Events
July Star Party
James Robb State Park
Star Party
The event will be held at the parking lot past the entrance. Just look for the telescopes.
August Star Party
Highline Lake State Park
Star Party
The event will be held at the parking lot past the entrance. Just look for the telescopes.
September Star Party
Colorado National Monument
Star Party
The event will be held at the Saddlehorn Picnic area.
October Star Party
Highline Lake State Park
Star Party
The event will be held at the main parking lot after entering the park.
November Star Party
James Robb State Park
Star Party
The event will be held at the parking lot past the entrance. Just look for the telescopes.
June Star Party
Colorado National Monument
Star Party
The event will be held at the Saddlehorn Picnic area.
June Monthly Meeting
Radio Astronomy: The Past, Present and Future of the Very Large Array
SPEAKER: Bob Birket
The talk will cover from the early days of Karl Jansky's discovery of radio waves emanating from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy to the modern era of recent discoveries made in radio astronomy at the VLA, to the future development of the next generation Very Large Array...
Biography:
Bob Birket is currently the lead Tour Guide at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array in western New Mexico. Part of the Education and Outreach team at the VLA. H spends time not only doing tours but also being involved in the outreach efforts for the local schools in the area. Prior to 2018, he worked as a product support engineer for a military project for the Dept of Defense. Retired from the Boeing Company in 2018 and relocated to Pie town New Mexico for quiet lifestyle and dark skies. A long time astro-imager, he enjoys deep sky imaging from his observatory under the awesome skies of western New Mexico.
The live meeting will be at Mesa Room Central Library.
The meeting will also be via Zoom for those who need or want to participate remotely. You will have to pre-register to participate via Zoom. Contact us here to register.
We hope to see everyone (either live or online)
May Star Party
Highline Lake State Park
Star Party
The event will be held at the main parking lot after entering the park.
There’s a window of opportunity for an event this coming Friday the 15th May being a moonless night, long range weather forecast looks good for viewing several planets and the Milky Way. (Shadows of both Ganymede & Europa cross Jupiter)
May Monthly Meeting
An Overview of Telescopes and Mounts for Visual Observing
SPEAKER: Zachary Singer
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: I will go through the different types of telescopes, Refractors, Reflectors, Dobsonian and eyepieces and by discussing the mounts separately from the optics.
(These days, there are new approaches, even for basic mounts, so that they can find targets for you automatically, without the complexity of a full “go-to” system. So this will be part of the discussion as well – how much help in finding targets a given design might provide, and whether it’s motorized or not, and all the trade-offs between these different approaches, not just in price, but in terms of bulk or the amount of time it takes to set the systems up. )
SPEAKER BIO: Zachary Singer is a Denver-based amateur astronomer. Zach is a longtime member of the Denver Astronomical Society and the former editor of its monthly newsletter, the Observer, from 2015 through 2019. During that period, he also wrote a "Monthly Skies" column of some 2,000 words per issue, dedicated to visual observing. He has worked at Mile High Astronomy in Lakewood, Colorado, for 5 1/2 years in total. Zach trained in commercial photography in the early '80s, after which he worked as a commercial photographer and photojournalist. He began working with digital image processing in the early '90s and with digital capture around 2000.
With his professional background and then-uncommon experience with digital imaging,
Zach joined the staff of Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo, and Digital Photo Pro magazines
as an associate editor in 2003. He became a photography instructor at Santa Monica College in
2004. More recently, Zach has created a small series of astronomy videos, The Night Sky with
Zachary Singer, on YouTube. On clear nights, he observes with his collection of scopes, from an
80mm triplet to a 12-inch Dob. His pursuit of astrophotography helps him investigate the current
limits of the technology, and simpler pathways forward for beginners and intermediate
astrophotographers.
The Western Colorado Astronomy Club meeting is Tuesday 5th May at 6:00 PM. Mountain Time . The live meeting will be at Mesa Room Central Library.
The meeting will also be via Zoom for those who need or want to participate remotely. You will have to pre-register to participate via Zoom. Contact us here to register.
We hope to see everyone (either live or online)
April Monthly Meeting
Chile Astronomy and Stargazing - Santiago to the Atacama Desert
SPEAKER: Scott Perrin
The Western Colorado Astronomy Club meeting is Tuesday 7th April at 6:00 PM. Mountain Time The live meeting will be at The Mount Garfield Room, Clifton Library
With its high mountains, clear skies, and dry air, Chile offers exceptional opportunities to visit world-class observatories and stargaze beneath the southern hemisphere sky. This personal travelogue blends behind-the-scenes tours of major professional telescopes with firsthand experiences of nighttime observations. The talk also explores the country and Chilean culture and the experience of sharing this trip with an ideal group of travel companions.
The meeting will also be via Zoom for those who need or want to participate remotely. You will have to pre-register to participate via Zoom. Contact us here to register.
We hope to see everyone (either live or online)
SPEAKER BIO:
Scott is a WCAC member and local cosmologist and astronomer, with graduate course work in physics and astrophysics.
