Category Archives: Uncategorized

August Meeting – Summer Grab Bag!

We have a variety of topics this month. We’ll talk about

  • Scenic astrophotography with member Mike Reitemeier. He’ll take us through Milky Way, aurora and widefield techniques.
  • Beginner Astronomy Q&A / Astronomy Hacks. We’ll go through a few of our President’s favorite “Astronomy Hacks” – tricks and shortcuts that make our lives easier!
  • Beginner Astronomical League programs – this month we’ll look at the Galileo program.

July Meeting NASA Engineer John Barber

(Note – this month’s meeting is NOT at SFCC – it is at Riverview) Fans of NASA’s early years of the Apollo program definitely will want to attend our first summer meeting, as we return to Riverview Community building (the SFCC Planetarium is closed for the summer).

This month we have a very special guest speaker, John Barber, who lives in Spokane, who worked at NASA as an engineer on Apollo. Alas, we  can’t bring you an astronaut who walked on the moon to speak to you this month, but Mr. Barber will be presenting stories and memories of his days at NASA.

May Meeting – Astrophotography with Craig Goodwin

You’re in for a treat this month if you’ve ever wanted to point your camera up at the night sky! Local photographer Craig Goodwin will share a presentation on the technical and artistic challenges of astrophotography, with an emphasis on learning to take compelling images that share the awe-inspiring story of the stars and planets. It will include information on photographing features like the aurora borealis and the Milky Way galaxy. Craig will also share from experience about how to not get eaten by a mountain lion while wandering the woods in the middle of the night.

Craig is a Spokane-based photographer, whose astrophotography has been featured by Sunset Magazine, National Geographic, the U.S. Tourism Board, and was recently awarded Photo of the Year by the Seattle Times. You can see some of the images Craig will share about at http://www.craiggoodwinphoto.com/Night-Photography/.

April Meeting – Star Parties and Telescopes!

The 2018 observing season is finally upon us! In this beginner-oriented session, we’ll talk about how to prepare for upcoming star parties and tips on maximizing the use of your binoculars or telescopes.  Do you have questions on how to use your telescope? Bring it!  We’ll set it up in the lobby and help you figure out how to fix it or use it.  Bring your questions and we’ll do our best to answer them as a group.

December 8th Meeting – Fundamental Cosmology

Shifting from last month’s winter observing topic, please  join us at the SFCC Planetarium for a presentation on Fundamental Cosmology by Erik Aver of Gonzaga University.   Eric is a fun and entertaining presenter.

We typically meet on the first Friday of the month, but the site isn’t available because the college has another presentation on the first.  So we are meeting on 12/8 at 7:30 pm.

This talk will offer a conceptual discussion of some of the discoveries and observations underpinning cosmology, including the expanding universe, dark matter, dark energy, and early universe physics.  What do we know about the universe and how it has evolved over time?  And how did we figure it out?  Time permitting, Eric will try to also include a couple fun demonstrations of astronomy-related science.

Erik Aver, of Gonzaga Univ.

October Meeting – Dr. Guy Worthey on Star Clusters

This month at SFCC we’re lucky to have Professor Guy Worthey talk to us about, in his words:

…a historical overview of the importance of star clusters. Star clusters, both open and globular, have provided a string of forward leaps in the understanding of stars, galaxies, and the universe. Names like Hertzsprung and Russell, Curtis and Shapley, and Trumpler and Baade crop up in our discussion. We end by finding that star cluster research goes on today, in a fascinating variety of astrophysical situations.