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.
- 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
- Member Meeting – December 19Join us on Friday December 19, 2025 at 7:30 pm at the VBAS Planetarium for our monthly member meeting. Admission is open to the public. Apollo 8 In 1968 the Space Race was in full tilt. The Apollo program was on schedule to make it to the Moon before the end of the decade. However,… Read more: Member Meeting – December 19
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
- May 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.
May 2nd – Birds of the Night
Monte Sano State Park is hosting a “Feather Fest” at the lodge today. Maybe you can attend that event. VBAS will participate by celebrating all things feathered in the night sky. There are birds everywhere at night and we’ll look for them on our planetarium dome. Families welcome.
Presented by Gena Crook
May 9th – Sci-Fi
Science fiction has always pushed the limits of imagination but how much of it could actually be real? We will dive into the science behind the most iconic and thought-provoking stories, from the alien biology of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars to the psychological and physical mysteries of Sphere, the survival driven physics of Project Hail Mary, and the visionary space travel of 2001: A Space Odyssey. We’ll break down what these stories get right, where they stretch the truth, and how real-world physics, biology, and engineering shape what’s possible. From alien life and artificial intelligence to relativistic travel and human survival in extreme environments, this show explores the line between fiction and reality and challenges you to decide for yourself: how far away is the future we imagine?
Presented by Maggie Sexton
May 16th – Sci-Fi
Science fiction has always pushed the limits of imagination but how much of it could actually be real? We will dive into the science behind the most iconic and thought-provoking stories, from the alien biology of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars to the psychological and physical mysteries of Sphere, the survival driven physics of Project Hail Mary, and the visionary space travel of 2001: A Space Odyssey. We’ll break down what these stories get right, where they stretch the truth, and how real-world physics, biology, and engineering shape what’s possible. From alien life and artificial intelligence to relativistic travel and human survival in extreme environments, this show explores the line between fiction and reality and challenges you to decide for yourself: how far away is the future we imagine?
Presented by Maggie Sexton
May 23rd – Magic Carpet
Our star projector can help us pretend to fly anywhere on Earth – like a magic carpet! See the motion of the stars across the sky at the equator, north pole, and southern hemisphere. Watch how the sun changes positions at these locations. You may be surprised if you haven’t actually been to the equator or the north pole in person! We will put the star projector to work and use it to show its unique educational capabilities.
Presented by Gena Crook
May 30th – Summer Skies
Join us on a cosmic journey, navigating our summer skies: the stars, the constellations, many beautiful deep sky objects, and perhaps even some historical tales about them. We will also use our sky dome simulation projector to show where in the sky all these are located.
Presented by Cyril Bryan
