Rose City Astronomers

Rose City Astronomers RCA is your local Portland, Oregon club promoting the enjoyment and education of astronomy to all. Come join us!

The Rose City Astronomers (RCA) club is the largest amateur astronomy club in the Pacific Northwest. RCA general meetings are held on the third Monday of each month. Guest speakers come from science- and astronomy-related fields. You'll find an interesting mix of topics at RCA club meetings.

Come join us in exploring the solar system on Monday night!Dr. Joe Izen of the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society is...
06/15/2026

Come join us in exploring the solar system on Monday night!

Dr. Joe Izen of the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society is Prof. Emeritus of Physics at the Univ. of Texas at Dallas. He is a member of the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron collider, but tonight he wears an amateur astronomerโ€™s hat. Joeโ€™s been photographing planets since the wet chemistry era of the 1960's. Joe now lives under very dark skies in Wyoming where he hosts astronomy star, comet, and eclipse parties at his home.

Solar System objects (except for comets) are particularly suitable astrophotography targets from cities. Planets, moons, and the Sun appear differently every day; some even have weather! Amateurs today shoot photos inconceivable in 1960's, even with professional observatories. The impossible has become doable due to the clever innovations of amateur astronomers and new imaging sensors. Joe will present a photographic tour of the solar system in pictures with glimpses into some astrotech magic.

Photos: NASA and Joe Izen

๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง? ๐ŸŒ•Why is it called a Blue Moon? Itโ€™s not actually blue, is it?No, a Bl...
06/01/2026

๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง? ๐ŸŒ•

Why is it called a Blue Moon? Itโ€™s not actually blue, is it?

No, a Blue Moon is not really blue โ€” the second full Moon of a month is called a Blue Moon. It happens rarely, hence the expression โ€œonce in a blue moonโ€.

Tonightโ€™s Moon is also a ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ง. The Moonโ€™s orbit is slightly elliptical, and when the Moon is farthest away from the Earth, it appears roughly 6% smaller than a typical full Moon.

๐๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐š๐ณ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง! ๐Ÿ’™

๐˜—๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต: ๐˜•๐˜ˆ๐˜š๐˜ˆ. ๐˜Œ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ.

๐ŸŒŸItโ€™s time for this yearโ€™s ASTRONOMY FAIR! โœจTonight at OMSI, join us for our biggest astronomy gathering of the year and...
05/18/2026

๐ŸŒŸItโ€™s time for this yearโ€™s ASTRONOMY FAIR! โœจ

Tonight at OMSI, join us for our biggest astronomy gathering of the year and celebrate all RCA has to offer. We have a wide variety of activities this year, including 9 different talks and planetarium shows from experts in our community.

Join us tonight at 6:30 PM to buy new or used gear, learn something new, and meet other RCA members! ๐Ÿ”ญ๐Ÿช๐Ÿ’ซ

๐Ÿ“ OMSI
๐Ÿ“† Monday, May 18th
๐Ÿ•ก 6:30โ€“9:00 PM

๐ŸŒ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐Ÿ’ซJoin us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of infor...
05/18/2026

๐ŸŒ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐Ÿ’ซ

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐Ÿ”Ž ๐…๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ž๐›๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐’๐ค๐ฒ ๐Ÿช

New to observing or just want to improve your skills? The night sky is full of wonders, but some of them can be difficult to find if you donโ€™t already know all the tricks. Discover the best ways to find your way around the night sky and how to find new objects to observe. Presented by RCAโ€™s VP of Membership, Ken Hose.

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•ฃ 8:30 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Classroom 1

๐ŸŒŸ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” โœจJoin us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of info...
05/17/2026

๐ŸŒŸ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” โœจ

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐’๐ž๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐’๐ˆ๐‘๐ˆ๐‹๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐†๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š ๐Ÿ“ธ

Seestar has revolutionized astrophotography by making it simple and accessible for just about everyone. But the onboard editing software that comes with your Seestar, while decent, wonโ€™t extract everything you want from your data. Learn how with the human eye and some free software, you can edit your Seestar photos to bring out every single detail that has been captured in the data. Join our Astronomical Imaging & Photography instructor Robert Nelson as he shows you how to elevate your images.

