This is just a sample of Marion’s photo album. To see it in its entirety, please go to https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B2OGqQrCLGiiC5a.
Category: Features
Pascal Lee Conveys Condolences via Email
Pascal Lee (NASA/SETI/Mars Institute), who presented to SMCAS at our May and March meetings, and many other times in the past 10 years, sends his condolences to Ken’s family and the SMCAS community.Marion Begin forwarded message: From: Pascal Lee <pascal.lee@marsinstitute.net> Subject: Re: Sad News – Ken Lum memorial Date: May 20, 2025 at 11:51:59 PM PDTTo: Marion […]
Saying Farewell to Dr. Ken Lum
By Chanan Greenberg Building upon Mike’s earlier post about Ken, I had the honor and pleasure of knowing Ken for 22 years. From our first interactions, I was in awe of his extensive knowledge and the caliber of his astronomy equipment — far beyond my reach at the time. I quickly discovered that Ken was […]
My Salutation to the Memory of our late member, Kenneth Lum
I’m Mike Ryan, a member of the San Mateo County Astronomical Society since 1963 (the only one remaining from the ’60’s). I just returned from a week visiting my 83-year-old invalid sister and her family and was shocked and saddened to learn this morning that our blessed friend Ken Lum had passed away on May […]
Space Rocks
By: Peter Adams, Sequoia Gem and Mineral Society We’ve all heard about rocks in space. Maybe you’ve even got a piece of a meteorite — cool stuff, especially if you found it yourself. Even if you bought one? Still cool. But as it turns out, even NASA has trouble finding asteroids and figuring out exactly […]
This White Elephant had Good Gifts!
The Society had a good turnout for their annual holiday celebration on January 18 at Crystal Springs United Methodist Church, our usual spot for soirees. The evening was filled with camaraderie for our shared love of astronomy. The celebration was a potluck with a variety and quality of the food ensured that there was something […]
Stellarium Crestview Park Custom Landscape
Most astronomers know about Stellarium; it is a fantastic tool for exploringwhat the night skies will be like. It is also a really good planning tool forastrophotography. During one of the star parties at Crestview Park last summer, I wanted to takesome photos of the North America Nebula. After at least an hour of setting […]
JWST shows that dark matter doesn’t exist!
OK now that I got you attention with that over the top headline like newspapers print, lets talk about the facts. The cosmos has always been a wellspring of surprises, and our understanding of its early days remains incomplete. For decades, we were constrained by our technological limits—telescopes couldn’t peer far enough to capture light […]
Make Sure to Catch the “Comet of the Century”!
Did you see the video of, what’s being dubbed as, the “Comet of the Century” over the Golden Gate bridge? I was pleasantly surprised to see the video but disappointed that I had no idea about it and figured, there might be others who haven’t heard about it either. The comet is called C/2023 A3 […]
Exciting July 3 Star Party
If you haven’t heard yet, July 3’s Star Party was one of the most exciting we’ve had in a while. Besides being one of the most attended, there was a bit of both excitement and a bit of inconvenience when the sprinkler went off, not just once, but twice unusually early! The first time was […]