Seattle Astronomical Society

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Here is the recording from last week's general meeting.

June 2026 General Meeting - Artemis missions Special guest for the June 2026 general meeting was NASA Solar Syst...

Our friends at the Volunteer Park Telescope group will be setting up outside the Aaian Art Museum in Seattle, in Volunteer Park tonight.

Saturday June 20, 2026
835PM - 1015PM

It's gonna be the Moon and Venus show because it won't even really be dark by 1015 :).

But there's some cool stuff on the Moon to look at including a hint of mountains, including some peaks just barely lit up near the shadow line, some lines of dunes and neat shadows in some deep craters.

And Venus is a little more than half full so you might be able to notice that.

I've also been studying the angles of Sunsets for a couple years and have been stumped, but might be on to something if anyone wants to talk shop.

Might want long sleeves and pants just in case there are mosquitoes!

This weekend we have 3 events going on and the weather forecast is looking good for Saturday. Hopefully you can get out to a dark site and look at the stars.

Friday is the Covington astronomy class and star party. Note the park is undergoing renovations but the group is still going to be in the west parking lot off of SE 240th St and setting up telescopes on the sidewalk. The Astronomy 101 class will be held at city hall. For more information check out the website: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/covington-city-park-astronomy-class-stargazing-2026-06-19-18-00

On Saturday we have 2 events going on. The first is at Lakewood Park near Columbia City. This is a small community star party that likes to look at the moon. There is limited parking. See the event details for more information: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/lakewood-playground-star-party-2026-06-20-19-00

In the south end we have the Bonney Lake star party that is held at Big Sky Park in Tehaleh. They put on a "Introduction to the Night Sky" talk once the stars come out, for this weekend that will probably be around 10pm. Check out the event description: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/bonney-lake-stargazing-2026-06-20-21-00

Visitors are encouraged to bring chairs. Even though it is warm you might want to wear a light sweater or windbreaker to help keep the mosquitos off. Guests are encouraged to bring binoculars or a telescope. It is also suggested to load one of the popular planetarium apps on your phone such as Stellarium, SkySafari, or StarWalk II. These apps can make it easy to find targets and identify things you might see in the night sky.

There will be limited time to see Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus as they chase the sun to the horizon and set early.

Don't forget tonight's general meeting!
It's at TJO on the Univ of Washington.
Speaker starts just after 7pm.

Membership Meetup | Seattle Astronomical Club members meet to share stories, learn new techniques, and hear from guest speakers.

Join us for our June monthly meetup!

June was the first time we have allowed for people to be out on the telescope field. The grass has been growing for over a year and a half, we have been seeding it in the fall and spring with native prairie grass seed. It is finally established enough to allow people on it.

Now we are looking for someone to donate a riding mower to the club for use out at the Piney Woods dark sky site near Goldendale. Nothing fancy, it just needs to run and be able to cut about a half acre. You get to write it off as a donation.

It is great to now be able to have grass that is knee high and needs cutting on the telescope field.

If you think you have something you would like to donate please email [email protected].

About 12-15 people attended the star party at Piney Woods. A few pictures, including some from a Seestar. Some excellent observing conditions this weekend.

Lots of stargazing going on this weekend!

Tonight (friday 6/12) we have the Duvall star party. The fieldl be lit up from 8:30 to 9pm so people can set up their telescopes. Then the lights will be turned off. There is a seperate area set aside for astrophotographers so they are not disturbed by the general public as much. They are fiddling with all there bits and bytes. For more information click this link: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/duvall-stargazing-2026-06-12-21-00

Tomorrow night (saturday 6/13) we have the Snoqualmie Point park star party. Starts at 9pm. The Volunteer park telescope group will be out there as well. For more formation click this link: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/snoqualmie-point-park-stargazing-2026-06-13-21-00

Finally for members only there is the new moon event going on all weekend long, in fact it started yesterday. This is out near Goldendale on the club's 5 acre property. It takes about 3.5 hours to drive there from Seattle. The great thing is that it has very dark skies. You literally get lost in the stars. This is where members go to get some serious observing done. For more information click this link: https://www.seattleastro.org/events-1/piney-woods-new-moon-event-2026-06-11-19-00

Here is the link for tonight's (6/10) Board Meeting starts at 7pm

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87980016254?pwd=iFS6bWIJTIHmVMFKXmQVM0SNhTWt1o.1

Meeting ID: 879 8001 6254
Passcode: 556247

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