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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

From binoculars to traditional telescopes and smart scopes, there's plenty to explore in Aquarius this autumn. 📖 Download SJAA's free October observing guide, complete with finding charts and observing tips: drive.google.com/file/d/1xeQ0...

drive.google.com

October Constellation of the Month - Aquarius.pdf

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

✨ Some highlights: 🔭 M2 — A globular cluster containing roughly 150,000 stars. 🪐 Saturn Nebula — A planetary nebula with a distinctive shape. 👁️ Helix Nebula — One of the closest bright planetary nebulae to Earth.

Helix Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

♒ October's Constellation of the Month is Aquarius, the Water Bearer! Its faint stars hide some remarkable deep-sky treasures, including globular clusters, planetary nebulae, and distant galaxies. 🧪 🔭

Sky chart for the constellation Aquarius, from the IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

☄️ The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight, so look up! Unlike many meteor showers, the Draconids are best seen in the evening, and with the Moon approaching new, skies should be especially favorable for spotting meteors this year. ✨ Find a dark location and look toward the northern sky. 🔭

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

🔭 Orion Month continues! Another look at one of our favorite regions of the night sky. ✨ Have an Orion image of your own? Share it with us!

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

🔵 Neptune reached opposition on Sept. 26, and it’s still well placed for observing this month! For the next few weeks, the ice giant will remain above the horizon from dusk until dawn. It’s too faint to see with the unaided eye, so grab a telescope or binoculars and look toward Pisces. 🔭

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

🔭 Grab your telescope or binoculars, find a dark spot, and enjoy the autumn skies! Need help finding your way around? Download October's free sky chart: www.skymaps.com/skymaps/tesm...

skymaps.com

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

🌑 Clear skies ahead? October's Dark Sky Window runs from October 4–12! With the Moon approaching its new phase on October 10, this is a great opportunity to observe faint celestial treasures like galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters without bright moonlight washing out the view. 🔭

The provided image is a star chart titled "Navigating the October Night Sky 2026," published by the Astronomical League. It is designed for observers in the middle northern latitudes to help locate prominent constellations, stars, and deep-sky objects during October 2026 (specifically around 9:00 p.m. in early October and 8:00 p.m. in late October).

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

📷 Image credit: Michael Madden, SJAA 🔭 Are you planning to observe or photograph 161P/Hartley-IRAS? Share your results with us! Find the comet's current position: astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/161

astro.vanbuitenen.nl

161P/Hartley-IRAS | astro.vanbuitenen.nl

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One SJAA member captured this image using a Seestar S30 Pro, stacking images in Siril despite observing from a sidewalk, over a streetlight, and under an almost full Moon! The comet is moving quickly across the sky, at an estimated 7.5 arcseconds per minute.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Currently estimated at magnitude 11–12, the comet is too faint to see with the naked eye, but it offers an interesting target for larger telescopes and astrophotographers as we approach October's dark-sky window.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

☄️ Looking for an observing challenge this weekend? Comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS makes its closest approach to Earth today, October 2! This periodic comet, discovered in 1983, returns to the inner solar system roughly every 21 years.

Comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS appears as a faint, diffuse glow near the center of a star field, surrounded by short star trails. Captured by SJAA member Michael Madden using a Seestar S30 Pro telescope, with images stacked to track the comet's motion against the background stars.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

October is Orion Month! ✨ We're celebrating one of the most recognizable constellations and the incredible sights within it. Have you photographed Orion or any of its celestial treasures? Share your astrophotos with us! We'd love to feature what our community has captured. 🔭

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

🔭 SJAA Member Show & Tell is TONIGHT! Our members will share projects involving telescope hardware, DIY plate solving, Python, eclipse chasing, variable-star measurements, spectroscopy, sky-mapping software & ISS photography. 🧪 🔭 #bayarea 🕢 7:30–9:30 PM 📍 Houge Park ✨ Free & open to all!

