Gold Country Astronomers

It is a good time to spot 3 planets in the eastern sky an hour before sunrise.

Tonight is the peak of the annual Geminids meteor shower! Look east towards the constellation of Gemini starting around 9pm. This meteor shower can yield up to 120 meteors an hour.

We have two event planned for May, a meeting and a star party. Meeting - The May meeting will be on May 10, at 7:00pm at the American Legion Training Center room, 11350 American Legion Drive, Sutter Creek... We will have some open discussion about out projects, plus a one hour video from a Sky and Telescope webinar on ‘First Principles of Astrophotography. It covers all aspects from camera and telescope selection to technique Star party - While Peddler Hill is probably still snowed in, the heliport site just above the 4000’ sign on Hwy 88 is clear and dry. It’s not really dark until after 8:00 these days but plan to arrive as early as needed to set up! please feel free to contact me at imbillgoff at gmail dot com

We’re planning two activities for November. - Thursday Nov. 9, will be our regular meeting, 7:30PM at the American Legion training room on Hwy 49. We’re planning on showing some astrophotography samples done by Andrew Ybarra, Tim Plank and myself. Much of it DSLR on tripod of the night sky and Tim’s work with his backyard telescope. Should be fun and informative. Monthly Star Parties will be at the heliport site, just above the Buckhorn area. Peddler Hill will likely b...e snowed in and very cold. - Saturday, Nov. 11 would be our third quarter star party, but the forecast for next week already shows cloudy/rainy weather. This is doubtful. - Saturday, Nov18 is the new moon weekend star party at the Heliport site. Plan your arrival time appropriately, as darkness will arrive much sooner this time of year and DST will have ended. Bill Goff

September Activities Hello everyone, Summer is just starting to fade, it’s at least noticeable in the earlier sunsets! Now in the range of 7:30PM. We want to shoot for three activities this month:... 1- Our regular sit down meeting on Thursday, Sept. 14, 7:00PM and the American Legion Training Room. It’s just off Hwy 49 above the American Legion Meeting Hall. We will share some solar eclipse photos from a trip to totality in Oregon. If you have any you’d like to share bring them. If you have digital on a jump drive, that would be fine too. 2. Our Third Quarter Moon Star Party, Saturday Sept. 16 at the heliport site off Hwy 88 above Buckhorn. I would suggest getting there by 7:00PM if you need to set up before dark. Moonrise is about 2AM and most of us would be gone by then anyhow! 3. New Moon Star Party, Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Peddler Hill site. This is also the weekend that the Stockton group will be using the site, so there should be plenty to see. Again, a 7:00PM arrival is recommended. Maybe our last chance to see the Milky Way, if the winter gets an early start on us. Bill Goff 209-223-5540