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Planetarium Shows

August 2025 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.

Click Here for July 2025 Planetarium Shows

August 2nd – History of Planetariums

Learn about the history of planetariums, the “recent” projector technology, and the possible future of star viewing indoors.

Presented by Tom Burlington

August 9th – Choosing a Telescop

So, you are interested in astronomy. You may be wondering: What gear do I need to get involved? We are here to help you! We will show how to best meet your interests, and avoid the most common costs & frustrations, at all common budget levels, in this our wonderful hobby.

Presented by Cyril Bryan

August 16th – Choosing a Telescop

So, you are interested in astronomy. You may be wondering: What gear do I need to get involved? We are here to help you! We will show how to best meet your interests, and avoid the most common costs & frustrations, at all common budget levels, in this our wonderful hobby.

Presented by Cyril Bryan

August 23rd – Exoplanets

Extrasolar Planets (Exoplanets) are planets that are outside our solar system. Since the discovery of first exoplanet in early 90s, the field of exoplanet research has expanded rapidly and resulted in the discovery of close to 6000 exoplanets so far. Some of these orbit other stars and some are just freely floating in the vacuum of space. Studying these objects helps us understand our own solar system. Join us and learn all about these fascinating worlds.

Presented by Naveen Vetcha

August 30th – Life in the Universe

Well, we’re looking for it. Life in places other than Earth, that is. The Clipper Mission is on its way to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. And the James Webb Space Telescope has a super interesting technique for looking for evidence of life on exoplanets. You’ll want to join us at the VBAS planetarium tonight so you can learn about how we’re searching. If you have some knowledge in your noggin’ then you’ll be prepared to be really excited when news of a discovery breaks.

Presented by Gena Crook
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Uncategorized

Astronomy Day 2025

September 27th, 1-5; 7:30 – 9 pm

Von Braun Astronomical Society will celebrate Astronomy Day on September 27th 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 Mr. Rod Pyle

Silver Dust and Red Dreams: The Moon and Mars Circa 1950

Rod Pyle is a space author, journalist, and historian who has authored 20 books on space history, exploration and development for major publishers and NASA that have been released in ten languages. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the National Space Society’s quarterly print magazine Ad Astra and his articles have appeared in Space.com, LiveScience, Futurity, Huffington Post, Popular Science, the BBC’s Sky at Night, the World Economic Forum, Caltech’s E&S magazine, and WIRED. Rod has written extensively for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, including Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s annual Technology Highlights book. Rod co-authored and lectured for the Apollo Executive Leadership Program for NASA’s Johnson Space Center and The Conference Board. His recent books include Space 2.0 (with a foreword by Buzz Aldrin), Interplanetary Robots, Heroes of the Space Age, and First on the Moon (also with a foreword by Aldrin). Both First on the Moon and Rod’s previous Missions to the Moon (foreword by Gene Kranz) were national bestsellers and translated into multiple languages. He was recently commissioned by the Library of Congress to write the preface for Neil Armstrong’s first words on the moon for its accession to the permanent collection.

Rod has also produced or consulted on multiple space documentaries for The History Channel, Discovery Communications and National Geographic. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica 2004 reboot, as well as sci-fi TV pilots. Rod was a consulting producer on the National Geographic documentaries Apollo 11 and The Real Stuff (based on Tom Wolfe's iconic book The Right Stuff).

Rod is an advisor for the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), a NASA-affiliated Mars analog base in the High Arctic. Besides assisting with fieldwork there, he handles publicity and outreach for HMP and the Mars Institute with Dr. Pascal Lee.

Rod can be seen on The History Channel’s UnXplained: With William Shatner and is a regular guest on national radio with KFI/Los Angeles, WABC/New York, and WGN/Chicago as well as popular podcasts and radio in other markets. Rod co-hosts and produces the This Week in Space with Space.com’s Tariq Malik. He holds an MA from Stanford University and a BFA from the Art Center College of Design, and lives in Alhambra, California.

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News

Member Meeting – July 18

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/.

Categories
News

Moon tree video and height update

Please enjoy the following video with details about our newly planted “moon tree” and updates on its growth. Produced by Greyden Kutner – our very own student director!

Categories
Planetarium Shows

July 2025 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.

Click Here for June 2025 Planetarium Shows

July 5th – The Sun is Blowing a Bubble!

In addition to lighting the sky, our amazing Sun blasts the entire solar system with a supersonic wind of energetic particles. Approximately 270,000 African Elephants worth of matter streams out from the Sun every second, blowing a gigantic bubble in space that cocoons our solar system. Join us as we learn about this astonishing Solar Wind and the dangerous and wonderful ways it affects Earth and our everyday lives.

Presented by Eric Silkowski

July 12th – James Webb Telescope-The Journey So Far

Launched in December 2021, James Webb Space Telescope has revealed many unprecedented details of the universe during its two years of operation. Webb’s first images were released on July 12, 2022. Join us in a journey through space and time as we celebrate the anniversary of the first images. We will look at some of the recent images taken by JWST and learn what new things these images taught us about the cosmos.

