Image courtesy of PAS and NSN
Recently I interviewed Terri Finch, Vice President and Events Coordinator for the Phoenix Astronomical Society. If anyone within the Phoenix Region has always been interested in astronomy then this is the organization you should strongly consider joining!
Examiner: What is the name of the organization you are a part of and how long has it been around?
Terri: The Phoenix Astronomical Society (Founded 1948) has been enjoying the fun hobby of astronomy for many years. PAS welcomes all ages to join in the enjoyment of viewing the night sky through telescopes. One does not have to own a telescope to join the club, and they need not to join the club until they check out how much fun we have at our star parties (definition: a gathering of amateur star gazers, with telescopes to view the night sky). It is a learning situation for all.
Examiner: Where does PAS hold its meetings?
Terri: PAS holds its general meetings on the first Thursday of the month, September through May. We meet in the library of Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) at 32nd Street and Union Hills at 7pm. The meeting is open to everyone. We have a guest speaker who shares with us something about astronomy. The Speaker Line-up for Fall 2009 into Spring 2010 is quite awesome. Some of the
upcoming topic will be "Weightlessness," "Remote Automated Observing. For CCD Imaging," and "CCD Imaging from the Mars Explorer Rover."
Examiner: How often does PAS meet?
Terri: PAS meets 1 time a month for the general meeting (with Guest Speaker), and several times a month for various star parties around the Phoenix area.
Examiner: How much is membership?
Terri: Membership is currently $25 for the year (Internet newsletter) and $30 if you wish to have the newsletter mailed to you. PAS puts out 10 newsletters in a year. One newsletter per month of its meetings, and one during the summer months.
Examiner: What fun activities does PAS get invovled with?
PAS has activities all year long. Weather permitting, of course. One could check out the PAS calendar on line at www.pasaz.org and see what is available. Most of our events are open to the public and unless otherwise noted on the calendar, they are open to children as well.
PAS holds 2 Indoor Astro Events per year at PVCC. Open to the public and bring the whole family for a hands-on astronomy learning experience. In Room G-147 at PVCC, we set up many demos of astronomy. Weather permitting, we also provide telescopes outdoors that evening. The next two Indoor Astro Events will be Oct 15, 2009 and Apr 22, 2010.
PAS also holds, for the students of PVCC, but it is open to the public as well, star parties on the PVCC campus by the Telescope dome, outside of G-147. The next few PVCC star parties are scheduled for: Sept 9, 2009 starting at 6pm, Oct 22, 2009 starting at 5pm, March 18, 2010 starting at 5:30pm and May 20, 2010 starting at 7pm. PAS also offers qualified schools FREE star parties at their school, for a whole school star party. These are scheduled through Terri at Events@pasaz.org.
Examiner: How many members does PAS have?
Terri: PAS currently has 60 paying members and about 30 active members. Active members are the ones you will see at the events with their telescope or just lending a hand where needed.
Examiner: Do you work with other community organizations within Phoenix?
PAS offers star parties to the WOW program. Wow stands for Wonderful Outdoor
World and PAS does star parties for Scout groups (no charge).
PAS is also a member of the ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE. The Astro League is a gathering of clubs that cares about astronomy.
PAS is a member of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). The IDA helps communities with lighting issues, where by they assist in getting the overly bright lighting of an area changed to the more energy efficient and astronomer friendly lighting. We appreciate the IDA.
PAS belongs to the Night Sky Network through the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and NASA/JPL. They have an awesome program where they make KITS for the clubs to help explain, hands on, and demos, what is going on in space. PAS uses one of their demos on a regular basis, the PHASES OF THE MOON. They also have an awesome site set up for kids with activities at Nasa's Space Place spaceplace.nasa.gov. Awesome games and activities can be found there and a lot of the items PAS uses as prizes comes from this resource.
Examiner: What was the coolest thing that PAS has been involved in?
Terri: PAS has been lucky to be involved, for many years, with the Sally Ride event. Each February, Sally Ride comes to Phoenix and does an event for girls at ASU Tempe campus. At this event, PAS has done many cool hands on activities, solar viewing, and games for the girls to learn and enjoy astronomy. This is a mostly all day event.
