please email euts[at]tucsonastronomy.org for reservations and directions. Please include number of people & vehicles in your group, and email address.

Evening Under the Stars

Our Spring “Evening Under the Stars” will be Saturday April 8th 2023. The gate will be open at 7:00 pm with activities starting 7:30 pm. Observing will be from 7:30-9:30 pm. Come join us for an exciting evening of astronomical observing. The site is about 90 minutes SE of Tucson near the Chiricahua National Monument. If you have friends/family that live in that area, let them know. The event is weather dependent. Reservations are required. Please email John Kalas at jckalas[at]cox.net for reservations and directions. Please include number of people & vehicles in your group.

The 40 inch StarStructures Dobsonian telescope on the deck of the Reynold-Mitchell Observatory.

Solar Telescope Observing at Saguaro NP – East

May 14 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Join the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) and Saguaro National Park – East for some Sun gazing at the park. We will observe the Sun through telescopes with appropriate filters so you will get to see sunspots, prominences, flares, and more.
The Sun is nearing its peak in the sunspot cycle so there is lots of activity on its surface.

This event is FREE and open to the public. NPS admission fees apply.

The telescopes will be set up at the Bicycle Ramada next to the Visitors Center. This event will most likely be canceled in the event of clouds/rain.

Virtual Stargazing – Watch at home

Virtual Stargazing

May 12 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Join Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association for a Virtual tour of the Night Sky. We will explore planets, Nebulae, Star Clusters, Galaxies, and much more using cameras connected to our telescopes with commentary about the objects from our operators.

The event will be streamed to our YouTube channel (TAAA YouTube). You can follow the event on our Facebook page for any weather and other updates and the link to our YouTube Channel. FREE.

Check out Facebook page or back here closer to the event for any updates.

32 inch Cassegrain Project