Presented by Naveen Vetcha

July 19th – Black Holes

Most people know that black holes are strong gravity sources. What else do we know about them? Join us as we explore one of the strangest objects in the universe.

Presented by Rachel Stewart

July 26th – The Sun is Blowing a Bubble!

In addition to lighting the sky, our amazing Sun blasts the entire solar system with a supersonic wind of energetic particles. Approximately 270,000 African Elephants worth of matter streams out from the Sun every second, blowing a gigantic bubble in space that cocoons our solar system. Join us as we learn about this astonishing Solar Wind and the dangerous and wonderful ways it affects Earth and our everyday lives.

Presented by Eric Silkowski
Categories
Planetarium Shows

June 2025 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.

Click Here for May 2025 Planetarium Shows

June 7th – AL Astronomy Summer Fun

Alabama is a great state to explore in the summer with many notable places related to astronomy to visit! Join VBAS educator Beth Bero as we tour Alabama’s summer astronomy fun destinations and learn how to enjoy our astronomy hobbies right here in our own state.

Presented by Beth Bero

June 14th – 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

June 21st – 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

June 28th – Variable Stars

Stars that change brightness have been known for thousands of years, but those that do it regularly and predictably turned out to hold the key to unlocking our understanding of the distances in our Universe! Come and find out about this fascinating story, and learn about observing variable stars.

Presented by Alex Hall
Categories
News

Member Meeting – June 20

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

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.

 

Categories
Planetarium Shows

May 2025 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.

Click Here for April 2025 Planetarium Shows

May 3rd and 10th – Outer Planets

The four “Gas Giants” are among the most exciting objects for new observers to find in a telescope. What do
we know about these distant worlds? Join Beth Bero for a look at current and past research on these enigmatic
neighbors in our solar system.

Presented by Beth Bero

May 17th – Southern Skies

A microscope? An air-pump? A compass? No, not a laboratory, but the constellations of the Southern skies! Using our star projector, we can take a peek at the night sky from places of a more southerly latitude and learn some new star patterns and how they got their names.

Presented by Alex Hall

 

May 24th and 31st – The Moon: Then and Now

70 years ago a group of astronomy enthusiasts joined together to create the Rocket City Astronomical
Association, later renamed in honor of Dr. Wernher von Braun. Under his leadership, some of our founders
pioneered the early exploration of space and especially the Moon. In 1955, almost nothing was known about
the Moon; no one had ever even seen the far side! Join us as we journey through the history of lunar exploration
from the pre-Apollo era to today. We will see how scientists and explorers unlocked the Moon’s secrets and the
incredible advance of technology over the course of VBAS’ 70-year history.

Presented by Eric Silkowski
Categories
Planetarium Shows

April 2025 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.

Click Here for March 2025 Planetarium Shows

April 5th – Telescopes in Space

We will explore the fascinating world of space-based telescopes and how they allow us to see the universe in ways our eyes alone cannot. By diving into the electromagnetic spectrum, we’ll uncover how different wavelengths of light reveal a more complete picture of the cosmos. Join us as we journey through the night sky, discovering how each part of the spectrum helps us unlock the secrets of the universe!

Presented by Abbie Cone

April 12th – Magic Carpet

We can use the star projector in the planetarium to pretend to fly anywhere on Earth – like a magic carpet! Gena Crook will demonstrate the motion of the stars across the sky at the equator, the north pole, and the southern hemisphere. We will also 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! This program will put the star projector to work and allow us to see its unique educational capabilities.

Presented by Gena Crook

April 19th – Volcanoes!

Volcanoes are awesome! Who doesn’t love seeing film of a massive volcanic explosion or rivers of burning hot lava? But, did you know Earth isn’t the only planet with volcanoes? And, did you know some volcanoes are not hot but incredibly cold? Come to this show and you will have a blast learning about the solar system’s amazing volcanoes!

Presented by Eric Silkowski

April 26th – Volcanoes!

Volcanoes are awesome! Who doesn’t love seeing film of a massive volcanic explosion or rivers of burning hot lava? But, did you know Earth isn’t the only planet with volcanoes? And, did you know some volcanoes are not hot but incredibly cold? Come to this show and you will have a blast learning about the solar system’s amazing volcanoes!

Presented by Eric Silkowski
Categories
Observatory

Astrophotography 101

The Von Braun Astronomical Society is offering a beginner level class
in astrophotography (AP 101). This course is designed for individuals
with little knowledge of astronomy. It is planned for 3 sessions as
outlined below. Cost is $25 for VBAS members and $30 for
nonmembers.

Session 1: Introduction to the night sky and equipment overview

Session 2: A detailed look at planning an imaging session and
equipment configuration

Session 3: Data acquisition and introduction to data processing

Students must provide an email address when registering so the
instructor can provide course materials. Classes will be held on Tuesday evenings at the VBAS Planetarium in Monte Sano State Park. Classes will begin on April 29th at 7pm and last for 2 hours with a 15-minute break. Our instructor is VBAS astrophotographer Don Reed.

Register for AP101
AP 101 DescriptionDownload