Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science - Los Angeles Astronomical Society celebrates 100 years of looking up

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning 100. To mark the occasion, the LAAS threw a centennial star party on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, featuring 100 telescopes, a dedication ceremony, and a community of passionate skywatchers who showed up rain and all. In this episode, we sit down with Laura-May Abron, vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and chair of its Centennial Committee, to discuss what it took to put together the event. We drop into the centennial dedication ceremony to hear from LAAS President Keith Armstrong and Griffith Observatory Director Ed Krupp. We also spend time with some of the remarkable members who make this community what it is, including LAAS historian Louis Chilton, who has been a member for over 60 years, research scientist and LAAS member Bryce Bolin, self-taught optician and telescope builder Jeff Schroeder, and Geo Somoza, volunteer at The Planetary Society and one of the people who has dedicated his life to showing others the sky. Plus, Bruce Betts joins us for What's Up and a look at what you can spot in the night sky in June. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-laas-centennial See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

100 years of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society showing up for the sky and for each other, this week on Planetary Radio. I'm Sarah al-Ahmad of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. What do amateur astronomical societies mean to the people who find them, and how do you find yours? This week we take a trip to Griffith Observatory for the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, one of the largest and oldest telescope clubs. in the United States. I sit down with the L-AAS Vice President and Centennial Committee Chair,

Laura May Abrone, to talk about what it took to pull off a star party with 100 telescopes. Then we drop into the Centennial Dedication Ceremony and hear from some of the passionate members at the Star Party about how amateur astronomy clubs like the LAAAS have shaped their lives. And of course, we'll close with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist at the Planetary Society, for a classic What's Up. If you love planetary radio and want to stay informed about the latest space discoveries, make sure you hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode full with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos

and our place within it. The Los Angeles Astronomical Society turns 100 years old this year. It was founded in 1926 by 30 amateur telescope makers, making it the oldest society of its kind in California and the second oldest in the United States. And they're not alone. Across the world, clubs like this one have been gathering people around telescopes for well over a century. On April 25th, the L-AAS threw a centennial celebration on the lawn at Griffith Observatory, with 100 telescopes to mark their hundred years of observing the skies together. Unfortunately, it rained, but everyone showed up anyway. And what happened out there on that wet lawn ended up being a really

beautiful illustration of exactly why these kinds of communities matter. My first guest is Laura May Abron, vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and chair of the Centennial Committee. She's the person responsible for putting together this whole event. She also co-hosts All Space Considered at Griffith Observatory, and she's a research astrophysicist, who was one of the co-authors on the discovery paper for Three-Eye Atlas,

the third interstellar object that we've detected passing through our solar system. She also happens to have found her way into this community the same way a lot of us do, through a chance encounter with a stranger who pointed her at a telescope. Hey, Laura May, thanks for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to see you again. And thank you so much for spending so much time and love organizing the centennial star party.

It's such a great time. I'm glad you could make it. It was such an unusual event because it rained. And usually we would cancel a star party when it rained. But everyone showed up. And so it was a very interesting, unusual. and special event in the end. So I'm glad you could be there to experience it as well. Everyone who works in space knows that the one thing that we can't really change when we put

our minds to it is the weather. And you know, there's this great video. I remember the Paris Olympics, the artistic director of the opening ceremony. And it rained on the opening ceremony. And so this great video, sad video of him crying and oh my gosh, I can't believe it. And, you know, the ceremony was beautiful. It felt very Parisian. And so you have to kind of take what you have and make the best of it. And it turned out beautiful. And I think that's what's important, right? I love that you did bring up the Paris Olympics because you are from France and you're now in the United States. And now you're all over the place doing amazing work in the astronomical community at large. But you're also in this position of leadership at the L.A. AAS. How did you become a part of this group? Yeah, it's an interesting story. I was explaining this recently. One of the, probably the first person I ever met in L.A. was actually a member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. I was up in Mount Wilson. I had learned about Mount Wilson at the Paris Observatory when I was a student there. So when I moved to the United States and I

