November 2023 Observing Sky Maps - Copy to your device
Support the DAS
You too can support the mission of the Delaware Astronomical Society to encourage interest, and to advance education and scientific knowledge, in the subject of astronomy. There are numerous ways you can participate.
- You can become a member and participate in our mission. This comes with all of the benefits of membership.
- You can donate your time at our numerous outreach events and service opportuntities. These are rewarding to both our members and the public. The events are typically posted on the DAS Calendar and volunteers are requested and informed via the DAS Group.
- You can volunteer to assist with one of our ongoing projects. We are working hard to help both our members and the community.
- You can join the Board of Directors and take a more active role in the club. Any club member can attend the Board of Directors meetings and/or can serve on a committee. There are 12 voting positions on the Board, but numerous other committees and chairperson roles are available. We greatly appreciate this level of support.
- If you want to have a strong voice in the future direction of the club, you could also consider running for one of the Officer or Board Member at Large Positions on the Board of Directors. This level of service is extremely valuable to the club.
- You can donate astronomical eqiupment such as telescopes, cameras, or accessories that you are not longer using. We can either find a good use for these items in the club istelf or try to find a good home for them. Please note that in-kind donations are subject to approval of the Board of Directors. Please contact a member of the Board of Directors for assistance with donations of this type.
- You can make an unrestricted monetary donation of up to $200 to the DAS either by check or via our PayPal link below.
- You can make a restricted donation or any monetary contribution in excess of $200, but we ask that you please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. first for instructions because our ByLaws require us to get prior approval before accepting these types of donations.
The Delaware Astronomical Society is a tax-exempt non-profit 501(c)(3) Organization. All donations to the organization are tax deductible and donation receipts are avaliable upon request. For questions about making donations, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to send an email.
To donate up to $200 via check:
Make checks out to "Delaware Astronomical Society" and send to this address:
Delaware Astronomical Society
c/o DAS Treasurer Bob Trebilcock
3823 Rotherfield Lane
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
To donate up to $200 via PayPal:
Use this link:
DAS Book Club
Delaware Astronomical Society Book Club
The Delaware Astronomical Society Book Club meets monthly on the last Thursday of the Month via ZOOM. Guests are welcome. ZOOM Links are emailed in advance of the meeting. To join or attend a meeting, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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If you would like to automatically add these events to
your calendar please see the DAS Calendar.
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Next Up March 28, 2024
Amazing Stories - ARMAGEDDON -2419 A.D.
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2024
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Thursday, January 25, 2024 Referred to as Old Stars, Ormsby Macknight Mitchel (1809-1862) was a Civil War General, Surveyor, and Astronomer who published the Sidereal Messenger, first astronomy magazine in the United States. Philip S. Shoemaker PhD, author of the thesis, Ormsby Macknight Mitchel and Astronomy in Antebellum America, will be joining us. Trudy E. Bell, contributing editor for Sky & Telescope and a member of the editorial advisory board for Springer’s Historical & Cultural Astronomy book series, will also be joining us.
Available in free PDF format
DAS Member, Brad Wolvin, will lead the meeting |
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Barbara J. Becker |
Thursday, February 29, 2024
How William Huggins Shaped Astrophysics
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of
50 Monuments in 50 Voices:
Jim Barkley will lead the meeting.
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How William Huggins Shaped Astrophysics (pdf copy) |
Diane McDevitt, the granddaughter of Philip Frances Nowlan |
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Amazing Stories - ARMAGEDDON -2419 A.D. Nowlan's granddaughter, Diane McDevitt, will be joining us to discuss her grandfather's life, work, and his iconic character. Matt Bobrowsky and Marie Breton Bobrowsky, DAS Members, will lead the discussion. Local artist, Matthew Borgen, hopes to attend the meeting. |
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Peter Bellerby |
Thursday, April 25, 2024
The Globemakers: The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft
The author, Peter Bellerby, will be joining us for our discussion. DAS Member, Gregory McNiff, will lead the meeting |
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Nico Carver |
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Catchers of the Light The ‘Catchers of the Light’ tells the true stories of the men and women who first photographed the heavens. Their lives are ones full of adventure, adversity and triumph - which would test the abilities of even the best author or screenwriter to recreate as a work of fiction. Sadly their names are largely unknown and all but forgotten - confined now to the closed pages of history. Through the book you are about to read, they come alive once again.
Members of the Delaware Photographic Society will join us for our discussion. The Book is available at the author's web site. |
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Marcia Bartusiak |
Thursday, June 27, 2024
The Day We Found the Universe Professor Marcia Bartusiak will join us as we mark the 100th anniversary of Hubble's discovery of the Andromeda Galaxy. David Ives Brown, DAS Book Club member and Rittenhouse Astronomical Society Board Member, will lead our discussion. Available via the Delaware Libraries in book and e-audiobook formats. |
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Tamara Plakins Thornton |
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Professor Tamara Plakins Thornton will join us
The ebook is available via the Delaware Libraries. |
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Chris Lintott |
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Accidental Astronomy:
Professor Lintott, Gresham College's 39th Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Astrophysics in Oxford University, will join us for our discussion. |
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Sarah Stewart Johnson |
Thursday, September 26, 2024 The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World by Sarah Stewart Johnson
Professor Johnson will join us for our discussion.
