Author: Joe Kutner

October 17^th, 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 speech followed by a planetarium show.

Astronomy Day is FREE and open to the public!

7:30 PM Keynote talk by Dr. Heidi Haviland

Lunar Science from Artemis I, II & Commercially Landed Payloads

Dr. Haviland will highlight the science gained during the recent Artemis and commercial lander missions. Test flight Artemis I included several biology payloads and deployed ten Cube Satellites. The Artemis II crew participated in the first geological observations of the lunar farside. They were also able to observe space weather events, and six impact flashes from meteoroid impacts during their mission. The science campaign on Artemis II also included radiation detectors and human research. Four US commercial companies have attempted lunar landings in the past two years: Astrobotic Peregrine Mission 1, Intuitive Machines 1, 2, and Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1. Over twenty science payloads were included in these missions. Dr. Haviland will highlight the science gained from these missions. Following, she will discuss the plans for science from the upcoming Artemis and Moon Base missions.

Dr. Heidi Haviland is a planetary scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Originally from California, Dr. Haviland studied at Biola University and the University of Southern California earning two bachelor’s, and began her career designing and building spacecraft at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Following, Dr. Haviland then moved to Strasbourg, France, to study at the International Space University and obtained a master’s degree. Afterwards, Heidi studied at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Lab and completed her dissertation. Subsequently, she joined the Planetary Science Laboratory at Louisiana State University.

Heidi’s scientific research focuses on understanding planetary interiors using electromagnetic geophysical methods, neutron measurements, seismic normal modes, and the space plasma environment of airless bodies such as the Moon. She is the project scientist of the Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface (NMLS) instrument that will fly on Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission one, and a science team member on the InSight mission. Heidi also leads an interdisciplinary research group focused on understanding the chemistry of the Moon through thermoelastic and petrological modeling. Heidi is the Project Scientist for the CLPS PRISM1a (CP-11) delivery which will investigate the Reiner Gamma surface swirl.

Thanks to our Sponsors

On 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 a single night. A Messier Marathon is an event for amateur astronomers to attempt to observe as many of these objects as possible. It’s not a race or a contest, but more of an opportunity to get out and do what we love doing most in the company of other like-minded observers.

See you Friday night!

We have a special treat for those attending our Stars Fell on Alabama show this coming Saturday night, November 15! VBAS member Lonnie Puterbaugh will bring his amazing meteorite collection to share with us. ‘Space Rocks!’ is an extensive traveling meteorite exhibit consisting of over 70 meteorites. The specimens originate mostly from the main asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter, but also include Mars and several Moon pieces. A few specimens born in the solar nebula predate Earth by several hundred million years to multi billions of years and contain water and amino acids. The exhibit includes very unique colorful meteorites rarely observed by even professional astrophysicists.

The planetarium doors will open at 6:30 pm ahead of the 7:30 pm program and the meteorites will also be available for viewing afterwards.

Our silent auction is now live! We have astronomy, STEM and awesome items, plus some cool experiences available. Check it out:

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/the-vbas-celestial-celebration-silent-auction

Bidding closes at 6:30pm on the 26th of September. We may still add more items, so check back often and spread the word!

Join us on Friday July 18, 2025 at 7:30 pm at the VBAS Planetarium for our monthly member meeting. Admission is open to the public.

NASA Meteor Monitoring at VBAS

Our topic will be: NASA Meteor Monitoring at VBAS with NASA specialist Dr. Bill Cooke. The Global Meteor Network is a Canada based project with sites all over the world collecting and reporting data on meteor strikes in Earth’s atmosphere. Each site uses a visual camera and specialized software to monitor the night sky for meteors. Each day, calibrated data from the previous night is reported back to a central database. More info available at https://globalmeteornetwork.org

Bill Cooke’s team at NASA participate in the network and one of their cameras is now mounted at the VBAS Swanson observatory. The VBAS station is called USN009 and you can access the latest and archived data from this station through the VBAS website on our Sky Conditions page or at https://globalmeteornetwork.org/weblog/US/.

Join us on Friday June 20, 2025 at 7:30 pm at the VBAS Planetarium for our monthly member meeting. Admission is open to the public.

Starlore from India

Astronomy is one of the oldest branches of Science. All the known ancient civilizations were equally fascinated by the motion of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and the Stars and made careful observations/recordings of these motions. Although the objects in the sky are the same, the stories about the constellations vary widely across the cultures. In this talk I will share some constellation stories that I heard growing up in India and touch upon how astronomy plays a role in various rituals that are still followed in India.

Presented by Dr. Naveen Vetcha

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Dr. Vetcha is Team Lead for Aerosciences team at Amentum Space Exploration Division supporting the Engineering Services and Science Capability Augmentation (ESSCA) contract at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). His prior roles on the contract include Team Lead for Technology Development Team, Challenge Manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, and Liquid Propulsion Analyst for RS-25 engines that power the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System Rocket. Prior to this, he worked as lead test analyst at Nexolve for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshields. Naveen is also an adjunct faculty at University of Alabama Huntsville’s College of Engineering. Naveen has been an active member and volunteer of VBAS since 2013. Dr. Vetcha received MS & PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of California Los Angeles, MTech in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, and BE in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, India.