We’re excited to announce that this year’s Society Annual Holiday Party will be held a little later than usual, but it promises to be a wonderful evening! If you haven’t already, mark your calendars for Saturday, January 31, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the welcoming Crystal Springs United Methodist Church (2145 Bunker Hill […]
Category: Newsletter
My Favorite Astronomer – Johannes Kepler
By Alexander Jaeger My favorite astronomer is Johannes Kepler. Ever since I took an introductory course in astrophysics, I have been fascinated by Kepler because of his laws of planetary motion. It seemed so amazing to me that such a complex topic could be described by laws that appeared so simple. I think that his […]
A New Year Under the Winter Sky
Greetings to the Society, Happy New Year, everyone! 🌟 I hope you all made it through the holidays with minimal cloud cover, functional eyepieces, and only a reasonable number of telescope accessories added to your wish list. January and February are often thought of as the “quiet” months for astronomy — cold nights, early sunsets, […]
Speaker: Chanan Greenberg
Presentation on 12/5/2025, 8:00pm PST in the CSM Planetarium Chanan Greenberg: Astrophotographer Capturing Cosmic Magic through Astrophotography Free and open to the public. Why do people bother with astrophotography, especially when high quality images are available for free from professional telescopes? In this presentation you will learn about the joy and magic of capturing images […]
More Sad News … In Memory of Edmund “Ed” Pieret – A Valued SMCAS Member
We received word that another longtime board member and member, Ed Pieret, passed the morning of October 30. If you didn’t see the email that was sent to the Society this is what the president sent October 31: Dear SMCAS Members,It is with deep sadness that I share the news of the passing of our […]
Goodbyes, Geminids, and Gratitude
Greetings to the Society, Remembering Friends It is with deep sadness that I share the passing of our longtime member and past president, Ed Pieret, who left us peacefully on October 30 with his wife by his side. Ed served SMCAS in many roles over the years — President, Vice President, mentor, and friend — […]
Speaker: Dr Sofia Sheikh
Presentation on February 6, 8:00 pm PST in the CSM Planetarium Speaker: Dr Sofia Sheikh, Technosignature Research Scientist, SETI Searching for Technological Life in the Universe Free and open to the public. Free Parking in nearby lots. An image of the 42-dish Allen Telescope Array (ATA), at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California. […]
A Highly Successful Family Science Day at College of San Mateo
This year’s Family Science Day at the College of San Mateo broke recent attendance records with an estimated 2,500 attendees! It was so successful that the Planetarium is considering doubling the number of shows next year to accommodate demand. Although it was the first time without a couple of our dear long time board members, […]
Neil Degrasse Tyson
By Mira Krishnan When I was just a little girl, I would look up at the night sky with awe, surprised that such beauty existed. It wasn’t until I discovered Neil DeGrasse Tyson that I started to understand what really happened in the vast vacuum that is our universe. Tyson was born in New York […]
NG-23 Cygnus Resupply Mission to the ISS
By Timothy Milligan On September 14, I observed the launch of the NG-23 Cygnus Resupply Mission to the International Space Station from Space Launch Complex 40. The launch vehicle was a SpaceX Falcon 9, carrying the Cygnus XL spacecraft. The mission delivered over approximately 10,828 pounds of scientific investigations, research materials and cargo to the […]