Greetings to the Society, Springtime Skies As we venture into March and April 2025, the cosmos offers a plethora of captivating events and milestones for astronomy enthusiasts and space aficionados. From celestial phenomena gracing our night skies to groundbreaking space missions, here’s what to anticipate in the coming months. March Right off the bat planets […]
Category: Newsletter
My Favorite Astronomer: William Herschel – A Symphony of Stars
Actually, I have lots of astronomers I admire but I’m going to talk about one who interests truly mirror my own, Sir William Herschel. Born Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel on November 15, 1738, in Hanover, Germany, Herschel was immersed in music from an early age. His father, Isaak Herschel, an oboist in the Hanover Military Band, […]
Speaker: Dr Pascal Lee
Presentation on March 7, 8:00pm PST in the CSM Planetarium Speaker: Dr. Pascal Lee, Planetary Scientist SETI Institute, Mars Institute, and NASA Ames Research Center The Moon & Mars: Amazing Places for Humans to Soon Explore, Part 1: the Moon! Free and open to the public. At the College of San Mateo Planetarium. Free Parking […]
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 […]
Orion/Meade Telescopes Auction
A heads up from Ed Ching For those who have been following the saga of the Optronic Techonologies, Inc., business, parent of both Orion Telescopes and Meade Instruments, the offices and storefront in Watsonville, California were shut down in July 2024. On July 31, the Orion website went offline. Apparently the assets of […]
A New Year of Stargazing Adventures
Greetings to the Society, Here’s to a New Year and New Adventures! 2024 was an incredible year for astronomical events. Many members experienced the awe-inspiring total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, with some traveling to witness this rare celestial phenomenon firsthand. Closer to home, parts of the Bay Area were treated to a dazzling […]
My Favorite Astronomer: Claudius Ptolemy
As someone who used to write an astronomy column for the San Mateo Daily Journal and a huge astronomy fan, I know most of the ancient astronomers but of course, not all. There was a name that kept reappearing in my research that I wasn’t familiar with. I’m not sure if he’s my favorite astronomer, […]
Familiar Faces Return to Crestview for Comet Gazing
San Mateo County Fire Department employees from left to right are Firefighter Matt Hoffmann, Engineer John Hollander, Fire Capt. Jordan Motts and Fire Capt. Chris Schaefer. If you’ve been keeping up on our newsletter, you might recall we had an unusually exciting Star Party July 3. The San Mateo County Fire Department came out to Crestview […]
SMCAS Annual Holiday Party!
Mark your calendars for an evening of fun, food, and fellowship at the San Mateo County Astronomical Society’s annual holiday party! 📅 Date: Thursday, January 18, 2018 ⏰ Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 📍 Location: Crystal Springs United Methodist Church 2145 Bunker Hill Dr, San Mateo, CA 94402 This year’s celebration is a potluck! […]
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 […]