news sciences: Astronomy events, star parties, festivals, workshops

Here’s the Texas Star Party in 2009, one of the biggest such events of the year, drawing about 500 deep-sky enthusiasts and their telescopes to the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Image via Todd Hargis and Ron Ronhaar.

Interested in astronomy, but not sure where to begin? Seek out your local astronomy club, a roomful of willing and able amateur astronomers, whose telescopes may offer your first glimpse of the cosmos. The Astronomical League, an umbrella organization of 240 amateur astronomy clubs and societies in the U.S., helps us create and maintain the list of events on this page. Click here to visit the Astronomical League’s website.

Know of an event that’s not on this list? Contact us.

Looking for an astronomy club in your area? Click here.

Fall 2015

September 9–13
Brothers Star Party
Brothers, Oregon
www.mbsp.org

September 10–14
Acadia Night Sky Festival
Bar Harbor, Maine
http://ift.tt/1iqr4SS

September 10–13
Hidden Hollow Star Party
Warren Rupp Observatory
Mansfield, Ohio
www.wro.org

September 10–13
Illinois Dark Skies Star Party
Jim Edgar–Panther Creek State Fish
and Wildlife Area, Illinois
www.sas-sky.org

September 11–13
Black Forest Star Party
Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania
www.bfsp.org

September 11–12
Craters of the Moon Star Party
Craters of the Moon National Monument
and Preserve, Idaho
www.ifastro.org

September 11–12
Idaho Star Party
Bruneau Dunes State Park, Idaho
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuI

September 10–13
Heart of America Star Party
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Overland Park, Kansas
www.hoasp.org

September 11–13
Jersey Starquest
Hope, New Jersey
http://ift.tt/MZWthr

September 12–20
Okie–Tex Star Party
Kenton, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City Astronomy Club
www.okie-tex.com

September 17–20
Great Lakes Star Gaze
Gladwin, Michigan
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuK

September 18-20
Astrophotography Workshop
Adirondack Public Observatory
Tupper Lake, New York
http://ift.tt/1MWtK9P

September 19
National Astronomy Day
Worley Observatory, LSU–Shreveport, Louisiana
http://ift.tt/1IwNpHa

September 25–26
Astronomy at the Beach
Kensington Metropark, Brighton, Michigan
http://ift.tt/1MWtK9Q

September 26
Gateway to Space
St. Louis, Missouri
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuM

September 26–27
Tennessee Fall Star Gaze
Pikeville, Tennessee
http://ift.tt/1AyagRv

October 5
Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies
Charlottesville Astronomical Society
Charlottesville, Virginia
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuN

October 5–10
Eldorado Star Party
X-Bar Ranch, Eldorado, Texas
http://ift.tt/1MWtJ5F

October 8-11
SJAC Fall Star Party
Belleplain State Forest, New Jersey
www.sjac.us

October 9–11
Connecticut Star Party
Edmund D. Strang Scout Reservation, Goshen, Connecticut
www.asnh.org

October 9–11
Custer Jamboree
Southold, New York
http://ift.tt/1IwNpHc

October 11–18
Peach State Star Gaze
Deerlick Astronomy Village,
Crawfordville, Georgia
http://ift.tt/1MWtJ5H

October 12–18
Staunton River Star Party
Scottsburg, Virginia
http://ift.tt/1IwNpXs

October 13–18
Astroblast
Oil City, Pennsylvania
www.oras.org

October 14-17
Enchanted Skies Star Party
Socorro, New Mexico
http://ift.tt/1MWtK9S

November 3-8
Deep South Regional Star Gaze
Norwood, Louisiana
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuP

November 5–8
Nightfall (Star Party)
Borrego Springs, California
http://ift.tt/1PzpHnj

November 9-15
CSPG Fall Star Party
Chiefland, Florida
http://ift.tt/1IwNmuR

November 14
Evening Star Party at Ralph A. Worley Observatory
Shreveport, Louisiana
http://ift.tt/1IwNpHa

Spring 2016

March 9–13
Staunton River Star Party
Scottsburg, Virginia
http://ift.tt/1IwNpXs

April 2–9, 2016
OzSky Star Safari, a.k.a. Deepest
South Texas Star Safari
Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia
www.ozsky.org

May 1-8, 2016
38th Annual Texas Star Party
Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texas
texasstarparty.org/

Bottom line: List of astronomy and night sky events for the public, for fall 2015 and spring 2016. Join in, and have fun!

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1IwNpXw