• Nebula Noir: Hunting the Ghosts of Dead Stars

    Friday, Aug 14, 2026, 7 pm, location Memorial High School

    Zach Holcomb portrait.

    Zach Holcomb

    We are diving into the hidden, sprawling remnants of the cosmos. This two-part presentation begins with an accessible journey through the fundamental classifications of nebulae and the physics of these stellar ghosts. Then, we pivot to a surprising reality: why billion-dollar space telescopes have a massive blind spot for multi-degree objects.

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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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    • Congratulations, Jack!

      Collage of newsletter covers and portrait of Jack, recognizing him for receiving an award for best newsletter in the Astronomical League's North Central Region.

      Congrats to Jack Fitzmier for his recent recognition as our newsletter editor. Thanks to Jack’s efforts, we can now say “award-winning MAS newsletter.”

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