moved to L.A., I went up to Mount Wilson. And I just wanted to see the grounds and see the telescope. and I spoke to this person called Norm. And he showed me, you know, parts of the telescopes and the grounds. And he showed me this box with these little eggs of bluebirds. And he was just very friendly and very nice. And it was the start of, I think, my connection to the astronomical community in L.A. And that was what I had dreamed about with regards to moving to Los Angeles and the United States. And, you know, and eventually I got hired at Griffith Observatory and I would hear people

talk about, oh, you know, LAS and this and that and eventually the star parties. And I, it was just this connected world. I didn't really know who was Los Angeles Astronomical Society. And eventually I became a member sort of around the same time that I got my own telescope. I didn't grow up with telescopes and I come from Paris, which is a cloudy place. It's not a great place to have star parties. But my father is a professional photographer. So I grew up trying to image sunspots and doing things. things that I could do with just a long lens. And then I meet this whole community of people. And yeah, it was a very, I would say there was kind of a before LAS in LAS and an after LAS.

Because a part of it took over my life a little bit, but in the best way, I learned so much. I met so many people. And it's such an amazing community. And then eventually I ran for vice president because I became part of the, I became the head of the centennial committee. We had our anniversary coming up and, hey, I love to throw a good party related to astronomy. And so, yeah, and so I ended up as the vice president of LA Astronomical Society from just meeting someone there at Mount Wilson, someone who was part of a, gosh, now probably eight or nine years ago. And here we are today. I mean, what is it like being vice president of this organization in this centennial moment? I mean, there's a hundred years of history building to this.

Right. And the legacy is incredible. It really, I think it's not, it's a phenomenal weight in the sense that you, I mean, you can put as much or as little as you want in a society in a way, right? Societies that are charitable organizations that are non-profits, et cetera, they depend on members who are willing to, I think, give a little part of whether it's their expertise, their passion, things like that. And, but yes, coming in on the 100th or being vice president on the hundredth and being head of the centennial committee, I did, uh, some deep diving into old photos, which was kind of incredible to see people polishing mirrors, you know, 90 years ago in the basement of Griffith Observatory. And having star parties, the star parties have been going. We've been trying to track down how long the star parties have been going. And our, our historian Lou probably knows this, but, 60 years, 70 years, maybe 100, unclear. But being part of that is kind of incredible. We are older than Griffith Observatory, by the way. That was hard to parse mentally like, wow, astronomy. And LA's not a very old city, right? And so there is that aspect that, wow, this is a really important

part of LA history. And I have this frequent regret. I come from a place that really values its history. Our history is everywhere around us. And I, wish that LA valued that more. And so I hope that something I can bring to this also is as a native European, I really hope that we can not just build and do new things and be modern, but also, wow, really look back, celebrate that history and lean on it and think about how far we've come, not just as a society, but as a society in the city that has expanded so much, right? L.A. L.A. is an enormous tentacular city, and we get to be a part of that in a very unusual way because we're an astronomical society living in light pollution.

Isn't that funny? I kept thinking, you know, I spent all this time learning about space and astrophysics only to end up living in a city where you can only see bright planets. And yet, you know, people like the LA Astronomical Society will make you discover more through telescopes and through education and things like that than potentially if you were out somewhere rural, where maybe you had a better glimpse of the Milky Way. And that's a powerful way to, as a society, what you are giving and what you can bring to people when we are, we are having diminishing skies, basically. But that's also part of the power of things like star parties, right?

I mean, part of how I actually got into space science as a kid was through the local small-scale star parties they threw at Fremont's Peak Observatory right outside of my city as a kid. So, you know, shout out to those astronomers and there every year. year starbkew potluck they threw because it completely changed my life. But some people listening to this might have never been to a star party. Might have no idea what those are. So can you describe what a star party entails and like what your favorite parts of them are? Yeah, I love talking about star parties to people who have no idea what they are because they don't, a star party is just, is the celebrities? Is this, they really know what it is, right? Especially in a city like LA.

A star party is really when you bring out a bunch of telescopes for people to look through. And almost always these parties are free. I used to go to star parties. I lived in London. And I suppose that was a little bit of the start of this as well. But I used to go to star parties organized by, for example, the British Interplanetary Society. They were down in Vauxhall at the time. And I remember they had a star party on a rooftop to look at Mars.

