Since 2012, the Club has held Star Parties at the Tye Preston Memorial Library, 16311 South Access Road, Canyon Lake The Library is home to the Ravenstar Outdoor Education Brown Smith Observatory. The Observatory now houses the Bob Keyser Edge HD 8″ Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain (SCT) on an iOptron CEM60 EQ Mount. The club will also set up our Celestron CPC11″ SCT and an 8″ Meade LX200. Additionally on Astronomy Nights, members of the club set up their own telescopes so you can view many objects during the same evening .
First everyone is invited into the Library for a presentation to learn what they may view that evening and then they go up to the observatory for an evening under the stars. If weather conditions prevent the use of telescopes, then there will be astronomical presentations inside.
Astronomy Nights are held monthly from January through May and September through April with November being our annual Sun Party. For the Sun Party, members bring specialized telescopes for viewing the Sun, sunspots, and solar prominences.
Dates for Astronomy Night Star Parties are as follows. We may change a date in the case of a very poor weather forecast so check here or the front page for the latest announcements.
2025 Dates:
June-Aug -No Astronomy Nights, too hot and too late.
September 13, 2025 at 8:30 to 10:00 PM
October 18, 2025 at 7:30 to 9:30 PM
November 8, 2025 at 12:30 to 2:30 PM – Sun Party!
December 13, 2025 at 6:30 to 8:30 PM