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🔭 Got astronomy gear gathering dust—or looking for something new-to-you? The SJAA Swap Meet is Sunday at Houge Park! 🕘 Doors open 9 AM for buyers & sellers 💰 No registration required 🏷️ Sellers: price items in advance ⏰ Ends ~11:30/noon 🧪 🔭 www.sjaa.net/learnresourc... #bayarea

sjaa.net

Viewing Locations - SJAA

SJAA Viewing Sites Here are some of the observing sites used by SJAA members and other amateur astronomers around the South Bay. Links to SJAA Sites and directions: The maps shown below are interactiv...

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🔭 What have SJAA members been up to? Come find out at our Member Show & Tell this Saturday! We'll have quick, informal presentations about eclipse travel, telescope hardware hacks, new astronomy software, astrophotography & observations. 🧪 🔭 #bayarea

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

🌌 Take an astronomical road trip through Chile’s legendary observatories—from La Silla and Paranal to APEX and ALMA. Along the way: the Milky Way under truly dark skies, incredible instruments, and why protecting darkness matters for astronomy. 🧪 🔭 www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA1U...

youtube.com

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It's a little misty high up here, but it's a gorgeous night.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Have binoculars or a telescope? Look along the Moon’s terminator, where shadows make craters and other features stand out. 🔭 NASA has maps to help you explore: science.nasa.gov/moon/observe...

science.nasa.gov

International Observe the Moon Night - NASA Science

You're invited! Each International Observe the Moon Night, people around the world celebrate lunar observation, science, exploration, arts, and culture.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

🌙 Tomorrow is International Observe the Moon Night! On Sept. 19, join people around the world in celebrating our nearest celestial neighbor. No telescope required. Just step outside and look up! 🔭 🧪

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Not presenting? Come anyway! The event is free & open to the public. 📅 Sept. 26, 7:30–9:30 pm 📍 Houge Park, San Jose Want to present? SJAA members are encouraged to sign up in advance. Event details & RSVP: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy...

meetup.com

Speaker Series Special Event: Member Astronomy Show and Tell, Sat, Sep 26, 2026, 7:30 PM | Meetup

**SJAA Show and Tell** *Come and share something you find interesting, useful, unique, clever, or just amusing.* Our September meeting on Saturday the 26th (7:30 pm) will

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

🔭 What have you been up to, astronomically speaking? SJAA’s Member Astronomy Show & Tell is Sept. 26! Members can share telescope builds, favorite astrophotos, processing tips, astro-travel stories, eclipse observations & other astronomy projects. #bayarea

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Creighton processed the image using Seestar’s Deep Sky Stack, AI denoiser & in-app editor. SJAA members: have an astrophoto, observing story, project or technique to share? Our Member Show & Tell is Sept. 26! 🔭 📸 Creighton Voon

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🌌 SJAA Member Astrophoto! “Pelican Nebula Flying Over North America Nebula,” captured by Creighton Voon with a Seestar S30. The image combines 5-, 10-, and 20-second exposures totaling about 4 hours. 📸

Wide-field astrophotograph of the North America and Pelican Nebulae in Cygnus. Glowing reddish clouds of gas stretch across a dense field of stars, divided by prominent dark lanes of interstellar dust. The brighter curved edge of the North America Nebula appears at lower right, while the Pelican Nebula extends across the upper portion of the image.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

And this is a great week to practice: September 5–13 is our dark sky window, when evenings are largely free of bright moonlight. So get outside, look up, and see what you can find! 🔭 Source: Astronomical League, “Navigating the mid-September Night Sky”

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

⭐ Use the Big Dipper's pointer stars to find Polaris. 🟠 Follow the arc of its handle to Arcturus. ✨ Look overhead for Vega, Deneb, and Altair—the Summer Triangle. 🔲 Look east for the Great Square of Pegasus. Once you know a few celestial landmarks, they can lead you toward more of the night sky.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

🌌 Not sure where to start when you look up? Start with something you recognize! September's evening sky is full of bright landmarks that can help you find your way. 🔭 #astronomy #astrophotography #space #nightsky

