Club Membership Features
- Introduction
- The EAS consists of a group of about 45 individuals
in and around Everett and the Snohomish County interested
in Astronomy.
- EAS History
- The group formed about 1980, after starting out as a
few friends who would call each other up on the spur-of-the-moment
(clear weather) to go observing.
- Reasons for joining
- People join to learn about current astronomical topics,
to go out observing, to find out about telescopes, to meet
and share experiences with other people interested in Astronomy.
- Open to public
- All our meetings and events are open to the public,
and we try to put on events specifically for the public,
such as the ‘sidewalk astronomy’ and Astronomy Day.
- Meetings
- We have monthly meetings where we have speakers or videos
or slideshows. We often have astronomers, especially from
the University of Washington, come and talk to us about
their work or recent discoveries. We try to have something
for everyone, and have had a diverse range of topics, including
for example, such as archeo-astronomy of the Egyptians,
Maya, and Native Americans, or demonstration and review
of astronomy software programs. Our meetings are held (generally)
on the last Saturday of the month at the Aurora Astro product
store.
- Newsletter
- We publish a newsletter (The Stargazer) for our members,
containing information about the club and its activities,
about current sky information, and about news of astronomical
discoveries. A lot of that information comes from many sources
on the internet.
- Star parties
- One of our other main activities are holding ‘star parties’.
A star party, as you may know, is an observing session that
brings many people together at the same place and time to
share knowledge of interesting sky objects, and try out
other types of telescopes.
- EAS regular star parties
- Different astronomy clubs have different approaches
to this; most of our star parties are small and informal
affairs held at the homes of some of our members who live
deep enough into the suburbs to escape the worst light pollution.
- Star party activities
- Observing interesting objects, trying to see all of
the objects on certain historical lists, such as Messier
102 objects, and Herschel 400 objects. Trying out telescopes,
sharing knowledge are popular. Some people concentrate on
certain types of objects, such as the moon, or planets like
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, or deep space objects like faint
50 million light year away galaxies.
- Discount on magazines
- A benefit of club membership is a discounted rate for
Astronomy or Sky &Telescope magazines.
- Club telescopes
- Our club has 3 telescopes, the largest is a 10"
Dobsonian that are available to be loaned out to our club
members. This can help someone that has no scope, or just
a small one, and give them experience with what to expect
before rushing out and buying a scope that might not suit
them very well.
- Sidewalk astronomy
- The EAS likes to share astronomy with the general public,
and although we don’t have a major organized activity in
this area, we have tried to take advantage of some of the
dramatic events of the past few years, such as Comet Hyakutake,
Comet Hale Bopp, and a couple of total lunar eclipses to
hold and publicize observing sessions located where the
people are, at parks and marinas and even shopping centers.
Most people are very surprised to see.
- Light pollution
- Light pollution is one of the two main problems confronting
amateur astronomers in the Puget Sound area. (the other
is the cloudy weather). The millions of outdoor lights light
up the outdoor sky, and make all but the brightest stars
invisible. To escape it completely, you must go 60 miles
or more from Seattle, and even stay somewhat away from small
towns. This means traveling to the Cascades or central Washington
area. This also helps avoid the clouds.
- Regional star parties
- During the summer each year, there are annual star parties
held in the northwest that attract a large group of amateurs
to dark wilderness sites far from city lights.
In our area is the Table Mountain Regional Star Party held
just north of Ellensburg WA at the 6300 foot level on Table
Mountain, near the Lion Rock campground. Each year usually
attracts over 1200 enthusiasts, with hundreds of telescopes,
many with innovative designs, and some as large as 41 inches
in diameter. It late July or early August. Check the web
page here for this years details:
http://www.tmspa.com/
Oregon has the Oregon Star Party at Indian Trail Springs
in the Ochoco National forest in central Oregon east of
Burns. About 700 attendees here, very dry, some of the best
skies in North America. Usually in early September 9-12.
Good place for serious deep sky photography.
http://www.oregonstarparty.org/
Mt Kobau star party in British Columbia.
- Astronomy Day activities
- Once a year, there is a day established as ‘International
Astronomy Day’. For several years, our group has setup displays
at the Everett Public library during the daytime, and a
star party at a park in northern downtown Everett.
- Talking to groups
- We also have members that enjoy going out and talking
to various school classes, youth groups, and other organizations
to present slide shows and current astronomy information
and to host special star parties. This often puts an amateur
with a lot of background knowledge together with kids and
others with lots of interest and questions.
Special Interest Subjects
- Observing
- Looking at the night sky with eyes, binoculars, and
telescopes and learning what is there.
- Speakers
- Listening to presentations by astronomers and hobbyists.
- Imaging
- Photography and electronic imaging of sky objects. Imaging
the Sky 2000 (Salem, OR).
- Computer Astronomy
- Software programs that allow mapping, study, planning,
and imaging. See sites http://www.seds.org/billa/astrosoftware.html
or http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/software.html for
software download info.
- Telescope making
- Building telescopes for observing.
- KPLU Radio Program
- KPLU 88.5 FM National Public Radio has daily broadcasts
of "Star Date" by the McDonald Observatory of
the University of Texas at Austin, Monday through Friday
at 8:58 A.M. and 5:58 P.M. Saturday and Sunday). The short
2 minute radio show deals with current topics of interest
in astronomy.
- Astronomy Travel
- Traveling to far away places to see eclipses, comets,
etc.
- Community Outreach
- Club members give star parties and talks to local groups
and schools.
- Application
- To join the club, fill out the
application
and send it in to us. The address is on the application
itself.
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