Astronomy Day

Updated: 2020 April 23

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 spring Astronomy Day was cancelled.

In the past, information, suggestions, publicity for Astronomy Day events were gathered by Kenneth Frank, AANC Vice President and Astronomy Day Coordinator. Astronomy Clubs informed AANC about their Astronomy Day activities using the Astronomy Day Form (at the bottom of this page).

WHO: the AANC - Astronomical Association of Northern California. the umbrella organization for nearly 30 Northern California Astronomy clubs invites all astronomy clubs nationwide to join with us in celebrating an Astronomy Day.

WHAT: Astronomy Day is an opportunity to celebrate astronomy and share our Universe with the public. It's a good opportunity for astronomy clubs to make themselves known and recruit new members. Won't you join us?

WHERE: Updates of regional club activities, venues and plans are below. Each club and observatory, planetarium or science center may may schedule their own events, or include Astronomy activities in their ongoing programs.

WHEN: Astronomy Days from National Coordinator's Handbook http://www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/astroday.html

See also the Astronomical League's page - https://www.astroleague.org/astronomyday/facts

Formula for selection of the date: Determine the date of the 1st quarter Moon from mid-April to Mid-May

If that is a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, select the preceding Saturday

If that is a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, select the next Saturday

Example Astronomy Day activities (from 2011):

If your astronomy club's activities are not listed below, you can inform AANC about them using the Astronomy Day Form at the bottom of this page. See Astronomy Day Archive to see entries from last year.

Eastbay:

Lawrence Hall of Science

[updated 2011 Apr 18]

LOCATION: University of California - Grizzly Peak Blvd and Centennial Rd

CITY: Berkeley

Planetarium Shows (see schedule at http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/planetarium)
- 1:00 p.m.
- 2:00 p.m.
- 3:00 p.m.

Meet friendly animals (Earth creatures) in Biology Lab, starting 1:30 pm.
The Bay View Cafe open 10 am - 3 pm.
Stargazing every 3rd Saturday on The Lawrence Hall of Science Plaza (May 21)

Sacramento Valley:

Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society - http://www.svas.org/

San Francisco and North Bay:

San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) at the California Academy of Sciences 875 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94103 http://www.calacademy.org/

Randall Museum 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA 94114 http://www.randallmuseum.org/index.cfm

Mt Tam Astronomy Programs http://www.mttam.net

For driving directions, see the Mount Tamalpais State Park website: http://www.mttam.net/Default.aspx?tabid=845

Peninsula:

San Mateo County Astronomical Society (SMCAS) http://www.smcas.com Maps and directions to CSM can also be found at: http://gocsm.net/ (choose Contact Us)

Foothill College - Foothill College Observatory, 12345 El Monte Rd., Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

Sonoma County:

Sonoma County Astronomical Society

LOCATION: Robert Ferguson Observatory

CITY: Kenwood

SCAS and the RFO docents will have the observatory open for solar and night viewing in Sugar Loaf State Park.
Also Lynn Anderson of SCAS will set up scopes in downtown Healdsburg @ North St.
sonomaskies.org (SCAS) and rfo.org (Robert Ferguson Observatory)

CONTACT PERSON: John Whitehouse/Colleen Ferguson

South Bay:

San Jose Astronomical Association - http://www.sjaa.net/

Stockton:

Stockton Astronomical Society - http://astro.sci.uop.edu/~sas/

Astronomy Day is a day for bringing astronomy to the public. It was in April of 1973 that the first Astronomy Day was held. It had been suggested by then AANC President Doug Berger (still a member of the Eastbay Astronomical Society), at an AANC Board meeting held at Chabot Observatory.

Astronomy Day is now celebrated across the US and Canada. For more on the history of Astronomy Day, see the article "Where Astronomy Day Came From" (PDF file—200Kb) based on Don Saito’s email interview with Doug Berger, published in the EAS Reflector, April 2005.

The Astronomical Association of Northern California was founded to promote communication between astronomy clubs and to coordinate public events.

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ASTRONOMY DAY ACTIVITY FORM

The Astronomical Association of Northern California (AANC) is asking lovers of astronomy in our area to do something to share our hobby with others. We hope that many clubs and individuals will help by promoting Astronomy Day. We hope to spread the word as widely as possible about where activities will be held.

If you are planning to do anything please let us know--

We would like to know AT LEAST:

WHEN (please tell about both daytime and nighttime activities)
WHERE
WHAT

If you have a web site with information, we can both pull information from it. It's good if the press receives information about Astronomy Day from several sources so all clubs should also do some local publicity.

To submit Astronomy Day Info:

Copy the text below (between the asterisk lines),

Paste the text into an e-mail message.
Fill out the info and send to Kenneth Frank: KennethFrank [at] Planitarium.net

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ASTRONOMY DAY FORM

CLUB/ORGANIZATION Name:

ACTIVITY LOCATION (include address):

CITY:

CONTACT PERSON:

WEB ADDRESS:

EMAIL:

DESCRIPTION of activities:

[Make the description the way you would like it reported to the press. Include event times and relevant info (telescopes available, types of activities, etc)]

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PAST Astronomy Days

Astronomy Day Archive