And keep in mind, this is London, very cloudy. Star parties were, you know, far and few between, but these exist everywhere in the world. And then things can take different formats. There are daytime start parties. There are nighttime star parties. I love to observe the sun, so I'm a big fan of the daytime stuff. But, you know, most of the time it is at night. But it doesn't necessarily have to be at two in the morning or three in the morning.

That happens to. There is always a star to observe if you have a clear sky. it's either the sun or some stars or some planets or something like that. And so a star party can honestly happen almost at any time. And as we saw a couple weeks ago, even in clouds, it can happen. Yeah, I mean, as you said, usually you would shut down an event like that when it starts raining. But I found that something really kind of special happened at this event when it was raining because people weren't going home and said they were wrapping up their telescopes and instead

conversations began. And I felt like it was just such a beautiful illustration of the community and the people within the LA Astronomical Society. What was that experience like for you? Yeah, you know, a couple days prior, looking at the weather models, it started being clear that it might rain. And I think for a couple days, I was in denial. And I thought, no, this will change. This is L.A. It never rains here. And it hadn't even, in fact, rain for some time. And this wasn't some big storm surge that was coming in. it seemed that it was really just rain is going to take place right when the star party happens and at no other point that week. And so I kept hoping that it would go away eventually.

I think I was in the five stages of grief and realized, okay, this is what's happening. And I sent an email and we discussed it with other board members and with Keith, our president. And, you know, he said, well, the society has lasted 100 years because we still show up when things like that happened and we still exist and we persist despite the rain. And so people came knowing that it was going to rain. And let me tell you, for anyone who's ever been up to Griffith Observatory, you know the parking can be a little bit challenging sometimes. And every spot was full.

Every person who had signed on showed up. We in fact ran out parking passes to be able to. And we had 100 telescopes up there. And so the fact that people showed up, despite we knew it was going to rain, we had, someone had brought trash bags to cover the telescopes with, which was smart. And people still showed up. And I think the difference with other parties was that we were not looking up. We had one or two people who were aiming their telescopes at the Hollywood sign or other things, which was fun. But we were looking at each other for once.

Who are these other weirdos that I do this with, right? And I think that was really special. You know, I got to speak to members that honestly I rarely get to speak to because I'm usually behind a telescope, even in the daytime, showing the sun or other things. And yeah, it was a really great community moment. And for once you have to remember, we're not just telescopes that have, you know, a person that brings it out. We are people. And we get to know each other and we all have our unique ways of going about things. And that was, I think, and I hope that was.

what members got out of it is to really feel this connection, not just to the skies and our passion, but to each other and what brought us. Yeah, we're a long chain of thousands of people that have brought us to this centennial party. And that's what's special, I think. Yeah. Yeah, man, if you could look back to that first group of people, it was, it's just, what, 30, 30 telescopes, 30 people when it first started, right? What do you think they would be most surprised by in this current iteration? of the LA Astronomical Society. Oh, that's interesting. You know, I look back through a lot of pictures.

One thing that surprised me was that there were already a lot of women who were part of it. Some of the early photos had women. I don't know if they were wives or if they were also astronomers. You know, some decades ago, women couldn't even go up and work at Matt Wilson. That wasn't too long ago. And these women are up there as part of this telescope society. I wonder if they would be surprised by light pollution.

perhaps a little bit disappointed. That's just inevitable, and that's something that, of course, LAAS talks about, right? I think they'd be surprised by smart telescopes. I think they would find that so wild. We, of course, there's debate, oh, you know, is that real astrophotography in that there's a smart telescope?

I think we'd just be blown away and find it incredibly cool to have access to that. I think the tech would really blow their minds and also be kind of, in a way, the homeostasis of things. What's cool is that when you have a society or when something lasts a long time, I think it's not just about growth.

