19-21 Aug. 2025
– The Moon Visits
3 Planets at Dawn
Illustration courtesy of
SKY & TELESCOPE
Next Public Star Gaze
Image credit: club member Jerry Sherman – taken at Grassland Mtn. Observatory
Continue to check this home page as weather could change the venue or postpone and possibly cancel a star gaze. Check again after 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the observing session for the latest info and update.
Aug. 13, 2025 update: Due to water damage caused by a roof leak, Lookout Obs. remains temporarily closed.
A lightning strike in July damaged a circuit board in the primary telescope mount at Grassland Mtn. Obs. This will take some time to repair, but the public star gazes will still be conducted there using portable telescopes.
22 August 2025 — Friday night — This public star gaze will be held at Grassland Mountain Observatory in Madison County, with a weather backup night of Saturday, 23 August. This event is free and open to everyone — registration is not necessary to attend. A temporary gate code, required for entry, will be provided here on the day of the star gaze by 5:00 p.m. Directions to Grassland Mountain Observatory can be found here. These star gazes normally conclude about 3 to 4 hours after sunset, and visitors are not permitted to stay past the conclusion time. Sunset occurs at 8:10 p.m.
26 Aug. 2025
– Conjunction of the Moon with Mars at Dusk
Illustration created using SkySafari and PowerPoint software
4 Sept. 2025 – Club Meeting Presentation
— Thursday night, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
This free speaker presentation will be offered in-person at the
UNC-Asheville Reuter Center and virtually online. Registration is not required; use this Zoom link to watch the presentation remotely.
Although parking for this meeting at the Reuter Center is free, you must register your vehicle with a “Visitor 5pm – 6am” permit type
at this link. Once registration is complete, visitors will not need to print or display a permit; the new system utilizes camera-based License Plate Recognition technology. All vehicles must park front-end in, so that the license plate is visible.
Mars Machines: A Brief History of Robots on Mars
– presented by
David Johnston,
NASA Solar System Ambassador
In 1877, Giovanni Schiaparelli first identified “canali” on Mars. Since then, humans have been obsessed with exploring Mars. But Mars is an unfriendly place for humans; so we send our machines to explore. This is a brief history of those robotic machines and what they’ve found.
7&8 Sep. 2025
– A Full Moon Rises with Saturn
Illustration courtesy of
SKY & TELESCOPE