Monthly Program - SCOV Astronomy Club

Our monthly programs are offered on the third Thursday of the month, from September through May of each year.

So far, we have the following speakers for 2025-26

1. September 18, 2025—Dr.Erika Hamden on space and stratospheric telescopes

2. October 16, 2025—Mr. David Eicher, Editor of Astronomy Magazine, on galaxies

3. November 20, 2025—Dr. Kevin Hainline on earliest galaxies

4. December 18, 2025—Dr. Mathiew Renzo on stellar binaries and explosions

6.  January 22, 2026  - Mr. Mark Lyon is a meteorite dealer, hunter, and collector, based in Phoenix, Arizona. Meteorites are his full-time passion. He travels to international shows to display his collection. He also travels frequently to museums, universities, and private collections. When a new, exciting specimen is discovered, he is often the first person who is contacted. In his talk, Mark will describe how he built a collection of extraordinary fragments from the cosmos. From rare iron meteorites to exotic pallasites and lunar speciments, he will show examples, tell how they formed, and where they landed on Earth. On Monday, January 26th, Mr. Lyon will give us a tour of his 3-gallery exhibit, Mark Lyon's Meteorites, at the Pueblo Show (Ramada Inn, 777 N Freeway, Rooms 159, 160, and 161).
" Mark Lyon's Meteorites"

7.  February 19, 2026, Activity Center
       Janet Wood, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
  Ms. Janet Wood earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Washington in 1973, and a Master of Science Degree in Geoscience Education from Mississippi State University in 2001 with a special interest in planetary science.  Janet  became a space science enthusiast after attending "Planetfest" in 1997 which took place in conjunction with the Mars Pathfinder Landing. She became a volunteer for NASA/JPL's Solar System Ambassador Program in 2002 and has been giving programs to a wide variety of audiences since that time. Janet has given talks to our Astronomy Club and to ILR students in Sun City.

Exploring Pluto with the New Horizons Spacecraft
Join us for a journey to the solar system's most distant frontier!
In 2015, NASA's New Horizons mission completed a historic flyby of Pluto providing us with our first up-close look at this fascinating dwarf planet. Upon approach, New Horizons captured stunning images of Pluto that revealed an unexpected dynamic landscape with towering water-ice mountains, evidence of cryo-volcanism, and the vast nitrogen ice plain named "Tombaugh Regio" (“Pluto's heart”). This  presentation will feature many of the incredible images of Pluto and its moons, and summarize the  findings returned from surveying Pluto and its environs, as well as the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth by  the New Horizons spacecraft.

8.  Thursday, March 19, 2026, Activity Center
     Dr. John Barentine, Astronomer, historian,
author, dark-sky defender and science communicator
                          " John C Barentine "
John is an Arizona native and comes from the “dark side” of science — professional astronomy. He grew up in Phoenix and was involved in amateur astronomy there from grade school. Later, he attended the University of Arizona, beginning research in jobs at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and National Solar Observatory headquarters in Tucson. From 2001-06 he was on the staff of Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, serving first as an observing specialist on the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5-meter telescope and then as an observer for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. John is the Executive Officer and Principal Consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC, a consultancy offering professional services in the areas of light pollution, dark skies and astronomy. He is the author of three books on the history of astronomy, The Lost Constellations, Uncharted Constellations and Mystery of the Ashen Light of Venus: Investigating a 400-Year-Old Phenomenon.                                                  

For detailed descriptions for all upcoming speakers see Upcoming Speakers on our website!