Valleyfest is Saturday, September 22nd at Mirabeau Point Park! We’ll be talking to the public about who we are and what we do – Astronomy for the fun of it! Come out and see us or better yet, volunteer. We’ll be there setting up at 9pm and stay until evening, longer if the skies are clear!

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.

(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.

Long-time NASA aficionado Joe Bruce will talk to us about his recent trip to Florida where he witnessed the historic launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

June 1st at SFCC!

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/.

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.

Gonzaga’s Dr. Matthew Geske visits the SAS this month to talk to us about cosmic rays. First discovered in 1912, the field of cosmic ray science is a relatively young branch of astrophysics, and there is much that is still uncertain about their origins.

This month SAS member and physicist Dr. Paul Temple will speak about the astronomical tools and methods of 18th and 19th century surveyors. See you at the SFCC Planetarium on February 2nd!

Please join us at our Holiday Potluck on January 5th, 2018 at Riverview Retirement Center. Details (including what to bring) here!

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.