Miami Valley Astronomical Society

06/20/2026

At 4:24 tomorrow morning (Sunday) the sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky and begins its long, slow march southward marking the longest day (and shortest night) of the year and the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.

Happy Summer Solstice! ☀️

06/20/2026

Fun fact... Venus is sweeping past the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer (the Crab) this evening. As dusk deepens into night take a peek at this brilliant planet shining in the west using a pair of binoculars or small telescope. If you look just a tad to it's lower left (south) you'll see the cluster. This should also make an excellent photo-op!

Enjoy!

06/17/2026

Well, this was an unexpected addition to the family; a 1958 vintage 60mm f/15 Goto Hy-Score model 451. It included all of the original accessories and paperwork. The lens has just a tiny bit of haze on the inner face that I will take care of when I get a chance and there were a few loose screws that were easy to set right. One of those was holding the rack gear to the draw tube and tightening this screw firmed the focuser right up. Overall, the scope and mount are in pristine condition. I snuck it outside for a bit this evening before the clouds rolled in and I was able to easily find Venus by using an inclinometer to set the altitude then sweeping in azimuth until it appeared in a low power (45x) field. At 150x (6mm Ortho) showed Venus as a perfectly sharp waning gibbous phase. It was an absolutely gorgeous brilliant white against the deep blue sky.

Wonderful!

06/15/2026

Taking a peek at Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus at dusk. Of the three, Mercury is the most interesting showing a tiny, tan, waning crescent phase. It is slowly growing larger each evening as it swings around from behind the sun, though it will also be dropping lower in the sky as well. All three make quite a pretty line-up with Pollux and Castor off to the right.

06/13/2026

It looks like we are going to sneak in one excellent evening before we return to unsettled weather. I decided set up my 6” f/15 Jaegers. This scope offers exceptional image quality with excellent light grasp on a very stable, user-friendly mount. Speaking of the mount, it’s a repurposed Cave Astrola with 1.5” steel shafts on a modified Meade Giant Field Tripod. This combination is smooth, rock solid, and very easy to use. The large setting circles makes it quick and easy to locate targets and the smooth mount is perfect for star-hopping. I took a sneak peek at Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus at dusk and they looked great! Mercury shows a fine waning crescent, Jupiter shows a wealth of fine details, and Venus shows a brilliant waning gibbous phase. Off to a great start!

06/12/2026

Just a reminder that our General Meeting is tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the VFW #3283 in Huber Heights (5074 Nebraska Ave.)

Our General Meetings are open to the public; if you've ever thought about joining our club, these meetings are also great opportunities to learn more about what we're doing and how you can get involved.

Tonight's special guest is Dr. Eli Visbal from the University of Toledo, who will discuss Population III stars, why they're challenging to detect, and how the James Webb Space Telescope is helping astronomers make critical observations of these stars.

The full agenda for the night includes:

- Board Announcements/Upcoming Events
- Club News/News from Members
- Astrophoto Show & Tell
- Constellations of the Month: Crater and Sextans
- 10-Minute Break
- Dr. Eli Visbal's 45-minute program, "Observational Signatures of the First Stars in the James Webb Space Telescope Era"
- Door prizes/raffle prizes.

Anyone attending has a chance to win a door prize; raffle prize tickets cost extra but we accept cash and card. Tonight's raffle prize is a hand-crafted astronaut lamp.

There will also be light refreshments, including a strawberry rhubarb pie.

We hope to see you there!

06/11/2026

Venus and Jupiter aren't as close together as they were last night, but still very pretty! Also, Mercury is an easy binocular object a few degrees to the lower right of Jupiter. Through a small telescope Jupiter is clearly the larger of the 3 even though it is _much_ farther away. Venus shows a waning gibbous phase, and Mercury appears as a tiny half phase.

Enjoy!

Send a message to learn more

06/09/2026

If you get a chance this evening step outside for a bit during dusk and look to the west. If we get lucky and the clouds cooperate we'll get a peek of the conjunction between Venus and Jupiter as they are separated by less than 2 degrees. Venus will be the brighter and higher of the pair. No equipment needed, just your eyes and a break in the clouds. Bonus... Mercury will be to the lower right of the Venus/Jupiter pair. Mercury should be visible with just your eyes, but a pair of binoculars will help.

Enjoy the show!

06/05/2026

My next Great Adventure! A 1970s vintage 4" f/15 Edmund refractor on a repurposed 1960s vintage Criterion RV-6 mount and a 1980s vintage Meade field tripod. I picked the scope up yesterday and spent much of today taking it completely apart, cleaning it, fixing a few things, and putting it back together. Tonight is First Light! Venus at dusk looked pretty good. Should be fun!

06/03/2026

The Magic is strong with this one…

I was pretty exhausted after a full day of driving (we just finished a two day drive home from Texas) but the tonight and the next two evenings look like they could be gorgeous so I just had to get a scope out. There are a few things that I wanted to finish on the evaluation of my 1978 vintage C14. This shows the scope in its star-hopping configuration fitted with a repurposed ETX-80 as a finder. Not shown is the dew shield and Reflectix wrap that were installed shortly after this picture was taken.