Our meetings are held at 7:00pm on the third Tuesday of the months of September through June at the Laurel Manor Recreation Center. No meetings are held in July or August.

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Mission Statement

The Villages Astronomy Club is open to all The Villages residents and their guests having an interest in astronomy. Our monthly meetings focus on sharing our knowledge and learning about the latest theories and developments in astronomy. Our goal is to develop community programs and encourage member participation in an effort to enhance our members' and community's awareness of our solar system and universe.

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NEW: A TELESCOPE WILL BE RAFFLED OFF AT OUR NEXT VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING ON DECEMBER 20. BE SURE TO BUY YOUR TICKETS AT THE MEETING.

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ATTENTION VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB MEMBERS

Club shirts are available for purchase from:

CUSTOM APPAREL at 3451 Wedgewood Lane (next to Publix in Southern Trace Plaza)

Shawn & Robin Carr, proprietors, Telephone Number: 750-1600

The Poly/Cotton shirts are $22.00 Add a name $3.00

Extra Small or Plus Sizes add $2.00

Light Blue is our club shirt color

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Special Event

Several times a year we host Starry Starry Night events. Our next event is scheduled for Saturday March 10, 2012 at dusk in the area behind the Saddlebrook Softball Complex. Telescopes and other astronomy devices are set up for the general public to be exposed to the wonders of the universe. All members with or without a telescope are encouraged to participate and share their knowledge. Bring your children and grandkids to this wonderful and well attended event which will also include food vendors. Often we are also joined by another astronomy club from the area.

For all star gazers, to find The Villages site on the internet go to:

http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html

To locate The Villages viewing site, input +28.932 degrees North Latitude and -81.996 degrees West Longitude (do not put a space after the + or - sign and the first number) into the appropiate boxes located below right of the map.

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NEW: "Boardwalk Under The Stars" , come join us for telescope viewing on the Boardwalk at 5:00pm on "TBD" at a location near the public restrooms. Telescopes will be set up on the Boardwalk for you to see the planets and stars. Please come and join the club members who will educate you on the sky and all its splendors.

NEW: As a new feature of our club there will be presented every week a 30 minute DVD pre-meeting (starts at 6:20pm) lecture by Professor Alex Filippanko of the University of California. This weeks DVD lecture is on " TBD".

NEW: For Villages Astronomy Club Members only a New DVD Lecture Library Series is available. There are 18 presentations of 30 minutes each that can be borrowed from the clubs' Library. The lectures are by Professor Alex Pilippenko.

NEW: Village and Plantation astronomy club members are invited to join the VPAG (Villages & Plantations Astronomy Group). VPAG is a no cost discussion group hosted by Yahoo. Members can post messages and ask questions about things astronomical, as well as access files and photos. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/vpag/

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Starry Starry Night was held on Tuesday November 9, 2010 in the area behind the Saddlebrook Softball Complex. Telescopes and other astronomy devices were set up for the general public to enjoy. Our turn out was absolutely great! It was estimated that over 150 people turned out for our Starry Starry Night. Thanks to all those people who showed up and helped to make this a truely outstanding event.

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BELOW ARE IMAGES TAKEN BY DOUG LANDMANN OF "THE VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB".

Pictures taken Wednesday September 1st. from Doug's home using a CPC1100 with Hyperstar. Mallincam Hyper Color, 5 frames at 28 second integration, Celestron Light Pollution Filter. The Deep Sky Stacker & Deep Sky Image Processing for images.

M20 TRIFID NEBULA

M8 LAGOON NEBULA

M16 EAGLE NEBULA

M17 SWAN NEBULA

BELOW ARE IMAGES TAKEN BY ERNIE ROSSI OF "THE PLANTATIONS ASTRONOMY CLUB".

M82 is a galaxy approximately 12 million light years away and contains about 50 billion stars. This is an edge on galaxy and sometimes is referred to as the cigar galaxy. It has a dark black dust lane in the center.

Image taken in Leesburg, almost a full moon overhead. C11 F/6.3 focal reducer, on CGEM equatorial mount, Auto-guided with 80 MM refractor and the Orion Star shooter. 15-75 second exposures using Image Plus camera controls, Canon 450 D Dsir, ISO set to 800. Deepsky stacker, photoshop, Image Plus.

M66 is about the size of our Milky Way galaxy and is located in the constellation Leo about 40 million light years away.

M66 was fairly low in the sky and the moon almost full was nearby. C 11 on a CGEM eq. mount, auto-guided 15-75 second images using a Canon 450 C at ISO 800 using Image Source camera controls, Deepsky Stacker, Photoshop, Noel Carboni, star in hancement, Image plus size and cropping.

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