I think it is actually about a level of stability, which is that you have a core of people who are always there, who are consistent. I mean, our historian, Lou, he's been a member I was trying to calculate for more than half of the society's life. Probably longer, right? And so you do need to have a core of people,

and I think they'd be delighted, that, okay, there's all this amazing technology, and yes, we have to fight light pollution, and, you know, telescopes have improved so much now, and they're really accessible to people. I expect that they would really appreciate that as well, that almost anyone now, you can go and you can buy, you know, a dinky little telescope. I'm actually curious now what the cheapest telescope on the market is. Years ago, I was in an Uber in New York, and I spoke to this man who was sharing Uber with me, and he gifted me this little Smithsonian, I actually have it here,

this little Smithsonian telescope that he got at his Christmas party. And it was this tiny little thing. It couldn't have cost more than $20. And I think they would love that. But everyone has access to the skies. Anyone can pull up, you know, any form of little telescope,

even with long-lens cameras and things like that. And you'd be able to see incredible sights and the moons of Jupiter and craters on the moon. I think both the stability of the club and the improvement in technology, you would really amaze them. And I hope they would appreciate it. And, you know, as part of the centennial celebration, I'm aiming to have a time capsule to be created and to be opened by people in 100 years

for hopefully when they celebrate the 200th anniversary. And yeah, and so I'm curious what they will think of the previous 200 years when that happens. I hope they listen to the center of you. We'll put it on some kind of ancient, archaic audio device that they could then try to listen to in a hundred years. We'll put it on you as B stick in the time. Yeah, I was thinking about that actually because of one of our previous interactions, all the things that have changed, not just what we've learned in our technology, but the community of people that now feel safe and represented within space science, right?

And I was reflecting on something that I actually brought up in the show many months ago. Last time I was on your show, All Space Considered at Griffith Observatory, you gave me a commemorative Veracee Rubin quarter. That's right. And it was one that you, and I was thinking about the arc of this, right? A woman from Paris goes to a telescope name for a woman in Chile, brings it back to an Arab-American woman in the United States hosting a podcast. Right? that would not have been possible in any way, shape or form, even 20 years ago, right? And I love what that says about the interconnectivity of this community across countries,

but also just the demographic shift and what that means for the future of space science. And I wanted to thank you for doing that because I love that quarter so much. Oh, that makes me happy. And, you know, when I gifted some to the people at Vera Rubin, they hadn't received any or anything. and I was assuming that they would have been given bags of them. And so I was so happy to bring some of those corridors there and bring them back. And you're right, all of this would not have been possible some decades ago. You know, I think about it when I'm having a bad day.

I'm like, oh my gosh, I grew up just adoring the United States and wanting to move here. And certainly for most of my life, or astronomy was this thing that was part of my life, but I had no idea that I could do it, that I could be part of it when I went. to star parties, it was this thing that you stay at a distance and you look through the telescope and, you know, that's kind of it. I don't own a telescope or I don't know how this works. And now I have a telescope and I get to be part of this big group and I get to help improve the society and yes. And I'm particularly conscious of all the women who, you know, even decades ago would not have been able, would not have had the freedom to do all the things I get to do in my life.

and that's something I think about often and I think gosh, wow, I'm so lucky that I get to do all these things and I have the freedom to do these things and to be part of astronomy, honestly, is very fortunate and I hope that that empowers people to again realize yes, you know, astronomical societies, I'm not going to lie to you,

they are predominantly older, they skew older, they are predominantly men and they are very white, but that is changing and lots of people are feeling welcome and in astronomy, I hope they are feeling more welcome. And I hope we can really just, as you said, it's international, right? And astronomy is also a tool for diplomacy now. And I hope that that is something that we can all come together on.

You know, we all love the Milky Way. We all love planets and stars. Have you ever met someone who doesn't like stars? I don't think I have. Everybody loves space. And having recurring star parties is a wonderful way to give people access, not just to viewing through a telescope, which they might have, but also to the people who are passionate about space. And we're going to hear from a few people in a moment that we're all at the star party. But the first one I wanted to bring up is actually Bryce Bollin, who we've brought on the show before to talk about 3i Atlas. You were actually one of the co-authors on that first discovery paper for this interstellar object. And I understand you guys were just observing it last night. Yeah. It's, I mean, 3i Atlas is a little smudge now. So Bryce managed to get it.