March Monthly Meeting
A New Horizon
SPEAKER: Ashlee Wallace and Caity Swartz
The Western Colorado Astronomy Club meeting is Tuesday 3rd March at 6:00 PM. The live meeting will be at Mesa Room Central Library.
Over the last six years, Highline Lake has been on a mission to become Colorado's next Dark Sky Certified Park. The park has fundraised, received grants, and slowly converted all of the facilities into light compliance, but that was just the beginning. Through extensive interpretive programming, sky quality monitoring, and advocacy, the park has protected the dark skies while maintaining habitat for endangered wildlife who also depend greatly on true darkness. With a generous grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and the Colorado Lottery, Highline Lake will soon see the installation of the Horizons Amphitheater - the agency's first amphitheater designed for dark sky programming and stargazing as well as an observatory. Ashlee will share the park's successes and struggles over the years while also sharing what's on the horizon.
The meeting will also be via Zoom for those who need or want to participate remotely. You will have to pre-register to participate via Zoom. Contact us here to register.
We hope to see everyone (either live or online)
SPEAKER BIOS:
Ashlee Wallace is the Park Manager at Highline Lake State Park where she has been advocating for and protecting Colorado's natural resources since 2014. Focusing on the balance between visitation with conservation, she aims to increase accessibility and experience for visitors of all backgrounds without compromising the natural resources that make Colorado so incredible. Ashlee received a Bachelor's Degree in Geology from Western Colorado University and later a Master's Degree in Conservation Law Enforcement from Unity College in Maine. When she's not looking down (looking for cool rocks, of course), she's looking up at the stars.
Caity's Bio: Caity Swartz has been part of the Highline Lake team since 2023, serving in numerous roles including Park Ranger, Visitor Services Technician, and most notably has revamped the park's interpretive programming, offering classes and clinics to the park's 250,000 annual visitors. As an educator, she has been instrumental in building connections between visitors and the park, focusing on dark sky programming and Leave No Trace principles. When Caity isn't working for the park, she's a Lead Instructor with the Outdoor Wilderness Lab (OWL), getting elementary and middle school kids into the great outdoors. In her personal time, Caity enjoys hiking and spending time with her fiancée and two children.
Notes: Payment of dues can be made at the meeting ($36 for a regular family membership and $18 for full-time students). If paying by check please make it payable to Western Colorado Astronomy Club. Please provide any updates to your email and mailing addresses for delivery of activity announcements and your subscription to the Reflector magazine. If you have any questions about membership, please contact us at: membership@wcacastronomy.org. Or you can pay online: here.
Monthly Meeting
A Guided Tour of the 60" Refractor live from Mount Wilson Observatory
SPEAKER: Tom Masterson
The Western Colorado Astronomy Club February meeting is next Tuesday February 3rd at 6:00 PM. The live meeting will be at Mesa Room Central Library. Don't miss this program coming to you live from the Mount Wilson Observatory
The meeting will also be via Zoom for those who need or want to participate remotely. You will have to pre-register to participate via Zoom. Contact us here to register.
We hope to see everyone (either live or online)
Tom works for the Mount Wilson Institute which is the managing non profit that operates Mount Wilson Observatory. He works in Technical Services on various projects to keep the observatory running.
From work on the historic telescope systems to maintenance and infrastructure projects on various modern systems not related to telescopes, he does a bit of everything. Also working as an Assistant Events Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator during the public season from spring to late fall. During their season he also volunteers time to give Engineering Tours to groups of people where he's focusing on the 60in and 100in telescopes. Tom is also an award winning amateur Astrophotographer and member of WCAC
Mount Wilson Observatory websites
https://www.mtwilson.edu/vt-60-inch-telescope/
https://www.mtwilson.edu/building-the-60-inch-telescope/
Notes: Payment of dues can be made at next week's meeting ($36 for a regular family membership and $18 for full-time students). If paying by check please make it payable to Western Colorado Astronomy Club. Please provide any updates to your email and mailing addresses for delivery of activity announcements and your subscription to the Reflector magazine. If you have any questions about membership, please contact us at: membership@wcacastronomy.org. Or you can pay online: here.
Monthly Meeting
Magnetic Fields: Invisible Threads of the Universe
Speaker: Catherine Whiting
Colorado Mesa University Campus - Houston Hall Room 138
1150 North Avenue, Grand Junction, CO
Meetings are open to the community interested in all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics.
Monthly program meetings are held at 6:00 PM mountain time on the first Tuesday of the month (unless otherwise noted); Observing nights and other activities on dates and locations as noted
We require pre-registration to attend the meetings online via Zoom.
Please CONTACT US to request an invitation or for more information.
Monthly Meeting
When the Stars Align: The Quest to Learn How, Why, and Where Planets Form
Palisade Bluegrass Festival Public Observing - Riverbend Park
451 Pendleton St, Palisade, CO 81526