Stargazing at Oracle State Park

April 4 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Viewing Location: Kannally Ranch House

Typically a music event prior, check the park’s website below.
Star Party telescope viewing (7:30 – 9:30pm)

Information: Great dark skies just north of Tucson at Oracle State Park.
3820 E Wildlife Dr., Oracle, AZ 85623
Star Party open to the Public. Admission fees for entrance into Oracle State Park apply.

Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will be observing the Moon + Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, and Star Clusters.
Great opportunity to look through a wide variety of telescopes. Weather dependent.

For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook event page: TAAA Facebook Events page

Also: Check the Oracle State Park website for additional information and activities that day:
Star Party at Oracle State Park | Oracle State Park (azstateparks.com)

Bernie Stinger

612-396-8839

astronomy-events@tucsonastronomy.org

Oracle State Park

3820 E Wildlife Dr.
Oracle, AZ 85623 United States

32 inch Cassegrain Project

SmartScopes

So, I Bought a SeeStar!: Basic Skills for the ZWO SeeStar S30 and S50

Open for Enrollment – Stephen Ferris, Instructor
Place: TIMPA Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026 Time: 7:00pm until completed.

Synopsis: ZWO SeeStars are a hot item for Amateur Astronomers both new and experienced. They combine good optics, a lot of automation and a user-friendly interface with entry level prices. This workshop will cover the basic use of both the SeeStar S50 and the SeeStar S30. It is open to both current SeeStar owners and those who are considering buying a SeeStar. If you have a SeeStar of either design, please bring it with you, fully charged. The instructor will walk you through basic procedures for using your equipment. Don’t forget to bring your phone or the tablet that you use to control it!

This training is ZWO SeeStar specific. If you are interested in a workshop for another kind of
SmartScope, please contact Stephen at the email address or number below.
If you are interested in joining us, please contact the instructor, Stephen Ferris: email, Text: 520
661-5355

SmartScopes and Snacks!

Pot Luck and Meet and Greet for All SmartScope Users at TIMPA!
Place: TIMPA Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026 Time: 7:00 PM until whenever
This TIMPA event is open to all SmartScope users of all levels of experience, plus anyone who
might be interested in getting a SmartScope. We’ll get started with a pot luck dinner social around
7:00 pm. (The sun sets late. Expect warm temperatures.) Bring some images and techniques to
share with the group! We would love to hear about any use of any SmartScopes that you might
have. Then, if weather permits, we’ll do some viewing after it gets dark until whenever.
I will provide water, sodas, basic paper plates and plastic utensils. You are not at all required to
bring food, but if you do, we expect about 10-12 people. I will notify everyone if we get more!
Please RSVP to Stephen Ferris, TIMPA Director, at email Text: 520-661-5355 by May 1.
If SmartScopes are at all of interest to you (or even if they are not), we would love to have you
come out and join us!

HYBRID – General Meeting – March 2026

March 6 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Title: A Cosmic Odyssey: The Epic Journey of our Milky Way Galaxy

Astronomers estimate that approximately one in a thousand galaxies in the nearby universe is in the act of colliding. Although rare locally, we find that galaxy mergers were far more common and produced the majority of all the infrared emission in the early Universe. Therefore, studying these rare mergers in our local Universe gives us a window into the galactic train wrecks of the early Universe that shaped galaxy evolution. It has been over 100 years since astronomer Vesto Slipher discovered that, unlike every other galaxy we observe, our nearest neighbor, Andromeda, is on a collision course with the Milky Way. In order to understand the fate of our galaxy, observations of hundreds of ongoing galaxy mergers, with have been collected, with every major space-based observatory available—e.g. Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel, GALEX, Chandra, and JWST— as part of the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). These luminous infrared galaxies host the most extreme dust-enshrouded stellar nurseries in the local Universe. In this talk, Dr. Sean Linden presents the story of the Milky Way Galaxy; how the ongoing interaction with Andromeda has shaped it so far, and what we have learned about galaxy mergers in GOALS that allow us to predict what the Milky Way will look like in the future.

Presenter: Dr. Sean Linden

Dr. Sean Linden received his PhD in the Spring of 2020 from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia working with Dr. Aaron Evans and Dr. Eric Murphy at the NRAO. He then moved to a position as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for three years working with Dr. Daniela Calzetti on studies of star clusters in nearby galaxies with JWST. Sean is currently the Peter A. Strittmatter Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona, and will be starting a new position as an assistant professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Rochester Institute of Technology next Fall.