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

This image was captured Sept. 5 from Rancho Cañada del Oro after our Starry Nights star party, using a Seestar S50 Pro. The arrow points to the supernova—and light that traveled roughly 40 million years to reach us. 🔭✨ 📸 Image courtesy of Joe Fragola

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

💥 An exploding star, captured by an SJAA member! SN 2026aaiv is a newly discovered Type Ia supernova in NGC 7331, about 40 million light-years away in Pegasus. It was discovered Sept. 1 and has brightened rapidly since. 🔭🧪

Astrophoto of a distant spiral galaxy, tilted on its side, set against a background of stars. A bright dot within the spiral arms is indicated by a green arrow. That dot is a newly discovered type Ia supernova. Text: Supernova 2026aaiv in NGC 7331.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

We ask the members who bought the new gear when that happens.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

No fancy equipment required! Explore with your eyes, grab binoculars, or give your telescope some properly dark sky to work with. And stay tuned—we’ll have some ideas for exploring the September sky! ✨

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🌑 Your September dark sky window is here! From Sept. 5–13, evenings will be largely free of bright moonlight, making this a great time to look for faint deep-sky objects. Galaxies, nebulae, star clusters—the faint fuzzies are calling. 🔭 🧪

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Lunar eclipse TONIGHT! 🌕 Unfortunately, mostly cloudy skies may make viewing difficult here in the #BayArea. ☁️ But keep an eye out for breaks in the clouds! Eclipse details are below.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Bay area friends, check out our guide to this week's lunar eclipse! ⬇️

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Photos (clockwise from top left): Thermal camera station, Astro Match game, planispheres, and the rooftop stargazing party. Credit: San Jose Astronomical Association

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

SJAA took astronomy to the Tech at Nite on July 30, and our volunteers chatted with visitors, including San Jose’s very own Hall of Fame mascot, SJ Sharkie! Join us at our next event! Check our Meetup link in bio for the calendar. 🔭🧪 #bayarea #techinteractive #science #astronomy #outreach

Text: Tech at Night, black letters on yellow background. Photos: SJ Sharkie and a museum patron are shown how the thermal camera works by an SJAA volunteer in a yellow shirt. A pair of patrons play the Astro Match game with two volunteers. A fourth volunteer explains how to use the planispheres. An early evening picture from the rooftop of the Tech Interactive museum with several telescopes, patrons, and volunteers waiting for sunset.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Learn more and find observing tips: bit.ly/perseids2026 Have a great photo? Tag @SJAstronomy—we'd love to share what our community sees!

bit.ly

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

You don't need a telescope—just find a safe, dark location, give your eyes time to adjust, and enjoy the show. ✨ Best viewing: After midnight until dawn on Aug. 13 (with good activity possible the nights before and after).

Text: For the best experience: Get away from city lights. Give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adjust. Avoid bright phone screens. Bring a reclining chair or blanket. Nights can get chilly—dress warmly! Background: Graphic of the night sky over a horizon silhouette.

Text: How Many Will You See? Under dark skies, you may see 60–100 meteors per hour near the peak. In the Bay Area, city lights will reduce that number—but even a few bright meteors can make for an unforgettable night. Background: Many meteor streaks against the night sky with the Milky Way on the left and over the rocky hills of the Mojave Desert.

Text: Whether you're in your backyard or at a dark-sky site… Take a moment to look up. Meteor showers remind us that our solar system is still an active, dynamic place—and sometimes the best astronomy requires nothing more than your own eyes. Background: Graphic of a night sky of a city skyline’s silhouette.

Text: Perseids Peak August 12–13. Show us your Perseids! Tag @SJAstronomy Use #Perseids2026 More observing tips: bit.ly/perseids2026 Background: Meteor seen against a starry night sky over trees.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Look up this week! 🌠 One of the year's most reliable meteor showers reaches its peak on the night of August 12–13. Under dark skies, the Perseids can produce dozens of meteors each hour, with bright fireballs appearing anywhere across the sky. 🧪🔭

Text: The Perseids Are Back! One of the year's best meteor showers peaks Aug. 12–13. Background: Meteor seen against a starry night sky over trees.

