The next regular educational meeting of the San Juan Stargazers will be on Thursday, Aug. 6, starting at 6 p.m. with our social hour (meaning there is no exact starting time from 6 to 7 p.m.)
Everyone is invited to this learning gathering because the beauty of astronomy is that everyone has more to learn than we currently know.
That is also what is so important about the James Webb Space Telescope. It is at the cutting edge of astronomy, but you don’t need to know everything to start learning about the latest discovery. Everyone was once a beginner at astronomy. Remember also that everyone is intimidated to attend a new group and start learning a new subject, but we try to make it easy and worth the effort.
We encourage you to try it and see if you leave our session with a greater wonder and appreciation of your life and the amazing universe we are part of.
We meet at the Community United Methodist Church at 434 Lewis St. Due to downtown road construction, take Hot Springs Boulevard to Lewis Street and then a half block to the left to the parking lot. Everything is so convenient in that you use the side door off the parking lot into the kitchen and then into the fellowship hall. You can just sneak right in and take a seat. The main doors to the church remain locked.
The educational part of our meeting begins at 7 p.m. and lasts about 1.5 hours. One of the suggestions made at our last meeting is to have shorter learning segments. Each month we will have a member present to share a lesson on a cellphone app that they use to study the night sky. We will get everyone on an app before they leave, so bring your phone and leave with a treasure.
We have had two study books using our wonderful calendars that we sell every year. We call it our Astronomy 101. We will have a short lesson using the calendar photos, then we will have our James Webb lesson. This month we will study the Pillars of Creation which started with the Hubble Telescope.
It is amazing to compare the differences between the photos taken by the two telescopes. The Pillars is probably the most famous photo, considered by Time Magazine to be among the 100 most famous photos of all time. You will enjoy learning interesting details about this fascinating site.
We end our meeting with time for discussion. It is said that when alien life is found it will change the world. These discussions help prepare us for such an experience, and it is such an exciting way to end our program.
We also will be starting a recording method for everyone to keep track of the lessons they have experienced.
If you want to join the San Juan Stargazers, you can do it at this meeting or you can check out our website, sanjuanstargazers.org, where we have much information about astronomy, our local club and the Astronomical League, which is a large group of people from all over the U.S. that you automatically belong to. There also are beautiful, amazing photos.
We look forward to the gathering of our members, but, as said, everyone is invited to come because the James Webb Space Telescope was made for all people on Earth so we know what an exciting time we live in. You can come as a family and increase your discussion time.
We will also have a star party on Aug. 12 near Hatcher Lake. Look for the article in The SUN for details. It is free and we will have lots of telescopes.
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