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•ข 7:30 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Classroom 4

โญ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒ Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of info...
05/17/2026

โญ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒ 

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง: ๐’๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ’ป

Have you ever struggled to come up with the perfect observing plan, juggling spreadsheets and star charts and doing math to figure out what exactly will be up in the sky and for how long? You wouldnโ€™t be the only one. Come meet RCAโ€™s star observer Brian Hayward, as he walks you through how to use this open-source software to come up with better observing agendas โ€” without the headaches. ๐Ÿ”ญ

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•— 8:00 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Classroom 1

๐Ÿ’ซ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” โœจJoin us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of info...
05/16/2026

๐Ÿ’ซ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” โœจ

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐‚๐€ ๐‹๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ: ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ“ ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐“๐š๐ค๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ ๐ŸŒŒ

Kelsey Yocum will be presenting a NEW observing list created by RCA members. These 75 objects will not only challenge you, but help you to become a better observer. Many of these objects donโ€™t often show up on other observing lists. How can this list level up your skills? Find out more at the Astronomy Fair!

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•ฃ 8:30 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Classroom 4

๐Ÿ”ญ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒŸJoin us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of infor...
05/15/2026

๐Ÿ”ญ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒŸ

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐Ÿ‘ฅ ๐’๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ค๐ฒ ๐š๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ŸŒ 

Meet Angele Mott Nickerson in the planetarium for a crash course in outreach for observers. Ever wanted to introduce others to the night sky, but werenโ€™t sure how or what to share with people? Angele will walk you through outreach dos and donโ€™ts, as well as take you on a guided tour of the perfect observing targets to share with new observers. Learn more at the Astronomy Fair!

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•ข 7:30 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Planetarium

๐ŸŒŒ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒ Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of info...
05/14/2026

๐ŸŒŒ ๐‘จ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’๐’๐’๐’Ž๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’๐’Œ๐’” ๐ŸŒ 

Join us on ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก for the Astronomy Fair, telescope library sale, and a series of informational talks from our community!

๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐’๐ค๐ฒ, ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ: ๐€ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐†๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐“๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ ๐Ÿ“ธ

This Monday, Steven Miller presents some of the many faces of astrophotography! Astrophotography is more than just observing, just photography, or just image processing โ€” itโ€™s an integrative hobby that borrows expertise from many fields, and there are so many different ways to be an astrophotographer. Come check out all the different ways you can capture the night sky! ๐Ÿ”ญ

๐Ÿ“† May 18th, 2026
๐Ÿ•— 8:00 PM
๐Ÿ“ OMSI Planetarium

Next week is the ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ and our Telescope Libraryโ€™s annual SALE! ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ”ญ Our telescope library is getting crowdedโ€ฆ ๐ˆ...
05/12/2026

Next week is the ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ and our Telescope Libraryโ€™s annual SALE! ๐Ÿ’ฅ

๐Ÿ”ญ Our telescope library is getting crowdedโ€ฆ ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ ๐ž๐š๐ซ, ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ. We might be the first telescope library in the country to have too much stuff! Proceeds benefit the Rose City Astronomers. Weโ€™ll also be hosting a personal gear swap for private sellers, so thereโ€™ll be plenty of gear to go around. ๐Ÿ’ธ

The astronomy fair takes place of our usual meeting at OMSI, and also features tables for local vendors, our special interest groups, local hobby groups, and more. Stick around for tons of talks โ€” ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ!

๐Ÿ“ OMSI
๐Ÿ“† MAY 18TH, 2026
๐Ÿ•ก Telescope Library sale opens at 6:30 PM

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1845 SE Water Avenue
Portland, OR
97214

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