Text: What are the Perseids? Every August, Earth passes through debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. As those tiny particles hit Earth's atmosphere at over 210,000 km/h, they burn up—creating the streaks of light we call meteors, or "shooting stars." Background: Diagram of Earth’s orbit passing through a meteor stream.

Text: Peak Night Wednesday night → Thursday morning, August 12–13. You may also see plenty of meteors on the nights before and after the peak. The best viewing is after midnight until dawn. Background: Meteor streaks against the night sky over rocky hills.

Text: Where to Look: Look anywhere in the sky. You don't need a telescope. Although the meteors appear to radiate from Perseus, they can streak across any part of the sky. Background: Graphic showing the radiant of the Perseids meteor shower.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

MOVIE NIGHT: August 22, 2026, 3:00 pm 🧪🔭👩‍🔬 Please join us for a movie in lieu of our usual monthly Astronomy talk!  We will be watching "Small Town Universe" followed by a brief Zoom talk with Katie Dellamaggiore, the filmmaker. Sign up at: www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy... #bayarea

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Images: (top right) Aerial photo of the LIGO Livingston detector site, located near Livingston, Louisiana. Credit: Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab (bottom) Artist’s impression of two black holes about to collide. Credit: Mark Myers, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

PUBLIC TALK: July 25, 2026, 7:30 pm Hunt for Gravitational Waves: A story spanning the frequencies of space-time Join guest speaker Shan Parmar as he shares an overview of the targets for gravitational waves, the data analysis pipelines, and upcoming research. 🧪🔭 #bayarea

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

🌌 Challenge for tonight: Find the Summer Triangle! It's one of the easiest star patterns to spot and a perfect starting point for exploring the Milky Way. We've put together a quick guide to help you find Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Have you seen it yet this summer? ✨ 🔭

Image: Graphical representation of the Summer Triangle, showing stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair, credit to EarthSky.org. Text: Can you find the Summer Triangle tonight? It's one of the easiest landmarks in the summer sky—and your gateway to the Milky Way.

Image: Picture of bright star Vega in the night sky. Text: Look east after sunset. The first bright star you'll probably notice is Vega.

Image: Graphical representation of the Summer Triangle, showing stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair, with bright yellow stars. Vega is labeled in blue. Several other constellations are outlined as well. Text: Find two more bright stars: Deneb, Altair. Connect them… Congratulations! You found the Summer Triangle.

Image: Astrophoto of the Summer Triangle with the band of the Milky Way running through it, full of stars and clouds of dust and gas. Text: Now look closer… You're looking into one of the richest star fields in the Milky Way.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

With a little planning and a dark southern horizon, Ophiuchus can become a memorable highlight of the summer sky. Credit: By IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg) Learn more: noirlab.edu/public/educa...

noirlab.edu

Constellation: Ophiuchus

Ophiuchus

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

From broad dark nebula regions and binocular-friendly globular clusters to compact planetary nebulae and challenging smart-scope objects, the Serpent Bearer offers something for every level of skywatcher on clear, moonless summer nights.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Ophiuchus is a rewarding and sometimes overlooked constellation. It combines rich mythology, a prominent position above Scorpius and Sagittarius, and a variety of deep-sky targets.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

With the Moon reaching the 3rd Quarter phase today (July 7), the “dark sky window” for this month has opened. This is the best time for viewing deep-sky objects without interference from bright moonlight. 🔭🧪 #astronomy #astrophotography

Sky chart of Ophiuchus which shows the location of the constellation in the night sky, major stars, and deep sky objects.

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San Jose Astronomical Association @sjastronomy.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Specific Resources for Night Sky Viewing: Astronomical League Guide to the July Sky (attachment) www.astroleague.org/.../upl.../2... Sky Map for July 2026 (attachment) www.skymaps.com/skymaps/tesm... Satellite Viewing Opportunities heavens-above.com/login.aspx

astroleague.org

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