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Pajarito Astronomers

* About the Club * Public Observing Sessions * Meetings & Talks *

* Membership Form * Astro Links * Questions? *

About the Club

The Pajarito Astronomers is a club consisting of approximately 30 professional and amateur astronomers from throughout northern New Mexico. For annual dues of $20 per family or household, club members are provided the Abrams Planetarium monthly astronomical events calendars and monthly newsletters that include both astronomical and club information. Membership form.

From March through November, the Pajarito Astronomers Club holds County-Sponsored "Dark Night" observing sessions at Overlook Park in White Rock, New Mexico. These sessions are open to the public and occur once a month (on a Saturday evening near a new moon) when Los Alamos County turns off all the athletic field lights at the park. A typical session will have 15-50 people looking through 4-6 telescopes, viewing galaxies, planets, star clusters, the moon, and much more. Weather permitting, observing sessions start at sunset and end before midnight.

As a community service, the Pajarito Astronomers sponsors public talks in Los Alamos. Invited speakers cover a wide variety of topics in space science, astronomy, and astrophysics.

The club also provides awards at the Los Alamos science fair for space science and astronomy projects. Several times a year, upon request, club members provide constellation tours of the night sky, telescope tours of the night sky, or astronomy lectures to organizations or school classes.

Club events are announced in the Los Alamos Daily Post (ladailypost.com) and Los Alamos Reporter (losalamosreporter.com) and the Pajarito Astronomers Facebook Page. For more information about the Pajarito Astronomers, contact any of the club officers listed lower on this page.

viewing session

Heidi Morris attempting to locate Polaris during daylight and Jeremy and Alex Best setting up a 12" Dobsonian. Photo by Nels Hoffman.

2025 Pajarito Astronomers County-Sponsored
Dark Night Public Observing Sessions

Here are the dates for the County-Sponsored Dark Nights that have been accepted by the Los Alamos County Parks and Rec. Note that the weather can cancel any of these dates.

Dark Nights begin at sunset at Spirio Soccer Field at Overlook Park in White Rock. Visible will be planets, a variety of colorful double stars, galaxies, gaseous nebulae, open star clusters, and globular star clusters. A constellation tour of the night sky will be provided. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Observing will end before 12:00 Midnight.

DARK NIGHT DATE	SUNSET	NOTES
Saturday, March 29	7:24 PM
Saturday, April 26	7:48PM
Saturday, May 17	8:05 PM
Saturday, June 28	8:25 PM
Saturday, July 26	8:14 PM
Saturday, Aug. 23	7:44 PM
Saturday, Sept. 20	7:04 PM
Saturday, Oct. 11	6:34 PM
Saturday, Nov. 15	4:57 PM

To get to Overlook Park:

From Pojoaque, take State Route 502 west (towards Los Alamos). After driving 13 miles on Rt. 502, turn on to State Route 4, to go to White Rock/Bandelier. Staying on Rt. 4 for 4 miles, enter White Rock and turn left at the first street, Rover Blvd. Go one block and turn left onto Meadow Lane. Follow Meadow Ln. 3/4 of a mile and turn left into Overlook Park. Spirio Soccer Field is the first large field on your right, just before the concession stand building. When you enter the parking lot, please dim your car lights so that you do not interfere with the observations.

Meetings and Public Talks

The Pajarito Astronomers occasionally schedule public talks covering a wide variety of topics in space science, astronomy, and astrophysics. Watch this space for notices of meetings and talks.

Next Meeting / Public Talk:

Topic:

Speaker:

Date:
Time:
Place:

Dr. John Keady gives one of two standing-room-only
talks about comets at the Bradbury Science Museum.