The New Braunfels Astronomy Club celebrates its 300th monthly meeting 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 at Tye Preston Memorial Library (TPML), 16311 S. Access Rd., Canyon Lake.
The public is invited to attend.
Member George Cooper will present the ‘Big Bang Theory (not the TV show).’
Steve Ellery said the club was founded in the late 1990s by Larry Pratt, who organized a group of local amateur astronomers from around the New Braunfels area.
“We have no officers, no dues, it’s just a bunch of people that share a love for astronomy that get together once a month to talk about what’s in the sky this month and to plan our public outreach star parties,” he said.
Between 18 to 25 people show up for monthly meetings and there are 280 on the club’s email distribution list.
Although Pratt’s daughter Paula still attends meetings, most of the amateur astronomers joined within the last six years.
The club hosts public Astronomy Nights/star parties at the library every month from September through May. Large telescopes are set up for public viewing.
Members cater to children “because we want to promote science and astronomy when they look through the telescopes and get excited,” Ellery said.
Kids are one of the big reasons the Astronomy Club does not host these star parties during the hot summer months, when it gets dark too late.
But with the earth now tilting away from the sun, star parties are in full swing again.
The astronomy club’s most well-attended star parties are in November, December and January. As many as 150 people will show up for a chance to see a planet, nebula or galaxy suspended in the night sky.
“A lot of people come because they have never looked through a telescope at all,” Ellery said. “The most exciting time is fall, when the planets are up and you can see Saturn’s rings, we get a lot of ‘oh, wows.'”
The club’s primary telescope is a Celestron Edge HD 9.25-inch donated by Trish Stevens, whose husband Bob Keyser was an avid astronomer and early member.
The new telescope, which is suitable for astrophotography, replaced the 11-inch Celestron at the observatory at TPML.
Both telescopes come out for star parties/astronomy nights, which are scheduled once a month around the moon’s cycle. Too much light makes it hard to see the stars.
People are welcome to bring their own telescopes, Ellery said. Club members will help set them up.
The New Braunfels Astronomy Club meets 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. All meetings are at the library. To check for star parties, visit tpml.org or follow the library’s Facebook page.
More information is available on the club’s website, astronomynbtx.org.
“Because it’s out there.”
