Acoustic guitar and American folk songs (6pm – 7pm)
Star Party telescope viewing (7:00 – 9:00pm)
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
Join TAAA and the National Park Service for an evening of stargazing at Tumacacori National Historical Park . Address below. The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will have several telescopes with operators for astronomical viewing in front of the Old Mission.
We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more. Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes.
Event is free, no reservations required, but NPS admission fees apply.
Weather dependent, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook event page: TAAA Facebook Events page for weather updates on day of event.
Have guests or family in town over the Holidays. Join us for a family friendly observing event at our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex, about a 2 hour drive SE of Tucson near the Chiricahua mountains. For a nominal fee, your family or guests can have a guided observing session of the Universe using one or more of our large telescopes. We will observe planets such as Saturn in breath-taking clarity, multiple star systems, star clusters, Nebulae gas clouds, galaxies millions of light-years away, and lots more. Fee is only $25/youth under 15 and $50/adult. To register, please use the below link.
$25 – $50 Price is per person (25 youth, 50 adults) for a two hour group session.
License Plates – Polo Shirts – T-Shirts – Mugs – TAAA Name Badge (TAAA Members Only)
The TAAA Member Apparel Service provides (1) apparel and merchandise sales at our meetings or by mail for pickup or deliver to TAAA members (2) access to a website catalog from which TAAA members may make special orders of apparel with the TAAA logo.
COFFEE MUGS
LICENSE PLATE
TAAA 1.5″ x 3″ Magnetic Name Tag
TAAAMember Apparel ordering allows members access to stocked Polo Shirts, T-Shirts coffee mugs, and license plate TAAA logo items or the whole apparel website catalog at any time. Name Tags are of course special ordered but can be direct shipped to you. Members may order at meetings, or print out an order form, fill it out, compute the amount due all at home at their own pace. Of course transactions can be completed at the TAAA Monthly Meeting as well.
TAAA – Aztec Apparel Catalog
The order form provided here may be completed and turned in at the Apparel Table at the monthly meeting or scanned or photographed to be sent by email to apparel@tucsonastronomy.org. Payment methods available include credit card billing by email, payment at the monthly meetings to include: cash, check, or credit card.
After receipt of the completed order form and amount due, the TAAA Apparel Coordinator will fille the order out of stock or place the order with our vendors. Delivery can be indicated on the form as Pick up at the Monthly General Meeting, directed shipped in some cases, or mailed for an extra charge in others.
Mars is the evening planet, getting lower in the west at the end of twilight. In September it becomes difficult to see.
Saturn rises at midnight at the beginning of July, but already at sunset by its opposition on September 20. Its rings are very faint since their southern side only started to get illuminated in May. They are visible as a line extending on both sides of the planet.
Venus rises around 3 am. It is 20 degrees high in the east by the time dawn starts.
Jupiter rises shortly before the sun at the beginning of July, but already around 1 am by late September. Venus and Jupiter are only 1 degree apart from each other on August 12, a beautiful sight.
Mercury is well visible during dawn in the second half of August, about 15 degrees below Venus.
Uranus is visible in the morning sky.
Neptune is only 1 degree south of Saturn all July and August, increasing to 2 degrees by late September, a rare chance to see both planets in the same telescopic field. Once they separate next year, it will take until 2061 before they get together again. That conjunction will not be visible because the sun will be too close. So the next chance will be in 2097.
Minor planet (4) Vesta is still relatively bright at magnitude 7.
The moon is close to Venus on the morning of August 20, when Jupiter is also nearby. The three brightest objects in the sky fit within a 10 degree field.
The Perseid meteor shower is active from late July to late August with a maximum on August 12. While it gets dark around 8 pm, the moon rises at 9:15 pm, leaving little time of dark sky.
Bernie Stinger, Jim Knoll, and Terri Lappin will share the TAAA Outreach program and how you can become involved to educate our youth and community residents about the astronomical wonders of the universe. The team will then outline a new volunteer outreach award program.
Biographies: Bernie Stinger, Jim Knoll, and Terri Lappin
Bernie Stinger manages the TAAA School and Public program, leading a team of over 60 volunteers and averaging 15-20 events/month. Jim Knoll manages the Tucson Stargazing Adventures private event program with a team of around 15 and averaging around 10 events/month. Terri Lappin leads the Starry Messenger Special Interest Group (SMSIG) supporting TAAA involvement in the Tucson Festival of Books and hosting the TAAA Astronomy Festival. Her team of about 10 volunteers also provides Night Sky Network Toolkits for an average of 3 school events/month during the school year.
Title: Beyond the First Look at The NSF-DOE Vera Rubin Observatory
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory recently released a first look at a sampling of data products, and now is preparing to begin a ten-year survey of the southern skies. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time will produce unprecedented amounts of data for many different types of science.
Using the largest camera ever built, Rubin will repeatedly scan the sky from its location in Chilé and create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition, time-lapse record of our Universe. This will yield a treasure trove of discoveries: asteroids and comets, pulsating stars, and supernova explosions, as well as an immense amount of previously-undetected stars and galaxies.
With Rubin data we will come to understand our Universe better, chronicle its evolution, delve into the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and reveal answers to questions we have yet to imagine. Ardis Herrold’s presentation will offer information on the telescope, its science, and the ways everyone can explore the Rubin data itself. Learn what is happening right now, during commissioning (between first photons and the start of the survey), as well as how educators and citizen scientist projects
Biography: Ardis Herrold
Ardis Herrold is the Senior Education Specialist for the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Formerly a high school teacher, Ardis was hired to design and lead the education program for Rubin. In this role, she works on designing and testing data-based classroom investigations, and provides teacher training and support. Ardis is an amateur astronomer and has been a member of TAAA since 2017.
Image credit Hernan Stockebrand.
Caption: Rubin Observatory stands on Cerro Pachón in Chile against a sky full of star trails in this long exposure night sky image.