Jim Kerschen PhD, DAS Board Member and Education and Outreach Chair, will lead the meeting. |
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Chief Dennis J.Coker |
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Lenape Astronomy
Professor Roslyn Frank will join our discussion.
Chief Dennis J. Coker and Citizens of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware |
A paper by Professor Roslyn Frank on the subject of Lenape Indian Astronomy |
David DeVorkin PhD |
Thursday, November 28, 2024
American Astronomical Society is celebrating its Quasquicentennial by David DeVorkin PhD
Dr. DeVorkn will join us for our discussion. Members of the AAS are welcome to join us for our discussion.
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Ian Stewart |
Thursday, December 19, 2024
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
Ian Stewart, ornithologist with the Members of the DNS are invited to join us for our discussion.
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2025 |
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Valerie Shrimplin |
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Richard of Wallingford
Greg McNiff will lead the meeting |
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Thursday, February 27, 2025
Starborn
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Future Reads | ||
John Carter of Mars Barsoom Series: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs |
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An Astronomer in Love by Antoine Laurain |
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David Rittenhouse: Philosopher-Mechanick of Colonial Philadelphia and His Famous Clocks by Donald L. Fennimore and Frank L. Hohmann |
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2023
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Thursday, January 26, 2023
Sir Christopher Wren: Architect-Astronomer
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Thursday, February 23, 2023 What is a Philom? A Philom is the compiler of astronomical data
Almanacs and Philoms in 18th century Wilmington
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Stephen Kurczy |
The author, Stephen Kurczy, will be joining us for our discussion. |
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Thursday, April 27, 2023
Professor Hal Poe will be joining our discussion. Dr. Poe has written extensively about Poe and the universe, served on the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation and Museum of Richmond, and yes, is a relative of the legendary Edgar Allan Poe. University of Delaware Professor John Jebb will also be joining our discussion.
Glen Moyer, Aviator and Editor of Ballooning Magazine, will be joining us to provide his technical perspective on Poe's Pundit and balloons in the year 2848.
Story recommended by DAS Member, James Kauer, who hopes to join our discussion. |
read it in Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (page 303) available at the Internet Archive you will need a (free) account |
Donald E. Osborn |
Thursday, May 25, 2023 The authors, Alec M. Pridgeon and Donald E. Osborn, will be joining us for our discussion. Cynthia Osborn will also join us and share her experience working with the Meinels. DAS Member, Robert Stack, will lead the meeting.
This book is available in EBook Format to |
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Donald Goldsmith |
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Donald Goldsmith will be joining us for our discussion.
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Thursday, July 27, 2023
Dragon's Egg DAS Member, Marie Breton, will lead the meeting
This book is available in eAudiobook Format to
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Thursday, August 31, 2023
We will discuss a landmark article, the first of a series of articles
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God -
The Springfield Telescope Makers (STM) are an amateur astronomer and telescope maker's group headquartered at their Stellafane Clubhouse and observatory on Breezy Hill in Springfield, Vermont; they were founded by Russell W. Porter in 1923 and, so, are celebrating their centenary from August 17-20, 2023.
Dave Groski, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mount Cuba Astronomical Observatory, will lead the meeting.
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Stellafane Clubhouse and Porter Turret Telescope |
Roderick J. Hill |
Thursday, September 28, 2023
For 20 years Rod and Monica Hill have been chasing
DAS Board Member, Jim Kerschen, will lead the meeting
Available in Ebook Kindle format via Amazon.com |
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Thursday, November 2, 2023
Eye of the Beholder: Commemorate the tercentenary of the death of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) and the landmark 2023 exhibition of Jan Vermeer's work at the Rijksmuseum Vermeer painted the legendary, The Astronomer. "Portrayals of scientists were a favourite topic in 17th-century Dutch painting and Vermeer's oeuvre includes both this astronomer and the slightly later The Geographer. Both are believed to portray the same man, possibly Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. A 2017 study indicated that the canvas for the two works came from the same bolt of material, confirming their close relationship."
