General Interest

(Submitted 2026-06-30) Recent Events: June 4 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Blair, Mark, Brian, Sarah, Steve B Recap: Steve B – The Hartwell is a challenging site to observe from, due to being near downtown Raleigh and having trees on three sides. The west is almost completely blocked and we couldn’t observe Jupiter or Venus from the rooftop. Blair brought out a solar telescope early, but the whole area near the building was in the shade. He…

(Submitted 2026-06-03) Recent Events: May 7 – Martin Magnet Middle School (Raleigh) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V May 12 – Martin Magnet Middle School (Raleigh) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V May 7 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Postponed to June 4 due to weather. May 15 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to low attendee registration. May 16 – James Creek Cider House (Cameron) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Ollin, Blair, Dean, Susan, Ana, Liam, Steve B Recap: Steve B…

(Submitted 2026-05-03) Recent events: April 3 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V Canceled due to weather forecast and low registration. April 8 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Steve B, Brian, Blair, Lauren Recap: Steve B – Despite high/thin clouds, we had a huge turnout for observing at the Willard last night. A constant line at least 80-100 attendees for two hours at our two telescopes. People grabbed up our…

(Submitted 2026-04-12) Recent events: March 2 – Vandora Springs ES “Math Under the Stars” Night (Garner) Canceled by school. March 4 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Susan H Volunteers: Dean, Blair, Chris C, Lauren, Susan Recap: Susan H – We had a good outreach event at the Willard on March 3, 2026. The sky was cloudy with a few stars popping out now and again. Everyone was very excited to view Jupiter and the Moon. We had quite a…

(Submitted 2026-03-08) Recent events: February 6 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast and Astronomy Days load-in. February 7 & 8 – Astronomy Days (Raleigh) Coordinator: Chris C Volunteers: many Recap: Chris C – Thank you everyone who were able to volunteer there time for Astronomy Days 2026.  The final attendance count for this Astronomy Days was just over 15000 people which is surprising considering how the date was moved twice.  I…

(Submitted 2026-02-07) Recent events: January 3 – First Fridays Saturdays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast. January 15 – Museum of Life and Science Teen Science Club (Durham) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V Recap: Tony V – Last night I presented “How to Become an Amateur Astronomer” to the teen club at the Durham Museum of Life and Science. We began with hands-on planisphere exercises, giving students a chance to experience a traditional star chart–without their…

(Submitted 2025-12-31) Recent events: December 3 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Blair, Chris, Mike, and Steve B Recap: Steve B – It was a mostly clear night tonight except for the cloud of hamburger-flavored smoke from Char Grill next door, but we had approximately 25 people stop by to observe the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, the Pleiades, and M41. We were just a few miles from the path of the Moon/Pleiades occultation and hence missed it. Despite…

(Updated 2025-12-01) Recent events: November 7 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Naveen Volunteers: Naveen, Blair, Jesus, Kimberly, Jim, Al, Benjamin, Patrick, Marshall, Ayyavoo November 13 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Steve B, Mike, Jesus Recap: Steve B – We had about 30 people stop by the rooftop deck at The Hartwell to skywatch. Light pollution is severe at this site but we were able to view Saturn, Uranus, the Pleiades, and…

(Updated 2025-10-01) Recent events: September 5 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V September 9 – Sanderson High School (Raleigh) Coordinator/volunteer: Tony V Recap: Tony V – I was the guest speaker representing the Ralegh Astronomy Club The Sanderson High School Astronomy Club hosted an engaging outreach event, How to Become an Amateur Astronomer, that drew a strong turnout of curious and enthusiastic students. The session offered a hands-on introduction to stargazing and the…

(Updated 2025-09-06) Recent events: August 16 – Perseid Meteors at Howell Woods (Four Oaks) Coordinator: Dana Volunteers: Dana, Marshall, Ollin, Blair, Steve B Recap: Steve B – Well, I think we saw a total of one meteor last night. Humidity was > 85% and everything dewed up by 10:00PM, but despite that the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye and we were able to get good views of M13, M7, and a few nebula. About 30 people who…

(Updated 2025-07-31) Recent events: July 12 – Second Saturday with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast July 26 – Stargazing on Tap Star Party (Cameron) Coordinator: Dana Volunteers: Susan, Dean, Dana, Blair, Alan, Yvonne Recap: 45+ people attended Press coverage: Lee: Raleigh astronomers delight daytime stargazers at James Creek Cider House Upcoming events: August 1 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V Volunteers registered: telescopes: 4/15 floaters: 2/5 August…

(Updated 2025-06-29) Recent events: June 02 – Sanderson HS (Raleigh) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V June 06 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast June 18 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Bill, Blair, Dean, Susan, Annelies, Lauren, Steve B Recap: Steve B – We had a fantastic turnout of at least 80+ people who turned out at the Willard, despite the late start and heat. Mars and various globular and…

(Updated 2025-05-31) Recent events: May 02 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast May 09: Stargazing with Sagan: A Journey Through the Cosmos (Durham) Coordinator: Ana V Volunteers: Ana V, Jesus, Rob, Arun May 15 – Weatherstone ES (Cary) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteer: Steve B Recap: Steve B – Yesterday I set up a RAC table with handouts for 2+ hours at the Weatherstone Elementary School STEM event. There were hundreds of…

(Updated 2025-04-30) Recent events: March 15 – Stargazing on Tap Star Party (Cameron) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Alan, Blair, Steve B Attendees: 75 Recap: Steve B – We had a good night of observing at James Creek Cider House in Cameron on Saturday night. Despite intermittent high clouds, we were able to help approximately 75 people observe Jupiter, Mars, Orion Nebula, Pleiades, Almach, Double Cluster, M36, M37, and the Moon. Anything below 30 deg above the horizon to the W-NW…