Think it. Try it. Explore it.
DAVIS ASTRONOMY CLUB
at Explorit
The Astronomy Club has been a part of Explorit Science Center since 1987.
It has no dues and anyone can join. Our members range in knowledge of astronomy from pre-school to post-doctorate.
Several evenings a year the Davis Astronomy Club meets at Explorit on 5th Street, to discuss astronomy topics of continuing interest, or to prepare for important celestial events. Special observation sessions for such events as eclipses and meteor showers are held where members are encouraged to bring their scopes.
To become a member or for more information contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
What Does the Davis Astronomy Club Offer You?
If you have always been fascinated by the heavens or the exploration of outer space but haven't known how to start your own astronomical journey--this is the club for you. We have shown many aspiring stargazers their ‘first’ constellation, their ‘first’ double star, where the planets are and how to use a telescope. We can help you decide on the best binoculars, telescopes, computer programs and star atlases, and help you decide what you need and (more importantly don’t need) to enjoy and discover the cosmos. This club can be your ‘training wheels’ so you can finally begin exploring the universe at your own speed and in your own direction. We can even show you how your observations can be used for scientific research, if that is your goal. In short, this club aims to be a friendly ‘launch pad’ for your personal exploration of astronomy.
The Astronomy Club not only benefits its members, but the larger goals of Explorit as well. Working with school teachers and youth groups such as the Scouts and Campfire, the club has introduced hundreds--if not thousands--to the cosmos. Helping others to observe, communicate, reason, organize, and relate information about the sun, moon, planets and stars brings many rewards for Club volunteers. Among these rewards are: finding new friends, learning the theories, facts and processes of science, and discovering new perspectives on ourselves and the cosmos.
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For more current information, please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
NASA Artemis II Moon Mission & bright Comet C/2025 R3
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Saturday, March 28 | 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Explorit Science Center | 3141 5th Street, Davis
by Vinita Domier | vcdomier@yahoo.com
NASA Solar System Ambassador
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Everyone is invited to the Saturday, March 28 meeting of the Davis Astronomy Club at Explorit Science Center (3141 5th Street, Davis) starting at 7pm. All ages are welcome to attend the free public meeting comprising the featured presentation indoors and the star party outdoors where we will observe the Moon and Jupiter and other wonders of night sky.
Artemis II is NASA’s manned fly-by mission to the Moon that is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, April 1, at 3:24 pm PDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Planned as a 10-day lunar spaceflight with four astronauts on board, it is an important milestone marking humankind’s return to the Moon after more than half a century.
The objective of the Artemis II mission is to space test the NASA Artemis system, comprising the Space Launch System megarocket and Orion crew spacecraft, during its journey into deep space and fly-by loop around the Moon with the 4-person crew aboard. Artemis II was proceeded by the 3-week long successful Artemis I mission, launched in November 2022, that served as the initial lunar flyby test of the integrated system with no crew aboard.
For more information about NASA's Artemis II Moon mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/
For live view of NASA's Artemis II at the Kennedy Space Center:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJklsJonD4
Comet/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) is a steadily brightening comet that is predicted to be visible to the unaided eye in the predawn sky by middle of April. This comet originated in the Oort Cloud, a spherical repository shell of icy planetesimals in interstellar space between the Sun and the nearest stars. The comet is in a hyperbolic orbit in its journey towards the inner solar system; if it survives its trip around the Sun it will travel back to interspace and will not be a approach the Sun ever again.
As of end March, the comet is visible via binoculars in the Pegasus constellation, and will be at perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on April 19 when it will be in the Pisces constellation. The comet will be closest to Earth on April 25, when it will be between the Earth and the Sun, and will be in the Cetus constellation.
Comet/2025 R3 is projected to be visible to the unaided eye around mid-April. Look for it low in the eastern sky just before sunrise. Planets Mercury, Mars, and Saturn are also going to be visible close together in the predawn eastern sky.
For more information about the event, please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
For more information about the Davis Astronomy Club, please visit:
Evening Planet Parade and Total Lunar Eclipse!
