Rose City Astronomers

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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.

๐ŸŒŒ ๐“๐š๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒAstronomy and music collide most splendidly in Gustav Holstโ€™s ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ด, coming this week to...
10/08/2026

๐ŸŒŒ ๐“๐š๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ

Astronomy and music collide most splendidly in Gustav Holstโ€™s ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ด, coming this week to the Oregon Symphony. Travel the solar system through seven movements inspired by the mythological and astrological personalities associated with the planetsโ€”each world with its own distinct musical character. ๐Ÿช

๐Ÿ“… Thursday, October 8, 7:30 PM
๐Ÿ“… Saturday, October 10, 7:30 PM
๐Ÿ“… Sunday, October 11, 2:00 PM

๐ŸŽŸ๏ธ Tickets are on sale now at ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ฒ.๐จ๐ซ๐ 

๐๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ง: ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐’๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Œ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌThis monthโ€™s General Meeting is with author Scott ...
09/21/2026

๐๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ง: ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐’๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Œ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ

This monthโ€™s General Meeting is with author Scott Solomon, who will be signing copies of his book! ๐Ÿ“š

As commercial space travel accelerates and plans for long-term human settlement beyond Earth move closer to reality, questions once confined to science fiction are becoming matters of scientific and policy relevance. ๐–๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฉ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š ๐ ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก, ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐›๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž. But what happens to the human body and mind in the extreme conditions of space? What should space travelers expect during journeys to orbiting space stations, the Moon, or Mars โ€” and what are the longer-term implications if some choose to stay? These questions extend even further when considering future generations: What would happen to children born on another planet, and how might life beyond Earth shape human evolution? ๐Ÿš€

Scott Solomon, an evolutionary biologist, professor, and science communicator will discuss his new book โ€œBecoming Martianโ€ (MIT Press), which explores how humanityโ€™s migration into space could reshape human biology and minds. Drawing on research from biology, genetics, and space science, ๐’๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ž.

๐Ÿ“ OMSI
๐Ÿ“† Monday, September 21st
๐Ÿ•ข 7:30 pm

๐Ÿ–ผ ๐˜—๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต: ๐˜•๐˜ˆ๐˜š๐˜ˆ/๐˜‘๐˜—๐˜“-๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ/๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข

๐‹๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐๐š๐ง๐ค ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ“กOn Monday, Oregon State University Ph.D. student and friend of the clu...
08/16/2026

๐‹๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐๐š๐ง๐ค ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ“ก

On Monday, Oregon State University Ph.D. student and friend of the club Cat Catlett will share some of their experiences supporting the Green Bank Observatory. The observatory is located in the National Radio Quiet Zone on the border between West Virginia and Virginia. It contains the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), which is the largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the world with a diameter of 100 m. Cat is now continuing their work in radio astronomy as part of the NANOGrav team at OSU. It will be fun to hear Cat's perspective on their journey as an up and coming radio astronomer and it would be great to have you join us! ๐ŸŒ€

๐˜ˆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต ๐Ÿช

Victoria โ€œCatโ€ Catlett worked as a software engineer for the Green Bank Observatory (GBO), developing and maintaining the monitor and control systems of the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Cat is now entering their second year as a physics graduate student at Oregon State University (OSU), where they do research for the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) under the support of the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF).

๐Ÿ“ OMSI
๐Ÿ“† Monday, August 23rd
๐Ÿ•ข 7:30 pm

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฒ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž: A Brief (Recent) History of Astrophotography As Told Through My JourneyCome meet ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐-๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ ...
07/18/2026

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฒ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž: A Brief (Recent) History of Astrophotography As Told Through My Journey

Come meet ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐-๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ก๐ž๐ซ (and RCA member) ๐Š๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ง ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐, as he walks us through the history and evolution of astrophotography!

With a lifelong passion for astronomy and a university degree in photography, Kevin has been photographing eclipses since 2002 and began deep-space imaging in 2013. He currently operates imaging setups in Chile and New Mexico. His images have been published by Scientific American, The Atlantic, and Sky & Telescope Magazines. A local Portland resident, he has been an RCA member since 2017.

๐Ÿ“ OMSI
๐Ÿ“† Monday, July 20th
๐Ÿ•ข 7:30 pm

๐˜—๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต: ๐˜’๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ

Join us for a free star party!The event, sponsored by OMSI, Rose City Astronomers, and Oregon Parks and Recreations, wil...
07/17/2026

Join us for a free star party!

The event, sponsored by OMSI, Rose City Astronomers, and Oregon Parks and Recreations, will have telescopes set up for attendees to use. Star Parties provide a great opportunity to meet other people that share your interest in astronomy, and to view the planets, moon, stars, and other celestial sights through telescopes and binoculars of all sizes. From beginners to experts, all ages are invited.

๐Ÿ“ Stub Stewart State Park
๐Ÿ•— 8 PM - Midnight

07/16/2026

Spend an evening under the stars with Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Rose City Astronomers and Oregon State Parks! ๐Ÿ”ญ

โœจ Summer Night Sky โ€“ July 18 (Stub Stewart)
โœจ Perseid Meteor Shower Watch โ€“ Aug 12 (Stub Stewart + Rooster Rock)
โœจ Equinox Celebration โ€“ Sept 12 (Stub Stewart)

More information: https://omsi.edu/events/omsi-star-party/

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

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Portland, OR
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