MJC Astronomy Club

Here is a great opportunity today to visit the museum and planetarium, listen to some great love music, and support the Great Valley Museum and the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra (you may recognize some of the young musicians as they are regular Science Night volunteers!) It's today!

The MAPS 2020 Spring Semester lecture series starts next week! Please like and follow the Modesto Area Partners in Science Facebook page for future events!

Hi! You can now keep up with MJC Astronomy Club events on Instagram @mjc_astronomy_club

THE RETURN OF DR. ALCHEMIST The Great Valley Museum presents The Return of Dr. Al Chemist with Modesto Junior College professor emeritus of chemistry Steve Murov presenting fascinating and educational chemistry demonstrations at 6 7 p.m. on Fridays, July 5 and August 2 preceding the monthly Science Nights that are held 7 10 p.m. and feature telescope viewing. The family-friendly chemistry demonstrations will be located outside the Science Community Center on the MJC W...est Campus, 2201 Blue Gum Avenue, Modesto. All ages are welcome and the presentations, telescope viewing and campus parking are free. Murov has presented hundreds of Dr. Al Chemist shows since the first one held in 1975. Although he retired the concept of Dr. Al a couple of years ago, the urgency for improved science literacy as evidenced by public conceptions of climate change, vaccine myths and other current science related issues, prompted Murov to return as Dr. Al.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the telescope observations for rain and cloudy weather. There will still be planetarium shows at the regularly scheduled times.

There won't be another Total Lunar Eclipse visible in Modesto until May 26, 2021. Make sure to look to the East Sunday night!

Thanks to everyone who came up to the roof to join us for telescope viewing last Friday! We lucked out with viewing conditions (for this time of year) and were able to see objects both near (Mars and Comet 46B/Wirtanen) and far (Andromeda Galaxy). Due to campus closures and holiday schedules, we will take a break from Science Night next month and return for the first Friday event on Feb 1. Have a Salubrious Solstice!

Hope to see everyone at the next Science Night on Dec 7th! It's our annual "Sci-Fi" themed Science Night, so feel free to break out the costumes of your favorite Sci -Fi characters and get your photo taken next to the Death Star. Oh yeah, and look for deep sky objects with the Astronomy Club!

Hopefully the clouds stay away from 7 to 10 PM tomorrow! If you want to see Saturn make sure you arrive before 8 PM. This will be the last time we will be able to observe Saturn for many months. Objects that we will try to observe include Mars, M57 - The Ring Nebula, M13 - Hercules Cluster, Albireo, and M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy. We hope to see you there!

Come join us at Wild Planet Day! It's a fundraiser for the Great Valley Museum at Modesto Junior College. We are doing solar viewing until 3 pm!

It looks like we will have clear skies tonight! Telescope observations will be from 7 to 10 PM tonight. Saturn, Mars, Ring Nebula, Andromeda, and other deep sky objects and stars will be available to view through our 28 inch telescope and 12 inch dobsonians.