Ed Foley, TAAA President

Oracle State Park

3820 E Wildlife Dr.
Oracle, AZ 85623 United States

Solar System

Planets of the Month: February 2026

By Erich Karkoschka

There will be a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE on the morning of March 3rd. Partial phase begins at 2:50 am (Tucson) and ends at 6:18 during dawn. Totality last for one hour starting at 4:04 am. The moon will be about 10 degrees to the upper left of Regulus and not much brighter than the star at mid totality. The next two Total Lunar Eclipses visible in Tucson — in 2029 will be only partially visible during twilight. The next good one will be in 2033.

Mercury and Venus are visible all month at dusk low in the west.

Mercury is easier to see than Venus until the 20th. At mid-month, one can find Venus 8 degrees below Mercury. Mercury moves further north while Venus moves faster eastward, so that by the 26th, Mercury is 5 degrees to the right of Venus but 5 magnitudes fainter than Venus. On the 19th, Mercury is 50% illuminated. Toward the end of the month, both planets are about the same size, but Mercury is a crescent while Venus is fully illuminated.

Saturn is higher than Venus, by the end of the month only 8 degrees higher. On March 8, it will be 1 degree to the left of Venus. This is the last time in the next 12 years that Saturn’s rings show as a thin line on both sides of Saturn’s sphere.

Jupiter transits 81 degrees high around 10 pm. On the 18th, Ganymede’s shadow moves across the disk until 10 pm.

Neptune is only .9 degrees north of Saturn around the 15th. This is the closest both planets have been during the last 35 years, and the same holds true until 2061.

Uranus is 70 degrees high at dusk. It can be easily located in binoculars 5 degrees south of the Pleiades.

The moon is close to Mercury on the 18th and close to Saturn on the 19th. By the 26th it is close to bright Jupiter.

Stargazing at Saguaro National Park – East Side – Venue change

March 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Star Party – Saguaro National Park – East Side
Now at their Desert Learning Center

12661 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85730
Map Coordinates: 32.22239965337127, -110.72231843802784
Drive to the end of Broadway Blvd, parking is limited along roadside. Guides will give directions, short walk to site.

Great dark skies on the East side of Tucson at Saguaro National Park – East Side’s Desert Learning Center. Please do not go to the National Park entrance, it will be closed due to construction.
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: Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association | Facebook

Bernie Stinger

612-396-8839

astronomy-events@tucsonastronomy.org

Oracle State Park

3820 E Wildlife Dr.
Oracle, AZ 85623 United States

Stargazing @ Canoa Ranch

March 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Join the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) and Pima County Conservation Lands and Resources (CLR) for some stargazing at Historic Canoa Ranch.

Our volunteer astronomers with their telescopes will observe planets, star clusters, multiple star systems, nebulae, galaxies, and lots more.

Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page: Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association | Facebook

FREE but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED Go to this link to register: https://www.explore.pima.gov/pima/programs and click on the “Environmental Education” square to select. Then use “Stargazing” as a Keyword.
These events fill up quickly.

Bernie Stinger

612-396-8839

astronomy-events@tucsonastronomy.org

Oracle State Park

3820 E Wildlife Dr.
Oracle, AZ 85623 United States

Stargazing at Chiricahua National Monument

March 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Join TAAA for an evening of stargazing to view amazing solar system and deep sky objects from a truly Dark Sky Park. You will see planets, nebulae, star clusters, double stars, galaxies millions of light years away, and lots more. We will have several telescopes for public viewing.

Observing location will be at the Faraway Ranch, just past the entrance gate about 1/2 mile. Follow signs in the park for public parking. The event is free of charge, no reservations are required. Please try to use red light flashlights and minimize white light (to include cell phones) that will hinder your night vision.

Chiricahua National Monument website: https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm.
Weather dependent — Follow the event on the TAAA Facebook page to get weather and other updates: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/.

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

Bernie Stinger

612-396-8839

astronomy-events@tucsonastronomy.org

Oracle State Park

3820 E Wildlife Dr.
Oracle, AZ 85623 United States

Stargazing at Tucson Mountain Park – Juan Santa Cruz Picnic Area

March 7 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Star Party @ Tucson Mountain Park – Juan Santa Cruz Picnic Area
Tucson, AZ (right next to Sonoran Desert Museum)

Viewing Location: Small side loop on East side of main loop.
Information: Great dark skies in Western Tucson. Star Party open to the Public. Cost: FREE.

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: TAAA Facebook Events page

Event is FREE but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Go to this link to register: https://www.explore.pima.gov/pima/programs and click on the “Environmental Education” square to select. Once open, type in “stargazing” for the keyword and then scroll down for the event.
These events may fill up early.