San Jose Astronomical Association

REMINDER about this Saturday's speaker event:

Black Holes: Discovering the Invisible, Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 7:30 PM | Meetup Come join us for our monthly Astronomy talk! 7:30pm-8pm: Social time with snacks
 8pm: Talk begin **Title: Black Holes: Discovering the Invisible** **Abstract:** Black hol

Sign up at our Meetup: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

#astronomy #space #science #bayarea

Images: (top right) Picture of black hole M87, which is ~6 billion times the mass of our sun. Credit: Event Horizon Telescope. (bottom) Artist depiction of an X-ray binary. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

SJAA anniversary logo. Text: Public Talk. The Talk: Black Holes - Discovering the Invisible with Natasha Abrams, March 7, 2026, 7:30 pm, Houge Park, San Jose, CA. Inset photos: (top left) Natasha Abrama; (top right) Picture of the black hole in M87, shows as an orange and red ring that is brighter on the bottom than the top; (bottom) Artist’s concept of an X-ray binary with a swirling cloud of dust around a jet of particles on the left, a bright white star in the middle, and a massive white star on the right.

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!

🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

It didn't help that we lost track of days and posted this late. Our next one is March 1!

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.

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

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.

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 🔭

SJAA 70th anniversary logo. Text: The (Life and) Death of Stars: Where the Elements Around Us Form with Natalie LeBaron, January 3, 2026, 7:30 pm, Houge Park, San Jose, CA. Photos: (upper left) Natalie LeBaron in front of a flowering plant. (upper right) The Crab Nebula taken by JWST. (lower) NASA visualization of the moment before two massive objects collide.

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...

SJAA 70th anniversary logo. Text: Public talk. The talk: Building a DIY optical path towards the universe with Dr. Zheyuan Zhu, December 6, 2025, 7:30 pm, Houge Park, San Jose, CA. Inset: (top left) Dr. Zheyuan Zhu, (top right) astrophoto of two nebulae, one large on the left and one small on the right, (bottom) photo of two telescopes seen in the glow of red light against the night sky.

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...

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.

...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 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.

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... 🔭 🧪

Starry Nights Star Party, Sat, Nov 15, 2025, 6:00 PM | Meetup Join the San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) and Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA) for an unforgettable night of exploring the night sky. Our knowledgeable

Once you've joined the SJ Astronomy group, the link for the November 15 Starry Nights registration is: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

SJ Astronomy | Meetup Welcome to SJ Astronomy Meetup. We are an active group with a lot of events organized by the San Jose Astronomical Association. All events posted to this Meetup are open to the public but please note ...

In order to register to attend you must be a member of the SJ Astronomy Meetup group (it's free): www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/

Pink and orange mottled background. Inset: A spiral galaxy in the night sky. Text: Starry Nights Star Party, Nov. 15, 6:00 pm, by SJ Astronomy, 4289 Casa Loma Rd. Graphic: Attend on Meetup with logo.

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 🧪 🔭

Emerging pictures of other worlds, Sat, Nov 1, 2025, 7:30 PM | Meetup Come join us for our monthly Astronomy talk! 7:30pm-8pm: Social time with snacks
 8pm: Talk begin **Title:** Emerging pictures of other worlds **Description** :In the pas

Sign up at our Meetup: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

SJAA 70th anniversary logo. Text: Public Talk, Emerging Picture of Other Worlds with Dr. Bruce Macintosh, November 1, 2025, 7:30 pm, Houge Park, San Jose, California. Inset photos: (top left) Dr. Bruce Macintosh at the Gemini Observatory. (top right) The Gemini Observatory dome and building. (bottom) Direct image of four exoplanets (b, c, d, and e) orbiting a star.

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 🔭 🧪

Comet Lemmon might be the best comet of 2025

As the month progresses, the comet can be observed low on the northern horizon after sunset. As it gets brighter, viewing should be easy through a pair of binoculars.

Here's the link to an article from @earthskyscience.bsky.social with more details and finder charts.

earthsky.org/space/comet-...

Currently, observers have reported the comet's brightness at magnitude 6.5.

At sunset, Comet Lemmon is below the horizon and rises around 1:30 am. Viewing now requires an early wake-up call, but by 5 am, it will be higher in the sky at an elevation of 30°.

Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) will potentially be the best comet of the year. Favoring Northern Hemisphere observers, it will pass beneath the Big Dipper in early October, brightening as it heads toward peak visibility around October 31. By that time, it might be visible with the unaided eye!

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.

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. 🔭 🧪

These transits occur during a six-month window every 15 years, as the Earth passes through the plane of Titan's orbit, which is closely aligned with the plane of Saturn's rings. The first transit of this cycle occurred in April, and the last one was on Sunday, which will not happen again until 2038.

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.

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. 🔭 🧪

Having an unobstructed view of the eastern horizon will allow for observing the Moon/Pleiades pair sooner, as they are lower in the sky. The bright moonlight will wash out any naked eye view of the Pleiades. But if you have binoculars or a telescope, the view will be more favorable.

- Joe Fragola

Mid-occultation will occur around 9:20 pm with the Moon sitting in the middle of the Pleiades cluster at an elevation of almost 11°. The occultation will end around 11 pm with the Moon and Pleiades at an elevation of 29°.

So, if the skies are clear Thursday night, step outside and take a look.

From San Jose, next week's lunar occultation of the Pleiades begins before 8 pm local time, while the Moon is still below the horizon. At Moonrise (8:12 pm), the occultation will continue, but it will still be a while before the Moon climbs high enough in the sky to get a good view.

Occultations are fairly common and can involve different combinations of objects. Lunar occultations occur when the Moon blocks the view of a planet or background star(s). Stellar occultations also happen when the light of a star is blocked by a planet or asteroid.

As the waning gibbous Moon rises on Thursday, October 9, it will be passing in front of the famous Pleiades star cluster (aka Messier 45). This type of event, known as an occultation, occurs when one celestial object temporarily blocks the view of another object. 🔭 🧪

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.

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...

Alt Text 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.

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. 🧪 🔭

Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar object, discovered in July, and is on a fast approach toward the Sun. It is currently about magnitude 14.8 and located in the constellation of Libra, between Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is getting lower in the sky but should be capturable with a smart scope and would be a good challenge object for larger telescopes in dark skies this week, leading into the new moon.