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The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society is the oldest organization of its kind in Michigan and one of the largest. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of information among those with a common interest in all areas of astronomy, to educate the public about astronomical discoveries and events and to cooperate with other amateur and professional astronomical organizations.

Our membership consists of people from all walks of life, educational backgrounds and ages.  The majority of the membership are novices or armchair astronomers; most don't even own a telescope. Therefore, you don't need any technical knowledge or fancy equipment to be a part of the KAS. Please consider attending a meeting or joining us under a starry sky.



02/03 Galileo Writing Contest Award Ceremony
An award ceremony for the winners of the Galileo Writing Contest will be held this Friday, February 5th.  The ceremony will begin at 6:30 pm; before our general meeting. Winners that have not RSVP'd are still welcome to attend and claim their Galileoscope. Please contact us if you require further information.
01/12 February General Meeting Preview
Orion Always Comes Up Sideways is the title of the featured presentation at our next general meeting on Friday, February 5th. It'll be presented by KAS Vice President and veteran stargazer Richard Bell.  This colorfully illustrated tour of the stars and deep sky objects within the Winter Hexagon is ideal for the whole family. Please visit our schedule page for more information.
12/11 Holiday Party Images Added
The 2009 General Meeting Image Gallery is now complete. Twenty-one images from our Annual Meeting & Holiday Party have been added. Over 50 KAS members and guests attended and had a jolly-good time. Check out these and the other general meeting images from 2009.  What a great year!
You can also follow the latest KAS news and events on Twitter.



January 27th & January 29th
Mars will also be closest to Earth on January 27th. The red and blue planet will be only be separated by 61.7 million miles. Mars will appear as a -1.3 magnitude orange star in Cancer the Crab. The red planet is at opposition on January 29th. It’ll rise at sunset and set and sunrise at that time.

February 15th - 18th
Jupiter and Venus, the two brightest planets in the night sky, will be within 2º of one another between February 15th & 18th. You'll need a clear view in the west-southwest as the pairing will take place just above the horizon. Start searching about 15 minutes after sunset. The peak of the conjunction takes place on February 16th. They'll only be ½º apart! You'll want to make sure to grab your binoculars and/or telescope for this one.
Check out Abrams Planetarium's Night Sky Notes for more highlights.



02/04 New Maps of Pluto Show Surface Changes
Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been a speck of light in the largest ground-based telescopes. But NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has now mapped the dwarf planet in never-before-seen detail. The new map is so good, astronomers have even been able to detect changes on the dwarf planet's surface by comparing Hubble images taken in 1994 with the newer images taken in 2002-2003. The task is as challenging as trying to see the markings on a soccer ball 40 miles away.
02/04 Forming the Present-Day Spiral Galaxies
Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, created a demographic census of galaxy types and shapes from a time before the Earth and the Sun existed, to the present day. The results show that, contrary to contemporary thought, more than half of the present-day spiral galaxies had so-called peculiar shapes only 6 billion years ago, which, if confirmed, highlights the importance of collisions and mergers in the recent past of many galaxies. It also provides clues for the unique status of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
02/02 Suspected Asteroid Collision Leaves Trailing Debris
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought that the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never before been seen.
01/27 Newborn Black Holes May Add Power to Many Exploding Stars
Astronomers studying two exploding stars, or supernovae, have found evidence the blasts received an extra boost from newborn black holes. The supernovae were found to emit jets of particles traveling at more than half the speed of light.
01/14 Hubble Catches End of Star-Making in Nearby Dwarf Galaxy
Galaxies throughout the universe are ablaze with star birth. But for a nearby, small spiral galaxy, the star-making party is almost over.

Astronomers were surprised to find that star-formation activities in the outer regions of NGC 2976 have been virtually asleep because they shut down millions of years ago. The celebration is confined to a few die-hard partygoers huddled in the galaxy's inner region.
Browse the NASA News Archive.


Amateur Astronomers (9:52)


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