The Eugene Astronomical Society is a group of amateur astronomers dedicated to observing the sky and learning about the Universe, and sharing that understanding and appreciation of astronomy with students and the general public.
We invite you to read the rest of our mission statement here, or feel free to take a look around.
Next event: July 22nd SUN-day in the Park
On Sunday the 22nd we will have our second SUN-day in the park. Several of our club members have special telescopes and filters that allow safe viewing of our nearest star -- the Sun -- and we'll be sharing the view with the public. Our first event on July 15th was a great success, so we plan to do this every Sunday for as long as the weather holds. Come see solar prominences, filaments, sunspots, spicules, faculae, and various other difficult to pronounce but beautiful features visible in our scopes. Some days the Sun is quiet and there's not much to see, but other days it can be quite dramatic. Drop by on SUN-days and see what's happening up there.
We'll gather near the scale model Sun to the south of the duck pond in Alton Baker Park, starting at noon.
Solar viewing must be done with the proper equipment! Don't try viewing the Sun unless you have the right equipment for it and know how to use it safely. Come to our SUN-days and view it safely with us.
Dark Sky Star Party August 4 at Dexter State Park
Every year we host a dark sky star party at Dexter State Park. Fifteen miles from Eugene, this site is far enough from the city sky glow to allow us to see many of the galaxies, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects that are obscured by light pollution when viewed from town. If you haven't seen a truly dark sky through a telescope before, you're in for a treat. For that matter, even if you have before, you're still in for a treat!
This star party attracts dozens of astronomers with telescopes, some as large as 20 inches in aperture. The view of Saturn, Jupiter, star clusters, nebulae, and distant galaxies is simply stunning. This is a don't-miss opportunity, and it's absolutely free. Just show up at dusk (about 9:00) and join us for a view of some of the universe's greatest hits.
We have an ongoing tradition of giving away telescopes at this star party. This year, in celebration of our tenth anniversary of doing this, we're giving away *two* telescopes: a 4.5" Orion Starblast and a 6" Orion Skyquest Dobsonian. Both are brand new telescopes with extra eyepieces to make complete observing packages. And bonus: we'll provide free instruction to the lucky winners.
To be eligible for the telescope giveaway, entrants must be between the ages of 8 and 18, inclusive, and they must be present to win.
Dark adaptation is very important at star parties, and white light or bright light of any color destroys night vision. We ask that you don't use white-light flashlights or cell phones or cameras with flash during the star party. If you need a flashlight, we will provide a red-filtered one for you, or we can cover your white light with red filter material. Stop at our information table on your way in for that service. But once you allow your eyes to adapt to the low light level, we think you'll be surprised at how well you can see to get around just by the light of the stars.
Star parties are very informal events. Just wander around the site and inquire what each telescope is looking at. If it's pointed at something you haven't seen yet, get in line and have a look.
For more information on star party etiquette, read here: http://www.eugeneastro.org/starparties).
If the star party is clouded out, check our website for a rescheduled event.
Thank you to the Canadian Meteorlogical Center and cleardarksky.com for this forecast of our observing conditions:
