San Jose Astronomical Association

@sjastronomy

We are the San Jose Astronomical Association, bringing astronomy and science to the people of San Jose, the SF Bay Area, and beyond. Come explore the cosmos with us at a star party! 🚀🌙✨🌞🛰🌌🔭 sjaa.net

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San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· 2d

You don't need a telescope—just find a safe, dark location, give your eyes time to adjust, and enjoy the show. ✨ Best viewing: After midnight until dawn on Aug. 13 (with good activity possible the nights before and after).

Text: For the best experience: Get away from city lights. Give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adjust. Avoid bright phone screens. Bring a reclining chair or blanket. Nights can get chilly—dress warmly! Background: Graphic of the night sky over a horizon silhouette.

Text: How Many Will You See? Under dark skies, you may see 60–100 meteors per hour near the peak. In the Bay Area, city lights will reduce that number—but even a few bright meteors can make for an unforgettable night. Background: Many meteor streaks against the night sky with the Milky Way on the left and over the rocky hills of the Mojave Desert.

Text: Whether you're in your backyard or at a dark-sky site… Take a moment to look up. Meteor showers remind us that our solar system is still an active, dynamic place—and sometimes the best astronomy requires nothing more than your own eyes. Background: Graphic of a night sky of a city skyline’s silhouette.

Text: Perseids Peak August 12–13. Show us your Perseids! Tag @SJAstronomy Use #Perseids2026 More observing tips: bit.ly/perseids2026 Background: Meteor seen against a starry night sky over trees.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· 2d

Look up this week! 🌠 One of the year's most reliable meteor showers reaches its peak on the night of August 12–13. Under dark skies, the Perseids can produce dozens of meteors each hour, with bright fireballs appearing anywhere across the sky. 🧪🔭

Text: The Perseids Are Back! One of the year's best meteor showers peaks Aug. 12–13. Background: Meteor seen against a starry night sky over trees.

Text: What are the Perseids? Every August, Earth passes through debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. As those tiny particles hit Earth's atmosphere at over 210,000 km/h, they burn up—creating the streaks of light we call meteors, or "shooting stars." Background: Diagram of Earth’s orbit passing through a meteor stream.

Text: Peak Night Wednesday night → Thursday morning, August 12–13. You may also see plenty of meteors on the nights before and after the peak. The best viewing is after midnight until dawn. Background: Meteor streaks against the night sky over rocky hills.

Text: Where to Look: Look anywhere in the sky. You don't need a telescope. Although the meteors appear to radiate from Perseus, they can streak across any part of the sky. Background: Graphic showing the radiant of the Perseids meteor shower.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· 8d

MOVIE NIGHT: August 22, 2026, 3:00 pm 🧪🔭👩‍🔬 Please join us for a movie in lieu of our usual monthly Astronomy talk!  We will be watching "Small Town Universe" followed by a brief Zoom talk with Katie Dellamaggiore, the filmmaker. Sign up at: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy... #bayarea

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· 17d

PUBLIC TALK: July 25, 2026, 7:30 pm Hunt for Gravitational Waves: A story spanning the frequencies of space-time Join guest speaker Shan Parmar as he shares an overview of the targets for gravitational waves, the data analysis pipelines, and upcoming research. 🧪🔭 #bayarea

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· 19d

🌌 Challenge for tonight: Find the Summer Triangle! It's one of the easiest star patterns to spot and a perfect starting point for exploring the Milky Way. We've put together a quick guide to help you find Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Have you seen it yet this summer? ✨ 🔭

Image: Graphical representation of the Summer Triangle, showing stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair, credit to EarthSky.org. Text: Can you find the Summer Triangle tonight? It's one of the easiest landmarks in the summer sky—and your gateway to the Milky Way.

Image: Picture of bright star Vega in the night sky. Text: Look east after sunset. The first bright star you'll probably notice is Vega.

Image: Graphical representation of the Summer Triangle, showing stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair, with bright yellow stars. Vega is labeled in blue. Several other constellations are outlined as well. Text: Find two more bright stars: Deneb, Altair. Connect them… Congratulations! You found the Summer Triangle.

Image: Astrophoto of the Summer Triangle with the band of the Milky Way running through it, full of stars and clouds of dust and gas. Text: Now look closer… You're looking into one of the richest star fields in the Milky Way.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Jul 7

With the Moon reaching the 3rd Quarter phase today (July 7), the “dark sky window” for this month has opened. This is the best time for viewing deep-sky objects without interference from bright moonlight. 🔭🧪 #astronomy #astrophotography

Sky chart of Ophiuchus which shows the location of the constellation in the night sky, major stars, and deep sky objects.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Jul 2

July offers members plenty of reasons to step outside and look up. Watch for Venus shining brightly after sunset, a thin crescent Moon near Regulus on July 16, and the Full Buck Moon on July 29. Late in the month, the Delta Aquariid meteors begin to add a few “shooting stars” to the Summer sky. 🔭

Graphic entitled "Navigating the mid July Night Sky". Includes a sky chart for the Northern Hemisphere that features the galactic center around Sagittarius and Scorpius to the south. A lot of text is included with the graphic.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Jun 17

On Wednesday, June 17, skywatchers in San Jose will have the opportunity to witness a rare celestial event: the waxing crescent Moon occulting Venus. Where to look: Look almost due east at midday. The Moon will be high in the sky (at an altitude of roughly 33 degrees). 🔭

(left) Stellarium graphic with a waxing crescent Moon in the daytime sky. To its left is and near the bottom is a bright white light that is Venus. (right) Stellarium graphic with the waxing crescent Moon now to the left of Venus, which is just to the center right.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Apr 27

PUBLIC TALK: May 2, 2026, 7:30 pm We are adapting this presentation from our Astro 101 series for our public speaker program. During this hour, we'll go through the winter chapter of a four-part expedition across the seasons. 🧪🔭👩‍🔬 #bayarea

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Feb 20

PUBLIC TALK: March 7, 2026, 7:30 pm Natasha Abrams is a 5th year astrophysics PhD student at UC Berkeley and will discuss the techniques we use to discover and characterize black holes and explore the frontiers of astrophysics! 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Feb 13

SOLAR VIEWING: March 1, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Waiting your turn to look through a telescope? Check out science stations - fun hands-on activities for engaging with the cosmos! Play a game of Astro Match and explore our neighborhood of planets, stars, nebulae and galaxies. 🔭 #bayarea

Astronomy photos on a black picnic table with movable labels such as M83 South Pinwheel Galaxy, M11 Wild Duck Cluster, and M1 Crab Nebula to place on the matching images. A guide legend to the symbols on the labels is in the bottom right corner.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Feb 2

SOLAR VIEWING: Tomorrow, February 1, 1:30 - 3:30 pm Come join us for today’s solar observing session. We expect amazing views of sunspots, solar prominences and filaments through our hydrogen-alpha and white-light filtered telescopes. Check the Meetup link in bio for more information! #bayarea 🔭

A telescope set up during the day time with a solar filter for looking at the Sun. Several people are in the background at a different telescope. A table of equipment is just behind the front telescope. Tennis courts are in the distant background. The sky is blue and clear.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Jan 1

PUBLIC TALK: January 3, 2026, 7:30 pm PhD student Natalie LeBaron will explore how the universe transforms simple hydrogen into the rich diversity of atoms that build planets, life, and everything we see around us. 🔭 🧪 👩‍🔬 #bayarea Sign up at our Meetup: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Dec 5

PUBLIC TALK: December 6, 2025, 7:30 pm Dr. Zheyuan Zhu will introduce some history and fundamentals in optical imaging. 🔭 #BayArea Sign up at our Meetup: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Nov 12

...but the really interesting photo is the second, taken on Friday, 31 October. A strange disturbance can be seen in the comet’s tail! Mike did take a follow-up on 1 November, but the disturbance was already gone. Any thoughts on what happened?

Photo of a comet set against the backdrop of the starry night sky. The comet’s coma and nucleus are near the center of the bottom, and the tail points straight up the middle of the image. About a third of the way up the photo, the thin portion of the tail suddenly swirls and cuts over to the right before continuing upward to about halfway.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Nov 12

Our members are enjoying this comet season we have been given! Check out these two images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) taken by member Mike Madden using his Seestar. The first is from Monday, 27 October... 🔭 🧪

Photo of a comet set against the backdrop of the starry night sky. The comet’s coma and nucleus are at the bottom left, and the tail is angling up to the upper right. The very thin, faint portion of the tail continues nearly to the top of the image.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Oct 30

Weather permitting, the next Starry Nights public star party will be held on Saturday, November 15. The viewing site, Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserve, is just 30 minutes south of downtown San Jose. #bayarea 🧪 🔭

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Oct 22

PUBLIC TALK: November 1, 2025, 7:30 pm Dr. Bruce Macintosh will discuss the first-ever images of other solar systems – and the technology that has allowed us to discover them, such as the Gemini Planet Imager – as well as the future planet-hunting space telescopes. #bayarea 🔭 🧪

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Oct 14

Member Sudhir Bud managed to capture C/2025 A6 Lemmon about a week ago in the eastern skies from Palo Alto, California, around 5 am during a brief dark hour between moonset and sunrise. 🔭 🧪

Photograph of a pale green comet with a bright, fuzzy coma and long tail that reaches up and to the left. The background is full of stars.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Oct 8

The shadow of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, transited Saturn from Earth's vantage point on October 5, 2025. Luckily, member Christos Gougoussis captured the transit using his Celestron C11 telescope and ZWO ASI462MC camera. 🔭 🧪

Black background. Somewhat grainy image of Saturn, with the rings almost edge on to our view from Earth. At the ten o’clock position, a dark spot is seen. That is the shadow of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Sep 29

Join SJ Astronomy for our next Starry Nights Star Party - Saturday, October 11, 2025, 7:30 pm. 🔭 🧪 You must be a member of the SJ Astronomy Meetup group to register to attend (it's free): www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/ Link for October 11 Starry Nights registration: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

Black background, white text. Text: by SJ Astronomy - Starry Nights Star Party - Saturday, October 11, 2025, 7:30 pm. RSVP on Meetup. Inset image: Banner of stars and star clusters across the middle of the graphic.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Sep 24

Member Brad Haakenson captured this lovely image of the entire Veil Nebula on Monday night, September 22, 2025. It was a beautiful night at Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve – warm with no dew and very clear. The seeing even improved through the night. 🧪 🔭

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Astrophotograph of the entire Veil Nebula, seen as wisps of gas and dust forming a variety of shapes, from the hooded Eastern Nebula on the left to Pickering’s Triangle in the middle and the Witch’s Broomstick on the right.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Sep 17

Member Michael Madden captured interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using his Seestar S50 on September 13, 2025, at Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve during a Starry Nights event. The Seestar was able to capture about 40 minutes of light until 3I/ATLAS disappeared below the ridge to the southwest. 🔭

Astrophotograph showing numerous stars. In the center are two red lines, one vertical and one horizontal, indicating the location of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, seen as a faint fuzzy dot trailing a fuzzy tail to the lower right.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Sep 16

Timelapse of the sunspots from the last Solar Sunday at Houge Park, September 7, 2025. This timelapse was captured over 2 hours, with over 8,000 pictures taken. It was taken on a Seestar S30 by member Creighton Voon. #space #science #astronomy #astrophotography

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Sep 11

PUBLIC TALK: October 4, 2025, 7:30 pm Our October meeting is for you to share your unique telescope builds, tell the story behind your favorite astro-photos, pass on image processing tips, or share brief astro-travelogues. 🔭 🧪 #BayArea Sign up at our Meetup: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Aug 25

Another great image from last week’s event at the Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve! This picture of the Western Veil Nebula (Caldwell 34) and Pickering’s Triangle comes from member Kal Krishnan, using two hours of data with a dual-band (L-Enhance) filter on his Astro DSLR. 🔭 🧪

The Western Veil Nebula is in the upper right, curving from top to the right, shown in purples and pinks. Pickering’s Triangle is on the left and “pointing” toward the center. Background stars fill the image.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Aug 22

Member Doug Loyer captured this fantastic image of the Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) earlier this week from the Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve. Collection and processing detail: Askar 120 APO, 63 x 60s images, ASI533MC, ZWO Duo Filter Processed using Nebula Magic 🔭 #astrophotography

A red nebula reaches up through the night sky, vaguely shaped like the trunk of an elephant. Several bright stars dot the foreground of the image while many smaller stars are scattered throughout.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Aug 19

PUBLIC TALK: July 12, 2025, 7:30 pm Dr. Katya Arquilla will discuss how long-duration exploration missions present challenges more intense than those encountered in low-Earth orbit. Sign up: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy... #astronomy #bayarea 🔭 🧪

Text: THE TALK: The Challenges of Crewed Long-duration Exploration Missions to the Moon and Mars With Dr. Katya Arquilla, September 6, 2025, 7:30 pm, Houge Park, San Jose, CA. Inset photos: (top left) Photo of Dr. Katya Arquilla sitting in a NASA chair in front of two monitors and looking back at the camera. (top right) A group of four scientists in numbered space suits, working together with a robot dog in a Mars analog site on Earth. (bottom) A panoramic view of the Mars analog site, with red sedimentary rock in the foreground and thicker layered rock cliffs in the background, plus four scientists in orange jumpsuits on top of a mound.

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Aug 13

Many thanks to the amazing rangers and staff at Yosemite National Park for helping to make this year's SJAA-led Glacier Point star party a huge success! The crescent moon rising over Half Dome, as seen in this all-sky timelapse taken on July 19th, perfectly punctuated this phenomenal experience. 🔭

San Jose Astronomical Association@sjastronomy· Jun 25

Nova announcement! A star in the constellation Lupus, the Wolf, typically shines at a faint magnitude 22 but has brightened to naked-eye visibility. Look at this image captured by Joe Fragola during the Starry Nights star party at Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserve. 🔭🧪