DAS Member, Robert Stack, will lead the meeting
Available to members of the Delaware Libraries in eBook and eAudiobook format. |
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November 30, 2023
UC San Diego Emeritus Professor, Historian of Science, Robert Westman,
Sarah Horowitz, Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts
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Alison Klesman |
Thursday, December 14, 2023 Alison Klesman, Senior Editor of Astronomy Magazine, will be joining us for our discussion. This is the 50th year of the magazine, founded in 1973 by the astronomy and journalism student, Stephen A. Walther. 50th anniversary: The origins of Astronomy magazine
DAS Board member, Bob Trebilcock, will lead the meeting
The magazine is available at the Mt Cuba Observatory Library. |
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Meeting Archive
Thursday, July 28 2022
A Memory Called Empire A 2020 winner of the sci-fi Hugo award
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
Discoverers of the Universe, William and Caroline Herschel
Lynn King, Caroline Herschel reenactor and DAS and Rittenhouse Astronomical Society member, will lead the meeting. Steve Ruskin (who joined us last year when we discussed his book America's First Great Eclipse) will also be joining us. Titus Grenyer, a young Australian organist and conductor, has also agreed to join us to discuss Herschel as a musician and play a bit of Herschel's music. |
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David Rooney |
Thursday, September 29, 2022
David Rooney will be joining us via ZOOM from Greenwich, England |
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Saturday, October 1, 2022 by Stacy MacAnulty
DAS, Children's Librarian, Amy Hornberger, will read the book aloud. Children will be invited to submit paintings and drawings of the Moon to the DAS for posting to an online gallery. Email Miss Amy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive the ZOOM link.
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Nicholas de Monchaux |
Thursday, October 27, 2022 |
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Wednesday, November 2, 2022
A conversation with Nicholas de Monchaux |
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Friday, November 11, 2022
The Delaware Astronomical Society Library cordially invites Delaware Children and their families to attend a Free ZOOM reading event to celebrate the upcoming NASA Artemis Mission to the Moon
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register and receive the ZOOM link |
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Thursday, November 17, 2022
Copenhagen
Professor Mark Walker PhD, Chair of the History Department at Union College, will join our discussion. Professor Walker, "researches and publishes on twentieth-century science, including in particular science and technology under National Socialism, and comparisons of science and technology in different political, cultural, and ideological contexts. He teaches modern European history, with special emphasis on modern German history and the history of ideas, the history of science and technology, with special emphasis on nuclear history, human evolution, and the interaction of science and technology with politics and ideology, and “Big History,” from the origin of the Universe to the present." |
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Thursday, December 15, 2022
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2021 |
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January |
February
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March
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April
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May E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis |
June |
July
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August
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September The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu |
October
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December
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2020 |
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January
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March |
July The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel |
September The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport |
October
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December Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention by Kathryn D. Sullivan |
2019 |
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January Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking |
February Isaac Newton by James Gleick |
March Science and the Founding Fathers: Science in the Political Thought of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison by I. Bernard Cohen |
April Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr |
May Safely to Earth: The Men and Women Who Brought the Astronauts Home by Jack Clemons |
June (Carrie Brown joined by Skype and Caroline Herschel, aka historian/reenactor Lynn King, was at the meeting) |
July (Leonard David joined the meeting over Skype to discuss his book) |
August Halley’s Quest by Julie Wakefield |
October The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal |
November The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan |
2018 |
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January Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe by Mario Livio |
February Kepler's Witch by James A. Connor |
March How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown |
April A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking |
May The Quantum Labyrinth by Paul Halpern. |
July The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe |
August Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals |
September / October First Man by James R. Hansen |
November The Martian by Andy Weir |
2017 |
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March Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly |
April The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel |
May Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future by Jeffrey Bennett |
July Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel |
August Chasing Space by Leland Melvin |
September The Universe in the Rearview Mirror by Dave Goldberg |
October Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel |
November Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson |
Sat, Jan 28, 2017 Hello, everyone! Diana Metzger and I have been discussing starting a book club. I would like to invite any of you who are interested to join us. I suggested that we read a mix of non-fiction and (astronomy-related) fiction. We agreed on Hidden Figures as our first book. |
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Amy Hornberger |
Guests are welcome to all meetings!
If you have questions, want to join the book club, |
Hubble, DAS Book Club Mascot
Book Club Meetings
The Delaware Astronomical Society Book Club meets monthly, on the last Thursday of the Month, via ZOOM. Each member of the Book Club suggests one title on a rota and leads the meeting. The authors of books selected are invited to join our discussion. Guests are welcome. ZOOM Links are emailed by Jim Barkley in advance of the meeting.
See the Calendar for details about events.
See the DAS Book Club page for a full list of upcoming books and guest speakers.
If you want to join DAS click on How to Join.
Membership Renewal
To maintain your membership in the Delaware Astronomical Society, annual membership dues are due by November 1 each year. The annual cost for membership in the DAS is $30. There are numerous Member Benefits that would be lost if your membership in the DAS lapses. If your DAS membership is current, you should receive a reminder email with details about how to renew your membership prior to November 1st.
There are several payment options:
1) You can bring cash, a check, or a money order for $30 made out to DAS to one of our monthly meetings and give it in person to the treasurer.
2) You can use your PayPal account to send payment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
3) You can pay with PayPal or a Credit Card using the link proivided in your membership renewal reminder email. You don’t need to have an account with PayPal in order to use the link, you just need a credit card.
4) You can mail your $30 payment with a check or money order to our treasurer via US Mail. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Please email the treasurer with any further questions.