Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association

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Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association

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Free public meetings are held the 1st Wednesday of each month at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church 411 Susquehanna Road Ambler, PA. 19002
Meetings begin at 7:30 PM.

08/11/2026

Wednesday August 12 is going to be a good day for sky watchers if the weather cooperates. We will be at Nockamixon State Park in the afternoon to view a Partial Solar Eclipse at the Marina Parking Lot. Then in the evening at Tohickon Boat Access Area we will be kicking back to take in the annual Perseid meteor shower.
In our area we will see just a small "bite" that the Moon takes out of the Sun, only about 8%. If you want to see the big dramatic total solar eclipse you will need to get yourself to either Iceland, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or Spain to catch the big show. For us, the first nibble out of the Sun begins at 1:09 PM. The maximum coverage for us is at 1:52 PM. Then the Moon retreats back off the edge of the Sun by 2:34 PM. This is a short partial eclipse as the Moon is just skimming the Sun's limb. At the Marina site we will have safe solar telescopes on hand for you to get a good close up view. We'll also have a few of the famous Eclipse Glasses you can borrow as well. Remember - you must always protect your eyes with either eclipse glasses or properly certified solar filters for any optical or camera gear.
Then we'll reconvene later that same evening at 8 PM for Perseid Meteor viewing by the lake at the Tohickon Boat Access Parking Lot. This year, we are lucky to not have the meteors having to compete with Moonlight. So bring a comfortable lawn chair or chaise lounge, enjoy the sunset and settle in to see how many Perseids come flying our way. We will also have some of our astronomers on hand with telescopes for some general star gazing, you don't need a telescope or binoculars to enjoy the meteor show.
Although the clouds are looking less of a factor Wed. afternoon and evening,, we are still dealing with wildfire smoke in our region for the next few days. This shouldn't be much of a problem for the partial eclipse part of the day, but could obscure some of the fainter meteors later on. Bright meteors might still be visible,
Additional information and any schedule plans will be posted here, or our www.bma2.org website and also at https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/nockamixon-state-park and their page as well.

08/04/2026

Just a reminder that our Wed. August 5th BMAA meeting is our annual club picnic and social for members. Our public/Zoom meetings will resume in September.
Stay tuned for some information on three interesting celestial events coming up here this August!

07/17/2026

Unfortunately, it looks like we will have about zero chance of seeing stars tomorrow night at our "rescheduled" Star Watch at Nockamixon State Park. So we will have to sit another one out till we get better skies, less smoke and more SPACE! We are excited for two special events on Wed. August 12th that we will be announcing more details on shortly!

07/11/2026

After looking at the cloud forecast for Saturday night's Star Watch at Nockamixon State Park, we have decided to postpone to our rain date, next Saturday July 18th, same time, but hopefully a clear sky. We will update everyone again next week 🔭

07/09/2026

Star Watch Saturday Night July 11th at the Tohickon Boat Access Area of Nockamixon State Park. 8:45 PM Opening Remarks, Starwatching will commence once it gets dark enough and the stars come out. Feel free to bring your own telescope and binoculars or look through the scopes of the Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association. The constellations and sights of mid-summer are now high overhead. In addition to the stars being out, so are the "skeeters", bug spray is recommended. Not a bad idea to bring a lawn chair along, too. For more information see: https://bma2.org/event/public-starwatch-15/
We are monitoring the weather closely for Saturday as there is some rain and thunderstorms predicted. Depending on the timeline how this all plays out, check back to this page, the BMAA website and/or Nockamixon State Park - https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/starwatch-5522 We will do our best to make a good call when we feel a little more confident in the forecast. Obviously, clouds, rain or heavy winds will cause a postponement till Sat. July 18th.
Stay tuned - the crystal ball is a little hazy at the moment🎱

06/30/2026

July 1st 2026 BMAA Monthly Club Meeting
In addition to our regular agenda items:
NASA What's Up for June video newsreel
Bob's Observing Challenging
Club Updates

We will have a presentation by member and Co-Vice President Gary Sprague on Electronic Assisted Astronomy (EAA):

This presentation will describe elements of EAA; what is it, how it differs from “standard” astrophotography and its applications. EAA is an approach to real-time visual observing using analog and digital video cameras. It offers a different approach from standard astrophotography and can be less complicated and more affordable. Images are viewed in real time on a monitor or a computer. The presentation will describe typical equipment available and advantages of various approaches.

