Star Party Speaker give their talks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday
at 11am and 2pm
Spring 2026 Speaker List
“Naked Eye Clusters of the Winter Milky Way”
&
“How to locate and view Omega Centauri“
John Raymond (Richmond Club)
“ Naked Eye Clusters of the Winter Milky Way” – Richmond Astronomical Society
John Raymond is past president of the Richmond Astronomical Society and author of the Mysteries of Lyra
“Galaxy Clusters: Abell’s, Hickson’s, and Palomar’s”
Larry McHenry
“I love observing galaxies! Especially the large, bright showcase Messier and the NGC galaxies that show plenty of spiral arm details or interactions with other nearby galaxies.
But Galaxy Clusters,,,,, What are they? And how do the bright galaxies that we like to observe fit in with these clusters. It’s been an interesting observational journey into the ‘universe’ of galaxy clusters, macro to micro. Most galaxy clusters are faint and / or sparse, and not very appealing visually, but each catalog has a number clusters that are worth looking for.
So today, we’ll discuss what I’ve learned during that journey among the galaxy clusters, along with some of the people behind these catalogs, and how to go about observing these objects.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania resident Larry McHenry has been active in amateur astronomy for over 40 years, and is a member of the Kiski Astronomers, and the Oil Region Astronomical Society (ORAS), both in Western Pennsylvania. In addition to having been a regular in-person presenter for many years at both the Cherry Springs Star Party and the Black Forest Star Party, Larry has given presentations at various regional starparties around Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, along with the major starparties of Enchanted Skies in New Mexico, Okie-Tex in Oklahoma, and Starfest in Canada. Larry has also given presentations via Zoom to astronomy organizations around the country and Canada. And Larry has published articles in the Astronomical League’s “Reflector” magazine that are based on his presentations.
One of Larry’s favorite astronomical activities is learning about the historical forefathers of today’s amateur astronomers, and EAA observing their deep-sky objects.
You can learn more about Larry’s astronomical interests online at his webportal: http://www.stellar-journeys.org
“NASA is Returning to the Moon! Are you Ready for Artemis?“
Doug Lively
Humanity is returning to the moon and NASA’s Artemis program is taking us there. this presentation will explore differing aspects of the Space Launch System, Some upcoming mission priorities, exciting prospects lunar landing sites, and challenges facing future lunar habitats / cities.
