What an excellent outing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Young Men’s Encampment! There were about 60 guests on site, and what a pleasure! We started off with a fairly detailed tour of the whole facility followed by a bit of Lunar viewing thru John’s refractor and Cecil running the 20″ […]
Hi all! Tomorrow, Tuessday, August 2nd, from 6PM to 8PM I will be at the Riverdale, IA Fire Station for public solar viewing. On the evening of Wednesday, August 3rd we have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Young Men’s Encampment at the Menke/QCAS Observatory… about 70 guests are anticipated. On Monday, […]
Hi all! The Eastern Iowa Star Party is alive and well, but of course in post-COVID recovery mode! This year’s event will be held on the night’s of Sept 23, 24, and 25…. Mark your calendars! What recovery mode means is that we wont have raffles or guest speakers this year, but weather permitting, 3 […]
Great Meteor Shower Party at the Menke/QCAS Observatory last nite! —— THE RAFFLE WINNER —— From Riverdale, Iowa! Anthony H! —— CONGRATULATIONS!!! —— Thank you to all that purchased tickets, and those that attended the event!!! We did see a number of ‘Shooting Stars’… and folks were able to look thru a number of member […]
Weather pending, the Quad Cities Astronomical Society (QCAS) will be hosting it’s annual Meteor Shower Party, a free public viewing session, on Saturday, July 30th. The event begins shortly after sunset. Their observatory is located near the entrance of the Wapsi River Environmental Educational Center outside of Dixon, Iowa. A Google Map link to the […]
The sky reborn Ever since I read Bart J. Bok’s foreword to Rose Wilder’s and Gerald Ames’ The Golden Book of Astronomy, I have marvelled at what the night sky had to offer and how much of that has changed. “Such wonders,” Bok wrote, ”fill this book.” I have never forgotten those beauties, in particular […]
We had a great turn out at the Putnam today. Inside displays included: John displaying club astrophotography Robert with solar system planets and active artificial satellites and a Webb PowerPoint. Jeff with Wilton Observatory solar display, Quad City Coin Club astronomy in numismatics display. Dino brought in space rocks and display. Sam brought the Orion […]
Hi all! Dispite the evil orb and a bit of dew, we had a great outing last night! For those that missed it, you really need to try and attend future activities! Cecil manned the 20″ Newtonian in the roll off roof building, Robert manned the 14″ Schmidt Cassegrain, and from the classroom I remoted […]
Skyward for July 2022 The Meteor Shower that wasn’t, but not so much By David H. Levy On May 30 observers all across the western hemisphere were outside, hoping to see a wonderful “new” meteor shower. The shower is actually not new. It is called the Tau Herculids, and it sends us dust particles from […]
Nothing in the night sky quite beats a total eclipse of the Moon. Other than a shooting star, eclipses prove to all who watch them that the sky is a changing place. During the several hours of a lunar eclipse, we can actually watch as the Moon slowly orbits the Earth, and as it passes […]