The Yakima Astronomical Society serves the Central Washington State area of the USA. The original Yakima Valley Astronomy Club was formed in January 1990 by Mac Knight and Larry Bresson. In January 2003, the name was changed to Yakima Astronomical Society. The original group grew out of a mirror grinding class Mac and Larry put on at the Hoover Elementary School, using funds from the Ridgeview PTA. The club evolved from there and now has about 15 to 20 active members.
The YAS is active in the Yakima community, putting on public observing sessions at various times during the year and bringing there telescopes out for the public at special astronomical events.
We start observing in March with our Messier Marathon. Print our Messier check sheet for help in observing these objects. See our schedule in the News & Events section for our Public Observing Sessions during the Spring, Summer and Fall months. Enjoy our Clear Sky Clock, and Weather link for Yakima on this page. If you are interested in astronomy and would like to observe the night sky, read the next paragraph on how to begin your celestial journey.
Many of you may want to enjoy the splendor of the night sky and learn more about where the constellations and planets are located. Begin your journey with binoculars or naked eye and a simple planisphere (Yakima is 46° North) or a Planetarium program for your computer. Try Sky & Telescope's Interactive Sky Chart or Getting Started in Astronomy. As you become more acute in your night time studies, a good star atlas, such as Sky Atlas 2000 can be helpful, along with a red flashlight. The Astronomical League Observing Clubs are a good place to start if you're looking for a list of things to observe. Visit Sky & Telescope's observing page for fun things to look at during this week.
YAS is affiliated with the Astronomical League. Click on there blue logo for a visit with this national organization for amateur astronomers.
Club members get together during the year for viewing sessions with their telescopes and attend many of the regional star parties. Amateur astronomers come from all walks of life and we have had the very young to senior citizens at our observing sessions. If you have an interest in astronomy or have a telescope and want to learn more about it, come join us. The YAS also maintains a library of astronomy books for club members to enjoy and use.
I hope you enjoy the new look to our club web page. As the club grows in serving the local interest in amateur astronomy, this web page will keep everyone updated on the latest activities involving astronomy in the Yakima area. I have included some additional sites in the Links Map of interesting and fun things to see and do with astronomy. We also have a pull-down JavaScript menu below with Northwest astronomy clubs and links. The light background color of the webpage is called Cosmic Latte, it is the average color of our universe.
See below for the date of our next meeting. If you would like to receive our free electronic newsletter, send your name and email address to our Newsletter Editor. Contact President, Martin Dukeshire or Secretary/Treasurer, Lea Welch for additional information about the Yakima Astronomical Society.
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| Club Officers | Name | Telephone | Email Address |
| President | Martin Dukeshire | (509) 574-5041 |  |
| Secretary | Lea Welch | (509) 966-8422 |  |
| Newsletter | Larry Ovall | (509) 966-3584 |  |
| ALCor | Bruce Perrault | (509) 678-4379 |  |
Public Observing for 2009
 Mars Exploration Programs Saturn Cassini-Huygens Mission JPL Amateur Astronomy Kepler - Search for habitable planets |
Bright Planets This Month (in order of appearence)
Saturn is in the Southwest at Sunset
Jupiter rises in the East about midnight Venus rises in the East about 3:00 am Mars rises in the East along with Venus Mercury rises in the instead shortly before dawn |
Click on the Sky Chart for additional information about how it works.
The Yakima Astronomical Society webpage is maintained by Bruce Perrault
The last update to this page was made Friday, June 19, 2009.
Visit my astronomy webpage - The Cowiche Astronomer
Free counters provided by Andale - Reset 12/07/02.