Saturday, February 28 | 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Tuesday, March 3 | 2:00am - 5:00am
by Vinita Domier | vcdomier@yahoo.com
NASA Solar System Ambassador
Everyone is invited to a regular Davis Astronomy Club evening meeting on Saturday, February 28, starting at 6pm, and a special Davis Astronomy Club middle-of-the-night lunar eclipse viewing on Tuesday, March 3, between 2am-5am. Both meetings are free, open to all ages, and will be held at the Explorit Science Center (3141 5th Street) and the Mace Ranch Park parking lot in Davis.
On Saturday, February 28, we will have an indoor presentation about the upcoming total lunar eclipse, followed by a star party outdoors to look at the wonders of the winter night sky. Planets Mercury, Venus, and Saturn will be visible low in the western sky around sunset. Planet Jupiter, and its biggest moons, will be visible overhead, and the nearly full-phase Earth’s Moon will be visible in the eastern sky.
Lunar eclipses occur when the Sun, the Earth, and the full-phase Moon, in that order, line up in space. A part or the entire Moon, now in the Earth’s shadow, is obscured as it is cut off from the direct light from the Sun. Solar eclipses occur when the Sun, the new-phase Moon, and the Earth, in that order, line up in space. The shadow of the Moon then falls on a region of the Earth, obscuring part or all of Sun.
Eclipses do not occur at every new and full Moon because the Moon does not orbit the Earth in the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun. There are two periods, about six months apart, when these three solar system bodies - the Sun, Earth, and Moon - can align to produce the celestial phenomena of lunar and solar eclipses.
In the predawn hours on Tuesday, March 3, viewers in North America can witness the spectacle of a total lunar eclipse. The partial lunar eclipse will begin at 1:50am, totality will be between 3:04am and 4:02am, and the eclipse will end at 5:15am. Totality, when the full Moon is entirely in the Earth’s dark shadow, will last for 58 minutes.
Join the Davis Astronomy Club for the special total lunar eclipse viewing, weather permitting, at Davis’s Mace Ranch Park parking lot on Tuesday, March 3 from 2am-5am. Note that although no special equipment is needed to view a lunar eclipse, we will have telescopes and binoculars to look at the eclipsing Moon in detail.
For more information about this event, please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
Dazzling Jupiter and Magnificent Orion!
Saturday, January 24 | 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Explorit Science Center | 3141 5th Street, Davis
by Vinita Domier | vcdomier@yahoo.com
NASA Solar System Ambassador
​Everyone is invited to the Saturday, January 24 meeting of the Davis Astronomy Club at Explorit Science Center (3141 5th Street, Davis) starting at 6pm. All ages are welcome to attend the free meeting comprising the featured presentation indoors and the the star party outdoors where we will observe the wonders of the winter night sky.
Jupiter, the most massive and biggest of the solar system planets and fifth in order from the Sun, is optimum for viewing in the next few months. Shining brightly at –2.5 visual magnitude in the Gemini constellation, dazzling white Jupiter is easily observable with the unaided eye from dusk to dawn as it just passed opposition on January 10.
At opposition, an outer planet (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune) is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At this alignment, the planet rises in the east opposite to the setting Sun in the west, is visible all night, and sets in the west opposite to the rising Sun in the east. The planet also appears biggest and brightest as it is closest to Earth in distance during an opposition.
Saturn, the next massive planet and sixth from the Sun, is also visible in the western sky in the evening. The beautiful ringed planet shines at visual magnitude +1.2 in the Pisces constellation and sets at 9:37pm.
The Orion constellation is very prominent in the southwestern winter night sky. It is one of the most recognizable star patterns and one that actually resembles the mythical hunter that it is named after. The brightest stars are the blue supergiant Rigel, shining at magnitude +0.1, and the red supergiant Betelgeuse, shining at magnitude +0.50. The Orion Nebula, shining at magnitude +4.0, is a beautiful deep sky object that is visible with unaided eyes away from city lights. The brighter stars of Orion can be used as pointers to aid in identifying neighboring constellations and stars in the winter night sky.
For more information about this event, please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
For more information about the Davis Astronomy Club, please visit:
International Observe the Moon Night​
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Explorit Science Center
Saturday, October 4
6:30pm-9:00pm
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Vinita Domier (vcdomier@yahoo.com)
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
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The Davis Astronomy Club will be hosting a special meeting on Saturday, October 4, to observe International Observe the Moon Night starting at 6:30pm at Explorit Science Center (3141 5th Street, Davis).
