Welcome to VBAS!
The Von Braun Astronomical Society is a non-profit organization of amateur and professional astronomers. We are sharing our love of space with the community through our planetarium and observatories located in Monte Sano State Park just east of Huntsville, Alabama.
Latest News
Night At The Observatory
Our “Night At The Observatory” is a personalized program that allows small groups to experience an evening of imaging and observing deep-sky objects of their choice and keep all the photos captured using our historic Swanson 21″ telescope. Note: The program will be paused for the months of June, July, and August due to the late sundown. We’ll resume in September.
Click here for more information.
- Astronomy Day 2026October 17th, 1-5 PM & 7:30 – 9 PM Von Braun Astronomical Society will celebrate Astronomy Day on October 17th in person at Monte Sano State Park! Daytime events (between 1 – 5 pm) will include: mini-planetarium shows, Telescope tours, and Meteor radar demos. Evening events (between 7:30 – 9 pm) will include a keynote… Read more: Astronomy Day 2026
- Messier Marathon – April 10On Friday, April 10th, 2026 at 6:00pm, we’ll open our VBAS observing field all night to observers searching for Messier objects. Bring your scope to set up in our observing field! We have plenty of power outlets to plug your scope into. Each Spring it’s possible to view all 110 Messier deep sky objects in… Read more: Messier Marathon – April 10
- Member Meeting – January 16thJoin us on Friday January 16, 2026 at 7:30 pm at the VBAS Planetarium for our monthly member meeting. Admission is open to the public. The science behind the structure of the universe Benjamin Gibson will be our speaker for January. He is an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. He describes… Read more: Member Meeting – January 16th
Donate to the VBAS Stars for All Endowment Fund
VBAS established an agency fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville in 2024. VBAS is the sole beneficiary of the distributions from this fund, which is used to provide long term financial stability for our organization. Your donation will help continue VBAS operations well into the future.
Upcoming Shows
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August 2026 Planetarium Shows
All planetarium shows begin at 7:30pm.
Admission opens at 7:00pm; $5/adult, $3/student, 6 and under free.
Telescope viewing afterwards on clear nights.
August 1st – How’s the Weather on the Moon?
Yes indeed there is weather on the Moon. There is no significant lunar atmosphere so this environment poses significant hazards to our astronauts and lunar bases. Dr. Rob Suggs, retired NASA scientist, spent most of his career providing specifications of space environments to spacecraft designers and he contributed to the specifications in use by Artemis mission designers. Rob will describe lunar “weather” and what spacecraft designers need to do about it.
Presented by Rob Suggs
August 8th – The Life of a Star
Stars! Have you ever looked up into the night sky, and wondered: What are those bright colorful points of light doing? How did they come to be? What are they made of? How hot do they burn? Why do they come in different colors, and what does that mean? How might they end? And, do we come from the stars? We have answers. Join us on an exciting exploration of our stellar cosmos!
Presented by Cyril Bryan
August 15th – The Life of a Star
Stars! Have you ever looked up into the night sky, and wondered: What are those bright colorful points of light doing? How did they come to be? What are they made of? How hot do they burn? Why do they come in different colors, and what does that mean? How might they end? And, do we come from the stars? We have answers. Join us on an exciting exploration of our stellar cosmos!
Presented by Cyril Bryan
August 22nd – Celebrating Birds in the Sky
There are nine birds in the constellations of the night sky. Here in Alabama we can only see three of them. We’ll use our star projector to travel very, very far south and look for the southern birds. Perhaps you’ll learn something new about an exotic bird or two. Families welcome.
Presented by Gena Crook
August 29th – Bird Brained Astronomers
Birds can be remarkable astronomers despite their tiny brains! Some birds journey thousands of miles every year relying on the stars to guide them. We will discover how they do it, what other animals watch the stars, and how scientists know. Join us on a fantastic voyage as we use planetarium stars to guide us as we migrate south with birds.
Presented by Gena Crook and Eric Silkowski
