Eugene Astronomical Society

Eugene Astronomical Society The Eugene Astronomical Society has been doing astronomy education and public outreach for many years. Member interests vary.

What sets us apart is our commitment to sharing the EYEPIECE with the public. We do "Star Parties!" We are happy to partner with community groups to put our experience in astronomy, observing, telescope technology, education and outreach to work for your project. Solar observing, lunar observing, technology, deep sky objects, astrophotography, and slide presentations for groups, and that represents a partial list.

06/09/2026

June 19th Star Party
Friday, June 19, 2026
9:15 PM 11:15 PM
Emerald Park
1400 Lake DriveEugene, OR, 97404

Emerald Park is turning out to be a great venue for our monthly star parties. On June 19th we’ll do it again. We’ll have telescopes on hand to show you the wonders of the spring sky, and there are plenty of them to see.

Weather permitting, the party will be held at Emerald Park on Lake Drive, off River Road in Eugene. Look for us on the basketball court on the southwest side of the park.

Star parties start at 6:00 p.m or dusk, whichever is later. and run until we run out of guests, tire out, or dew up. On June 19th, we’ll be starting about 9:15 and probably lasting until 11:15 or so.

05/31/2026

Next Meeting Thursday, June 18th, 7:00 p.m.
Telescope Workshop and General Get-Together

Our June 18th meeting will be our annual telescope workshop and general get-together. This is your opportunity to get help tuning up your astronomy gear for the summer observing season. If you have a scope that needs work, or if you need help learning how to use it, bring it! And if not, bring your expertise. You might be able to help someone else.
We’ll also use this time for general socializing. This is a chance to visit with and get to know other club members whom you might only know via the email list or in the dark at star parties.
People with scopes are encouraged to bring them a little early. We’ll be happy to help carry them in from the parking lot.

The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, June 18th at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).

05/24/2026

Solar Sunday is Back!

Join us this Sunday May 24th for Solar Sunday at Alton Baker Park. We will be there from 12 - 2 pm. We will have safe Telescopes for your viewing of the sun. There will be sun spots and flairs for you to look at. We meet at the scale model of the sun near the duck pond. Stop by and enjoy the view...Looking forward to seeing you there.

05/17/2026

May 22nd Star Party

Friday, May 22, 2026
9:00 PM 11:00 PM
Emerald Park 1400 Lake Drive Eugene, OR

Our last four star parties were great successes. On May 22nd we’ll do it again. We’ll have telescopes on hand to show you the wonders of the spring sky, and there are plenty of them to see.

Weather permitting, the party will be held at Emerald Park on Lake Drive, in the River Road area in Eugene. Look for us on the basketball court behind the main building.

Star parties start at 6:00 p.m or dusk, whichever is later. and run until we run out of guests, tire out, or dew up. On May 22nd, we’ll be starting about 9:00 and probably lasting until 11:00 or so.

05/06/2026

Monthly Meeting
Thursday May 21, 2026
7pm - Eugene Science Center

At our May meeting Ken Martin will present the month’s astrophotos, then Jerry Oltion will talk about our nearest star, the Sun. Looking at the Sun through a telescope or binoculars requires special equipment, but that equipment isn’t difficult to buy or even build yourself. And the view is spectacular, especially if you have the capability to view it in the single wavelength of hydrogen-alpha light. (The Sun is mostly hydrogen, so if you can restrict your view to the light given off by ionized hydrogen, you can see the chromosphere where most of the action is.) With that view you can see prominences and filaments standing out from the Sun’s surface, the granulation of convection cells, the disturbed areas around sunspots, and even solar flares, the incredible explosions that happen when powerful magnetic fields disconnect and reconnect.

Jerry will describe how to make a simple solar filter and how to use it safely, and he will also get into some of the physics of the Sun’s interior workings, such as why we have an 11-year sunspot cycle, what’s going on down at the Sun’s core, and what will happen to the Sun (and our solar system) when that core runs out of fuel in about 5 billion years.

Come learn some interesting facts about our nearest star! The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, May 21st at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).

04/05/2026

Next Meeting Thursday, April 16th,
7:00 p.m.
Astrophotos and Star Parties
At our April meeting Ken Martin will present the month’s astrophotos and present a slide show on “2026 Multi-Day Star Parties in Oregon, Washington, California and Beyond.”
Star parties like the Oregon Star Party and the Golden State Star Party draw hundreds of people every year to enjoy pristine night sky together. Come listen to Ken’s presentation and decide if one of these multi-day outings is something you’d like to do.
The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, April 16th at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).

03/12/2026

March 19th meeting: Light Pollution and What We Can Do About It, by Misty Bowman

Light pollution is one of the biggest problems amateur astronomers face. We often drive an hour or more out of town to get away from the light dome caused by street lights, porch lights, stadium lights, advertising lights, and just too many $ #@! lights. Fortunately, at least for us, Artificial Lighting At Night (ALAN) has been shown to be detrimental to far more than just the night sky. That means we have many allies in the fight against it. One of those allies is Misty Bowman, local advocate for the organization DarkSky Oregon and its parent organization, DarkSky International. Plus our new mayor, Kaarin Knudson, is on board with a proposal to pursue a lights-out campaign during bird migration season.

At our March Meeting, Misty will talk about the problem and the solutions that people are working on to reduce light pollution locally and worldwide, and she’ll also talk about ways that the Eugene Astronomical Society can participate in those solutions. Come hear what we can do to help preserve our beautiful dark sky.

At the meeting Ken Martin will also provide a slide show of the month’s astrophotos from other EAS members.

The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, March 19th at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).

02/04/2026

Next Meeting Thursday,February 19th, 7:00 p.m.
The Classic Observatories
by Bob Andersen

Today, going to the Moon is ancient history, but Bob Andersen remembers when it was ScienceFiction. Back then astronomy was done by looking through the telescope or by taking black and white film photographs. The astronomers didn’t even bother to make positive prints, they simply looked at the negatives. Stars were black dots on a white background.
And in those days the observatories were also architectural works of art. Bob has compiled a slideshow of some of these classic observatories and the major astronomical discoveries that were made inthem. Come see some beautiful architecture and marvel at how art and science blended back in the daywhen things were made to last.
At the meeting we will also have a slide show of the month’s astrophotos from other EAS members.

The meeting is at 7:00 on Thursday, February 19th at the Eugene Science Center planetarium, 2300Leo Harris Parkway in Eugene (behind Autzen Stadium).

01/16/2026

The Eugene Astonomical Society is hosting a star party on Friday, January 23rd at Emerald Park, 1400 Lake Drive in Eugene. Members will have telescopes set up for viewing galaxies, nebulae and more in the basketball court area behind the main building. It starts at 6pm and is weather dependant. There is no charge and all are welcome. Check back here for possible cancellation due to weather conditions.

Tonight's star party is cancelled due to clouds. Is your new astronomy equipment to blame?
12/26/2025

Tonight's star party is cancelled due to clouds. Is your new astronomy equipment to blame?

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