This was just a quick hour of observation. And, you know, yes, so I'm very fortunate. Bryce Bowlin has been teaching me a lot. He's awesome. I get to learn so much about comments and asteroids and, you know, work with him and go up to the telescopes, go up to the KEC and to IRTF and conduct, be part of these observations, which has been awesome. And I got to tell you, we actually observed, I'm not sure if he mentioned this to you, but

We actually observed 3I Atlas on one of the LWS properties. At the time, it was visible about right before sunset. And we pulled out with Keith, president of LAS. We pulled out this 22-inch dobsonian. And we actually saw it visually through the 22-inch dobsonian. I mean, you know, we've only discovered three interstellar objects. Getting to look at one through a telescope? Mind-blown, honestly.

I just, it felt so incredible and it was, yeah, and Bryce and I got to share this with Keith. We were only three people. It's middle of the night. And that was something that I think I'll forever be grateful that we had this access to the property, you know, to Lockwood and to be able to do that. And yeah, it was, it was pretty magical and seeing something like this that's come from so far away, potentially the other side of the galaxy, you know. So a fond memory associated to LAS. And, yeah, Bryce is amazing. And Bryce is a part. Bryce is a member of the LAS.

So we have a lot of astronomers, amateur or professional. Anyone can join, even if you know nothing about telescopes, you don't own one, anything like that. You still get to be a part and you get to learn. And I think operating little telescopes will teach you a lot if you are a professional. I had operated large telescopes in France as part of being at Paris Observatory and coming here and actually learning to operate little telescopes was wild. And I met many other professional astronomers through my life who were saying to me, oh gosh, no, I don't know how this, you know, how this works. And so everything is computerized, right, nowadays. So you, of course, you understand how the sky moves

and you understand all the science of it, but a small telescope, well, go ahead, you better build it. You better figure it out. And I had to do that. And members of LAS when I bought my telescope were very helpful at advising me. I didn't know which, which diagonal am I supposed to get, right? So people were very awesome at advising me, what should I get, what's practical for what I want to do. Yeah, and it's really been, I think, a great help for my science. And so they feed into each other. You know, I learned, I understood better even telescope tracking and things like that.

It's pretty awesome to bring things back to a little microscale when you're used. to a macro scale. It's not just, oh, I've operated little telescopes now. I get to operate big ones. The other way around is actually very useful and kind of challenging as well sometimes. Yeah. Well, thank you for coming on the show for organizing this event and for being a generally awesome human. And I hope you have wonderful observing in the coming weeks. We'll be right back with the centennial celebration of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society after the short break. Hi, y'all. Lovar Burton here.

roles on Star Trek and Reading Rainbow, I have seen generations of curious minds inspired by the strange new worlds explored in books and on television. I know how important it is to encourage that curiosity in a young explorer's life. That's why I'm excited to share with you a new program from my friends at the Planetary Society. It's called the Planetary Academy and anyone can join. Designed for ages 5 through 9 by Bill Nye and the curriculum experts at the Planetary Society, the Planetary Academy is a special membership subscription for kids and families who love space. Members get quarterly mailed packages that take them on learning adventures through the many worlds of our solar system and beyond. Each package includes images and factoids, hands-on activities, experiments and games, and special surprises.

A lifelong passion for space, science, and discovery starts when we're young. Give the gift of the cosmos to the explorer in your life. I've been to a lot of star parties in my life, but 100 telescopes on the lawn of Griffith Observatory is something else. These kinds of gatherings happen all over the world, and if you've never had a chance to go to a really big one, I highly recommend it. In Japan, the Tai Nye Star Party draws more than 20,000, thousand people over a single weekend. In Australia, Queensland Astrofest takes people deep into the

