Greetings to the Society, A Blood Moon to Start the Season As we move into March and April, the sky is giving us plenty of reasons to step outside and look up—preferably with a telescope, a few friends, and perhaps a warm drink while the night air still reminds us that winter isn’t quite finished. […]
Category: Newsletter
Private Solar Observing at Elementary School
A few board members volunteered for a school assembly at St. Raymond Catholic Elementary School, Menlo Park. It’s also where Board Member Kimberly Alger works. Vice President Jason Zaman and Board Member Chanan Greenberg are the other members that volunteered for this event. Chanan began with the “Size of the Universe” presentation that covers comparable […]
Art Without An Artist:
Can AI Be Considered An Artist? Friday, March 20, 2026 at CSM
Speaker: Theo Schutt
Presentation on March 6, 8:00 pm PST in the CSM Planetarium Speaker: Theo Schutt, Cosmologist, Stanford/SLAC, KIPAC From First Light to Feature Film: Preparing Rubin to Record a Decade-long Cosmic Show Sorry, this event has sold out, tickets no longer available. You may try attending on standby basis, no guarantee of entry. This event is […]
Artemis Mission Prep
By: Mira Kirshnan To Be Updated … The Artemis missions aren’t just about landing on the Moon, they’re also about learning how to stay there, and go farther. Artemis will be the second time we set foot on the moon since the Apollo missions in 1961, and it will not only be vital for gaining […]
🎉 SMCAS Annual Holiday Party – January 31, 6–9 p.m. 🎉
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 […]
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 […]