LVAS is a proud member of the NASA/JPL Night Sky Network. LVAS events will be posted on the Night Sky Network website at

Night Sky Network:Las Vegas Astronomical Society:Event Calendar.

Are you considering the purchase of your first telescope?

Read our article "A Beginner's Scope" first.

Recent Updates

- Event Reportfor Death Valley Weekend posted

- February and Winter Supplement Observer's Challenge

- Two Scopes For Sale have been reduced in price

- New Help for Beginners page

- Upcoming Events Page - Valley of Fire Campout Star Party and Messier Marathon

- LVAS Events published on the LVAS page on Night Sky Network

Notable Events

International Space Station Passes

There are currently no visible evening passes of the International Space Station over the Las Vegas Valley for the month of February, but there are several bright, morning passes this week. See info below.

Date Mag Start Finish Duration Direction

7 Feb -2.1 05:12:25 05:14:27 2:02 N (354°) to NNE (32°)

21 Feb ** -2.5 05:46:46 05:52:24 5:38 NW (318°) to ESE (116°)

23 Feb -2.5 04:58:30 05:02:21 3:51 NNW (343°) to ESE (114°)

24 Feb* ** -2.8 05:20:37 05:24:43 4:06 WNW (282°) to SSE (154°)

*These passes are exceptionally bright passes. Note: Only passes of mag -2.0 or higher are listed above.

** These are horizon to horizon or near horizon to horizon passes of over 4 minute duration.

Be sure to check www.heavens-above.com for the most current prediction information. The information above is updated at least weekly, but checking the Heavens Above website will ensure you have the most accurate and up to date information about upcoming passes. A magnitude of -2.8 is about the brightness of the planet Jupiter in the Southeast evening sky. Look for Jupiter in the Southwest after sunset to get an idea of what to expect when the Space Station becomes visible.

Iridium Flares - an interesting phenomenon where sunlight is reflected from the large aluminum antennae on Iridium communication satellites to your observing location on the ground. Heavens-Above.com can predict Iridium Flares for almost any location. Below are links to Heavens-Above.com predictions for selected sites of interest to LVAS members:

Boulder City Henderson Las Vegas North Las Vegas Overton

Cathedral Gorge Furnace Creek RedStone Red Rock Visitor Center Sawmill Trailhead

Note from the President - February

Well, 2010 got off to a great start in January with our first outing to Death Valley and our first Astronomy in the Park at Red Rock Canyon. At both of these public star parties, we had over 100 people visit us and observe through our scopes. We also had two EOP events at Bailey MIddle School and Pittman Elementary School. Thanks to everyone that supported the public star parties and the EOP events.

Our 2010 calendar is posted with all of the scheduled public and private outings for the year. Some of the highlights include the Messier Marathon in March, a couple of Valley of Fire all nighters, our Cathedral Gorge Spring Fling and Annual Campout, and return visits to the Grand Canyon and Great Basin National Parks for joint star parties with other clubs. We hope you'll put some of these events on your personal calendar and join us under the stars.

I'm excited about our Messier Marathon this year. We're moving our observing venue down the road a bit to Meadville, AZ where we'll set up on the property of Allan Guthmiller and Bill Vorce. The skies should be a little darker and the horizons a little lower, providing a great opportunity to catch all of the Messiers this year. It will also give us an opportunity to check out a potential site for a remote observatory, a joint effort I'm hoping to work with CSN and UNLV this year. Because of the change in venue for the Messier Marathon, I'm asking that we limit participation this year to LVAS members only, as a courtesy to our hosts.

I need a few volunteers to give presentations at the Red Rock Astronomy in the Park events. I've posted the proposed presentations for the year on the Events Calendar. For some of the presentations, I already have a skeleton presentation prepared that you could work with and tweak to your liking. Please review the proposed schedule and if you could help with a presentation, please let me know.

I also need some ideas/suggestions for presentations for our monthly LVAS meetings at the CSN Planetarium. If you have some thoughts about presentations/topics you would like to see and discuss, please drop me a line. If you know of potential guest speakers you would like to hear from, let me know and I'll contact them about speaking to us. Our first guest speaker for this year will be Kevin Janison, from Channel 3 Evening News. Kevin will be our guest at our February 4th LVAS meeting. Come join us in welcoming Kevin.

We've received our Lunt Solar Scope and mount prior to our Death Valley trip. We were fortunate to be able to capture "First Light" with it on 16 January in front of the General Store at Furnace Creek. See the Event Report for photos of folks using the new scope.

I hope you'll check out the Events Calendar and make plans to join us on some of the planned outings for this year. Until then, Clear Skies.

Rob Lambert

Last Updated on Saturday, 06 February 2010 11:55

Society Meetings

Monthly LVAS meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Planetarium at the College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus - 3200 East CheyenneÂ (See Map). Following a short welcome and business session, a presentation on an Astronomy topic of interest is normally presented by an LVAS member or special guest. Occasionally, the program is the Planetarium presentation of the month.

Next Meeting

Thursday, 4 March, 7:30p.m.

It will be hard to top our Guest Speaker we had for February's meeting. Kevin Janison, Channel 3 Meteorologist, was very informative and entertaining. He kept LVAS members enthralled for almost an hour before having to return to the Station for the 11:00 News broadcast. Thanks again, Kevin, for a great addition to our monthly meeting.

I'm still working on the presentation for March. If you have suggestions for presentation, please drop me a line. I'll post the topic of the presentation as soon as I nail one down.

Agenda for the March Meeting

- Event Reports

- Valley of Fire All-Nighter

- Red Rock Astronomy in the Park

- Updates for Upcoming Events

- Messier Marathon

- Sandstone Quarry Star Gaze

- Cathedral Gorge Spring Fling

- Kaibab Lodge Star Party

- Member Discussions - Open Forum

- Presentation - TBD

Red Rock Events

Next Red Rock Public Star Party

Our next Public Star Party is Saturday, 20 February. The presentation "Mars - The Mysterious Red Planet" will begin at 5:00pm in the New Red Rock Visitor's Center (See Map). Weather permitting, public viewing through LVAS member telescopes will immediately follow the presentation. Come see Mars and observe galaxies, nebulae, dead stars, and star clusters. There's more up there than just pinpoints of light, so Look up Las Vegas.

Pubic Star Parties are free and open to the public; however, the Park charges an entrance fee of $5.00 per vehicle until the Park closes. If an attendant is in the Fee Station, tell the Attendant that you are there for the Star Party. See the Events Calendar for future Red Rock Event dates.

Note: Park entrance closes at sunset, so if you don't plan to attend the presentation, please be in the park by at least 5:00pm.

Last Updated on Saturday, 06 February 2010 12:06