Madison Astronomical Society

  • Landscape Astrophotography: Mistakes and Second Chances

    Friday, Mar 13, 2026, 7 PM, UW Space Place

    John Rummel headshot

    Mistakes and Second Chances

    John Rummel

    Photographic mistakes take many different forms. Some can be very expensive. Like when you’ve traveled thousands of miles to be in the exact location, at the exact time, to take a very specific shot. When you screw it up, second chances can be difficult to arrange, or may just be impossible.

    In this March meeting presentation, John Rummel will talk about a multi-year plan to be in that spot, to take THAT shot, and how it all went wrong.

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    • M31, Then and Now

      blinking GIF comparing shots of M31 from the Palomar Survey (POSS) and a modern Seestar.
      The Palomar Sky Survey shot of M31 blink compared to the one from Carol Santulis’s SeeStar. Can you tell which is which?

      Sometimes I like to sit back and marvel at the remarkable progress our hobby has seen over the past half century or so. Technology has revolutionized everything, but perhaps nothing has changed more profoundly than astrophotography.

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    All Astro News

    • MAS Seeks New Space

      MAS members sitting at a meeting, listening to a guest speaker
      MAS members at a monthly meeting in Space Place, August, 2024.

      For the first time in nearly 30 years, MAS is looking for a new home for its monthly meetings.

      Space Place, which is the UW Astronomy Department’s home for outreach and education, will be closing its doors when the lease expires in June. According to Jim Lattis, the recently retired director of Space Place, the UW admin has been mulling this move for some time, and has finally made the decision to shutter the operation.

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    All MAS News

  • MAS Member Photos