Monthly Meetings

Open To The Public & Free To Attend

General membership meetings are open to the public, and are held at Christ Lutheran Church of Alamo Heights on the second Friday of each month. Christ Lutheran Church is located next to Alamo Heights High School. Free parking is available next to Christ Lutheran’s Meeting Hall off of Primrose Place.

Christ Lutheran Church
6720 Broadway St
San Antonio, TX 78209

Coming Up:

 
 
 
November 14, 2025: 

This month we will hear from Dr. Rob Ebert, the Assistant Director of the Department of Space research in SwRI’s Space Science Division. The title of his presentation is “Close Encounters with our Nearest Star”. He will focus on the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter missions, both of which are exploring of Sun from close proximity. The presentation will summarize the objectives of these missions and how they’ve revolutionized our understanding of our nearest star.

Professionally, Dr. Ebert’s research focuses on the physics of plasma and energetic particles in interplanetary space and in outer planet magnetospheres such as Jupiter and Uranus. He leads the Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) for NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) mission, which launched in September 2025. SWiPS is designed to measure solar wind ions, including extreme events, to provide advanced warning and model inputs for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. He also leads the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment Ion (JADE-I) sensor on NASA’s Juno mission, which is currently orbiting Jupiter. He is the lead adjoint professor for the joint Space Physics graduate program between SwRI and UTSA. He administers the program, advises graduate students, and teaches Space Physics graduate courses.

 

For those of you new to the Association, our meetings are held monthly, on the second Friday, at the Christ Lutheran Day School and Church in Alamo Heights, 6720 Broadway, San Antonio, 78209. We meet in the school buildings directly behind the church. There is ample parking. The doors open at 6:30 and the presentation begins at 7:30. Come early to meet some of your fellow astronomy enthusiasts, have a cup of coffee and a snack or two and catch up before the presentation.


 
 

Past events:

March  Joint Meeting at the Scobee Planetarium  “Through the Glass Ceiling” by Col. Eileen Colins.

February 11, 2022  “Iogroups: a Howto” by our very own Dwight Jurena

January 14, 2022 “Introduction to Lunar and Planetary Imaging” by our own Jay Messeroff.

13 March 2020 Mars by Dr. Kim Arvidsson    Dr. Arvisson is an Assistant  Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Schreiner University in Kerrville TX

Meeting Structure
Meetings usually start with a social time at 6:45 PM, on the second Friday of every month (with the exception of December, when we hold our Christmas Dinner for members and their guests). If you come earlier you can do a little socializing.

We usually start our program at 7:30 PM.  We begin the General Meeting with some quick introductory announcements followed by the Main Presentation (lecture or video presented by  guest experts or club members).

The next part of the meeting usually includes:

  • Show and Tell, where members share gadgets, books, techniques, etc.
  • The Observing Report, describing the astronomical events for the next month.
  • The Sky Tour, describing what’s where in the sky for the next month.
  • Club business, during which the officers make reports about their activities and areas of responsibility.

BAM-SIG or Beverage After Meeting Special Interest Group
After the meeting many members gather at EZ’s Grill at North New Braunfels and Tanglebriar, two blocks east of the church. On those occasions when the meeting goes too late to meet at EZ’s, members select an alternate nearby restaurant with later hours.

There’s a good deal of socializing before and after meetings, allowing members to put faces with the voices they’ve heard in the dark at observing sessions.