All ages are welcome to this free annual event where we will discuss the unique features and significance of our Moon indoors, followed by a star party outdoors where we will observe the Moon, planet Saturn, and the stars.
The International Observe the Moon Night is an occasion to appreciate the beauty, grandeur, and importance of the Earth's sole natural satellite. This global event is held in September or October every year around the first-quarter phase of the Moon as this is an ideal time to observe the Moon all evening.
This annual free event is sponsored by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
More information about the Moon, viewing tips, and related activities for all ages can be found at the following NASA link: https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/
For more information, please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
​2025 Perseid Meteor Shower Viewing & Star Party
on Tuesday, August 12, from 8pm-1am
at Yolo County Grasslands Regional Park
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by Vinita Domier (vcdomier@yahoo.com)
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
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Davis Astronomy Club and Explorit Science Center invite everyone to the free public viewing of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower on the evening of Tuesday, August 12, from 8pm - 1am at Grasslands Regional Park (30475 CR 104, 3.8 miles south of Davis) at the crossing of CR104 (Mace Blvd) & Tremont Rd. The viewing area is at the eastern edge of the park (bypass the first parking lots near the park entrance, follow the road to where it turns left, and park on the gravel next to the grassy viewing area.)
The Perseid Meteor Shower consistently provides good viewing of “shooting stars” during warm summer nights for Northern observers from mid-July to late August, with peak activity occurring this year around August 12 - 13 when 60 – 100 meteors per hour could be seen under ideal viewing conditions of dark skies and the Moon is below the horizon. Many of the meteors of this particular shower streak across the sky in long colorful trails.
No special equipment is needed to enjoy the Perseids. All you need to watch these fireworks in the sky are clear dark skies with an unobstructed view from horizon to horizon. Lie down on a reclining chair or blanket, point your toes north-eastward, and look up in all directions. Also bring insect repellent and a red-filtered light or a flashlight in a paper bag, and make sure to keep warm.
A meteor shower occurs when the orbiting Earth passes through the stream of debris left in the wake of a comet after it has made its close approach to the Sun. The heat of the Sun causes some of the icy comet's frozen gases to vaporize, releasing dust particles and tiny rocky fragments embedded in the comet. These meteoroid particles continue to orbit the Sun in the same orbit as the parent comet. When the Earth, in its annual orbit around the Sun, goes through the point in space where its orbit and the comet's orbit intersect, it results in a meteor shower that repeats every year. The Perseid Meteor Shower is attributed to the periodic Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (orbital period of 133 years.)
The comet's dust particles and rocky fragments that enter Earth's atmosphere, known as meteors, do so at great velocities causing the gases in the upper atmosphere to glow due to friction resulting in meteor streaks or "shooting stars". The glowing streaks can appear anywhere in the sky, however, their tails seem to emanate from a certain region or constellation in the sky. The August meteor shower is named the Perseid Meteor Shower as it seems to radiate from the Perseus Constellation region of the sky.
The optimal time to observe the most number of meteors per hour is between after midnight and before sunrise as then the viewer is on the side of the Earth that is encountering the meteors head-on. This year, however, moonlight from the waning gibbous Moon will obscure some of the fainter meteor sightings during this time interval as it will be rising around 10pm. So the recommendation is to view this year's meteor shower between 8pm and 1am.
For more information please contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com.
Davis Astronomy Club - Perseid Meteor Shower event info
Cost: free; all ages welcome
Date: Tuesday evening, Aug 12, from 8 pm - 1 am
Location: Yolo County Grasslands Regional Park - Sac Valley Soaring Society (SVSS) club field at the eastern edge of the park
Address: 30475 CR 104 (Mace Blvd), Davis, CA 95618 (Lat: 38.49694, Long.-121.69111)
Driving directions: From I-80 take Mace Blvd south. At the city limits, Mace Blvd becomes County Road 104. The park entrance is at the intersection of County Road 104 and Tremont Rd. The distance from I-80 to the park is 3.8 miles. (Please see map below.)
Websites: https://www.yolocounty.gov/government/general-government-departments/parks/parks-information/grasslands-regional-park; http://www.svss.org/flying-site.html
