Madison Astronomical Society

Month: August 2019

  • Donald Park Star Party

    August 2019 – Donald Park

    1945 State Road 92, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin

    The Donald Park star party is a family friendly event at a lovely county park. This is a chance to see the stars and planets through many different telescopes and binoculars – bring your blanket or lawn chair and sit back later in the evening for a night of watching meteors.

    Presentation for guests on meteor showers and planets by the Madison Astronomical Society before the stars come out. Sunset is about 8:08 pm, observing planets can begin about that time with fainter objects as it gets darker. Temps usually fall a bit after sunset so dress accordingly.

    Donald Park of Dane County

  • Chasing Shadows: Planning for and Imaging ISS Transits of the Sun and Moon – Jeffrey E. Shokler

    Friday August 9, 2019, 7:00pm – UW Space Place

    How do you catch something travelling at 17,500 mph as it moves between you and a target that might be 92 million miles away (or maybe only 240,000 miles away)? Longtime MAS member and astrophotographer Jeffrey Shokler will show us how to plan for International Space Station transits of the Sun and Moon, and also about his recent experiences capturing images of those events. You’ll learn about on-line planning tools, strategies for the week before, day before, and day of in terms of positioning and set-up. Jeff will also share the approaches he has taken to both capturing and processing the transit data in order to create finished images of ISS transits.

    About the Speaker:
    Jeffrey E. Shokler is a current member, Vice President, and past President of the Madison Astronomical Society. An amateur astronomer for over 30 years, only five years ago Jeff took the dive into astrophotography – imaging with DSLR cameras and, most recently, with a dedicated CCD camera.