Zoom link login here: https://bma2.org/our-events/
Meeting starts at 7:30 PM
In-Person meeting is held at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church 711 Susquehanna Road in Ambler, PA - just minutes from the 309 Expressway.

All meeting are FREE and open to the public - plus it's AIR CONDITIONED

06/12/2026

We are so looking forward to our Star Watch this Saturday night June 13th at the Tohickon Boat Access Area of Nockamixon State Park. According to the weather apps, we should have a really nice clear sky for the entire duration of the event (8:45 PM - 11:00 PM). These kind of nights do not come along all that often, so it's good to take advantage of the opportunity when it arises.
Although we haven't yet reached the Summer Solstice (June 21st), our days are now long and nights short. In our evening skies we are starting to see our constellations of Spring sink out of sight in the west, and a whole new cast of characters rise up in the East.
One group of Summer constellations astronomers love to explore is represented by the image below. Can you guess the names of these three constellations? As a bonus, the three constellations are collectively known as "___ ______ ________."
In addition to our astronomers sharing the views in their telescopes, we will again offer some basic instruction in finding some sky objects using binoculars. The park has some binoculars you can borrow during the evening, or bring your own.
We will have some pre-star watch activities/information at 8:45 PM and stargazing will commence once it gets dark enough sometime after 9 PM. As always, you are welcome to bring your own optical equipment to the observing field.
This is a FREE event with no registration required. The Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association is a non-profit organization run by dedicated, friendly volunteers.
More information is available at https://bma2.org/our-events/ and https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/starwatch-5793
* Graphic produced with Firefly (AI) and adjusted in Photoshop.

06/09/2026

Be sure to "Look to the Western skies" in the next hour or so to catch the closest approach between Venus (brighter and slightly higher) and the descending Jupiter. Pretty sight.

06/06/2026

The Jupiter / Venus Dance in the western sky this weekend. Like ships passing in the night, Venus and Jupiter will approach and pass each other just after sunset the next few days. Venus will be the brighter of the pair, as she climbs past a descending Jupiter. If you have binoculars or a small telescope, you might be able to see Jupiter's four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. However, on the night of the closest approach June 8th, "Io" will be in front of the disk of Jupiter, so you might only see three of the Moons easily. The moons of Jupiter were first revealed to human eyes by none other than the great Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610.
An 8" or larger telescope will often show the prominent cloud bands on Jupiter. These are rising and falling gasses of Ammonia. The rising gasses appear whitish, while the sinking layers of ammonia will look reddish brown.
Finally, if any of our followers were born under the zodiac sign of Gemini, the heads of the twins Pollux and Castor are the two bright stars just to above and to the right of Venus and Jupiter. Usually around the first day of Summer, the Gemini twins look like they are standing on the horizon just after sunset.
Image credit: Stellarium

06/03/2026

Monthly Club Meeting this Wednesday June 3rd at 7:30 PM
FREE and open to the public.
In addition to our regular agenda items:
NASA What's Up for June
Bob's Observing Challenging
Club Updates

We will have a special presentation from club member and Co-VP John Urbanchuk:

This presentation will cover the basics of using a star tracker with a DSLR or small telescope. Star trackers are relatively simple devices that allow the astrophotographer to take images that avoid star trails. They are best suited for DSLRs and wide angle or telescopic lenses. I will describe what a star tracker is, what is best at doing, what to look for when buying one, how to estimate exposure time before stars begin to track, and polar alignment, I also will discuss several popular star trackers and their prices, including the new smart telescopes, and show some examples of the images I have taken with my trackers.

Location
Monthly club meetings are IN PERSON and also ONLINE via ZOOM. In Person meetings are held at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church 411 Susquehanna Road in Ambler, PA. (Just minutes from the Rt 309 Expressway)
Zoom Link available here on our website: https://bma2.org/our-events/

Address

411 Susquehanna Road
Ambler, PA
19002

Website

http://www.bma2.org/, http://www.bma2.org/page1.html

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