Introduction
TEST
Meetings - General Meetings are normally held on the fourth Thursday of each month (except November and December when it is on the third Thursday) at St. Petersburg College/Gibbs Campus 6605 5th Ave North, Saint Petersburg, FL 33710, at 7:30 PM. Meetings are free and open to the public.
General meetings take place in the Natural Sciences Building, Room SC236. Parties and picnics are held in the Philip Benjamin Social Arts Building, Room SA114.
Please contact our Membership Chair, Peter McLean, for additional information.
Visit Us On Facebook
This Week's Sky at a Glance, along with member-created astrophotographs and interesting astronomy related articles are all posted on our Facebook page.
Star Party Request
Our members set up their telescopes to introduce and share the night-sky with various organizations throughout the year. Most of our events are conducted when Eastern Standard Time is in effect as the sunset is a little late during Daylight Savings Time. A first-quarter moon provides interesting viewing and so is the best week for star parties.
Star Party Request Request a star party for your school, church, or other organization.
Announcements
Annual Telescope Raffle
We have a Dwarf 3 donated by Dwarf Lab for this year's raffle scope to be awarded at our club’s Orange Blossom Special Star Party, January 14, 2026 through January 18, 2026. It integrates a small, portable telescope, an astronomy camera, and a computerized mount into a single device, controlled primarily via a smartphone app.
Online raffle tickets are $10 donation/each or 3 for $25. All donations go to the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club.
The drawing will be conducted on Saturday January 17th and the winner will be announced via email to all participants. You do not need to be present to win. However, it will be the winner’s responsibility to arrange pick-up.
Orange Blossom Special International Star Party
The St. Petersburg Astronomy Club proudly hosts our annual star party in Dade City,
Florida each year.
The 2026 OBS will be January 14-18th at the Withlacoochee River Park.
You must be registered to attend.
Club Meeting Hurricane Policy
If we need to cancel the General Meeting due to bad weather, the notice will be posted here.
Membership Cards
You may print your membership card by signing into the website and going to Members Only. You will need to show your membership card at Withlacoochee River Park to get the member camping rate.
Cats In Space
Cats in Space V is an annual cat adoption and astronomy outreach event which will be held at First Ladies Farm and Sanctuary in Riverview. It will be October 25th, 2025 from 6-9pm with tickets for sale on their website soon. The First Ladies Farm is an urban farm and animal sanctuary. They rescue cats and domestic poultry, providing love, care and a safe haven for as long as it takes to find their forever homes. SPAC has partnered up with this great rescue for an evening of telescope observing and 24 feet of charcuterie, an open bar and their famous trifle for dessert. Tickets are sold through Eventbrite and are limited. There will be many raffle prizes, including a telescope donated by SPAC to help raise funds for the rescue.
For more information contact: mileslegionis@verizon.net
Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Outreach
The Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Campground would like to have a visiting amateur astronomer share the night sky with other campers. A campsite could be offered in exchange for telescope outreach time. This is a Silver Dark Sky sight with the IDA and offers a Bortle 2-3 sky. Contact Natalie Carlson at (863) 462-5360 for more information.
Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Outreach Link
Map Of Star Parties
This KML file will open Google Earth and show you where many of the significant US star parties are located.
Obs 2026 Caldwell Observing List
This is a list of 36 Caldwell objects that should be visible at the 2026 OBS.
The St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner (SPACE) is published monthly. Please forward astronomy related articles, items for sale and suggestions to the Editor, Guy Earle, at SPACExaminer@gmail.com.
You may view our newsletters archive on Google Drive.
Contacts
Please send an email to Info@StPeteAstronomyClub.org for additional information.
Please contact our Webmaster if you encounter any problems with the membership application or website.