PAS has done many "all day" events for scout troops. The most recent one was held up in Mayer in a Camp. We started our daytime activities around 10am. We included hands on thinking games like Constellation Tubes, and puzzle pieces, and a bunch of really awesome mini games designed to
give the attending scout a chance to learn a little more about astronomy. They got a prize whether then knew the answers or not. We also had some Moon demos and Meteorite Man was there (he always steals the show). We showed the Sun with a few safe to veiw through telescopes, as well as projected it onto a TV so more could see the details at one time, and we could talk about it. Then as night came, the event turned to viewing through the telescopes. We set up and totally Wow'ed the group. This was a major event for the Girl Scouts and attendance was 900+ girls, plus some parents, siblings, the helpers and leaders. We had an awesome event. Some of us stayed the night, as it is a long drive back to Phoenix from Mayer, and the rest of us drove home. This is the type of event I really enjoy planning for.
I think the coolest thing, over all, that PAS does on a regular basis is provide free night time telescope viewing to schools. The kids love it, and we enjoy their comments.
Examiner: What are the main goals of PAS and its members?
Terri: PAS has the goal of SHARING the night sky with anyone who wishes to learn more, see more, do more with it. PAS recently took in a new item it offers its members. You have to be a PAS member to be involved in the Virtual Star Parties.
What is a Virtual Star Party?
We meet at one members home (this varies depending on who is offering to host this party at the time) on a designed night. We then gather around the computer and program it to take astrophotos of an object. The goal is astrophotography remotely through one of our awesome members 2 telescopes that are residing in Mayer, AZ. Mayer is a dark sky location in which we hold PAS Members ONLY star parties on a monthly basis, closest to the new moon. Check the calendar for these dates. Time on the telescopes is given based on the object chosen and its field of view, as well as clear skies. This is something no other club has at this time. It is a great way to learn to take astrophotos using someone's equipment that's already set up, and then after images are gathered, we will hold a class to teach on how to process the images. So, we have 2 new items that PAS offers as of May 2009. The chance to take astrophotos and then a class to put it all together. And the photos that
are taken, belong to the PAS Member who took them.
Examiner: What upcoming events will PAS be a part of?
Terri: I listed the PVCC events: Star Parties and Indoor Astro Events, above.
We have many schools who are asking for our telescopes to be at their events. We have a few star parties that are private, that only PAS members may attend, either as a club or as a private party for other non-PAS individuals.
We host star parties at PV Park, at 40th Street and Bell, open to the public. Bring the whole family. Weather permitting. Usually held on Saturday nights. Here are a few dates for these events: Dec 12, 2009 Meteor Shower / Star Party at PV Park from 6pm to 10pm. And Jan 3, 2010 A Sunday, PV Park Meteor Shower / Star Party from 6pm to 10pm. More of these events may be scheduled. Check the PAS calendar.
Examiner: Do you give discount membership rates to educators, students and seniors?
PAS offers a student discount. A student ID must be presented to the Treasurer, Mike, when the Dues sheet is turned in. As long as that student retains the "student" status with any school, they get a discount to join PAS. Currently there are no discounts for Educators or Seniors, but this is something
PAS May consider offering in the near future. PAS was once mostly made up of Seniors. Now, young blood has taken over the club and it has become a more active star gazing club.
Examiner: Anything else you may want to add about PAS?
The PAS website has everything one would need to know about PAS. In the Downloads section of the site, one can get maps, directions to events, complete year-in-advance printouts of events, fliers about events, some info on past events we have done, and more. The PAS calendar is maintained by Terri and changed as needed. Thus, if you plan to attend an event with PAS and an RSVP is requested, please drop Terri an email to make sure the event is still on. Especially when the weather is questionable. You can email at Events@pasaz.org, or call Terri 602-561-5398.
Terri is the Event Coordinator for PAS.
PAS welcomes everyone to most events. The calendar is set up so that any event that is private or doesn't allow the public, will be put on a separate PRIVATE CALENDAR within the site that only PAS members can access. The event may be listed in the Public Calendar but the main details of the site are at a link to the Private Calendar. This works well, so that the public knows what they can attend or not. About 85% of the PAS events are public. We love working with the public.
A really cool feature PAS offers is the ASK AN ASTRONOMER email. Leah, a long time member of PAS, answers the questions that are sent to Astronomy-Questions@PASAZ.org. We have had many really neat questions from the public. Some of which require longer, more detailed answers, and those get published in the newsletter. We invite anyone to drop us an email with questions. When Leah needs help answering the questions, the main PAS TEAM helps out. It's a great way to learn more about astronomy, like having your own personal, alive astronomy encyclopedia.
PAS is available for hire. Send your party info to Events@pasaz.org and Terri will help you enhance your private party, for a fee, with an evening of star gazing. The PAStimes Star Tours will take you on a memorable journey. More info, including pricing, can be found on the site www.pasaz.org in the downloads section under Booking Doc.
For more info: The Phoenix Astronomical Society
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