Von Braun Astronomical Society
Huntsville Sky Conditions Click on above for details. President's Message 
VBAS is the second observatory that Wernher von Braun was instrumental in building. As
a student at the Lietz boys high school that he attended in Berlin, at the school's North Sea campus on the island
Spiekeroog, he influenced the school to buy a telescope and build a small observatory in 1927. He selected
a reflector with a 95-mm objective lens that was ordered from a Berlin manufacturer. The observatory was
a "hut" with a removable roof. It didn't survive WWII but the telescope tube and wooden tripod stand did
and are in the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin today. In 1954 Huntsville High School student Sam Pruitt
wrote a letter asking Dr. von Braun, then at Redstone Arsenal, to build an observatory for school children
interested in astronomy. Von Braun didn't hesitate in organizing his colleagues, students and others in
the community to build our observatory on Monte Sano. Von Braun was our society's first president. After
his death we re-named our society in his honor. VBAS is an astronomical society for amateur and professional astronomers. VBAS is a special astronomical society in that our origins began with members who fervently believed in space exploration. In the early 1960s NASA scientists used the telescopes at VBAS to help select lunar landing sites for the Apollo program. VBAS history is storied with space exploration pioneers such as Oberth, von Braun, Stuhlinger Swanson and Angele. Many of our members were involved in developing the Saturn V, the rocket that sent the Apollo astronauts to walk on and explore the Moon. Our planetarium has a shield of the Saturn V third stage fuel tank top half serving as our projection dome. VBAS is a society that provides members with opportunities for telescopic viewing of the night sky. We have astronomy programs, star parties and astronomy related special events. Last October we participated with NASA in the LCROSS program and at our observatory people watched as the Centaur impacted the Moon. We filmed the impact and obtained our own images of the impact dust to analyze for water. Still true to our beginnings we continue to give presentations in astronomy and star tours to student and other groups. We welcome those of you with interests in exploring the stars to join us. Al Reisz, President |
If you're not a member & would like to receive emailed messages about our events, click on "Stay In Touch" above in the blue bar.