outback for some of the darkest skies on the planet and a view of the southern hemisphere sky. In Chile, star parties and astrotourism gatherings in the Atacama Desert put people under the clearest, driest skies on Earth, and right in the middle of the world's greatest concentration of professional observatories. In the United Kingdom, the Kaling Heath Sky Camp is one of the largest continuous gatherings of telescopes in Europe. And here in the United States, the Grand Canyon star party every June pairs one of the great wonders of the natural world with some of the best high-altitude desert skies in the country. I really hope I get to visit all of them someday. But the point is, wherever you are in the world, your people are out there somewhere under that

same sky. And for the people of Los Angeles, they've been gathering at Griffith Observatory since 1947. On April 25th, at this particular sky party, the rain had already started by the time everyone was gathering for the dedication ceremony. First to speak was Keith Armstrong, the president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. This is funny, because I wrote this not assuming it was going to be raining. What a fantastic time in place this is! It would seem unlikely that any group of people of any size could continue to outpace attrition and regenerate to last 100 years. And these last 100 in particular, I get it from maybe the 1800s, but from 1926 to 226, how is it possible that we didn't have something better to do?

So this question I have posited is non-accusatory because I feel that I know the answer. The Los Angeles Astronomical Society attracts the nerdiest herd animals in the finest city on the face of the earth. That's you. That's you. Live it, live it. We are a pack, a flock, a pod, a coven, or indeed a herd of nerds. The benefits of such an arrangement are many, especially and obviously towards our stated

mission that we are dedicated to advancing the knowledge of astronomy, optics, and the wonders of the universe. But our longevity is not due to our knowledge advancement prowess. That is merely what piques the curiosity of new members. What compels us to show up time and time again for not only fun stuff like star parties but also for board meetings and lockwood work days is our commitment to one another and respect for what members both current and past have built we are there for members that are struggling with new equipment to be sure but we also show up for when some of us are

struggling with stresses of life in the big city or even those of health relationship and family that feeling that sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name is timeless and that is a large part of what laas represents at its core laas is a social group with a penchant for the extraterrestrial. You trust that I will show up and I know that you will too, just like the thousands of members that preceded us. I mean, the stars are there for whoever looks up, but for a hundred years we have also been able to look to each other to share our joy, discovery, heartbreak, and triumph. Furthermore, we have a lot to be grateful for, as it is easier than ever to get involved and engaged in our shared interest. Our telescopes are now getting smarter than their

operators, allowing us to appear deeper into the universe, even from under the interoperable, even from under the inconveniently shimmering lights of Los Angeles. It is indeed a joy to advance the knowledge of astronomy, optics, and the wonders of the universe with newcomers, and also to continue to learn from the more experienced of us. Our mission is just as clear enacted upon as it has ever been, and I believe to greater effect than in any other preceding era. Our current membership numbers reflect us, 1,200 members, as due the turnouts to our events. So, to members current and past, I thank you for your time, energy, and spirit. You are a treasure to the club and a gift to American culture as a whole.

So happy centennial, LAAAS, you survive prohibition, rock and roll, hot rods, disco, video games, the internet, and even Labuboos. I like your odds for a hundred more. Thank you very much. A few minutes later, Dr. Ed Krupp, the director of Griffith Observatory, took to the stage. Griffith is home to the Zeiss 12-inch refractor. More people have peered through that single instrument than through any other telescope on Earth. Ed has been at the helm of Griffith for decades, and if you caught our 2024 episode on exploring solar eclipses through time, you may recognize his voice. But on this particular rainy April afternoon, he was there to talk about something profound, how the LA Astronomical Society existed for nearly

two decades before Griffith Observatory even opened its doors. And how when it finally did, L-A-A-As became an integral part of making that mission possible. Chuck Berry was born 100 years ago in 1926, and Chuck, I'm sorry to say, is no longer with us. But the Los Angeles Astronomical Society was also born 100 years ago, and it is still rocking and rolling telescopes all over the front lawns of Griffith Observatory to put everybody closer to the cosmos.

Now, Griffith Observatory is only 91, years old, so it wasn't even around for the arrival of either Chuck Berry or the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. But once Griffith Observatory was built and opened in 1935, and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society ended its two-decade migration through the wilderness from one meeting place to another, it made a monthly home at Griffith Observatory, 1947. Since then, the relationship between the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and Griffith Observatory has been a foundational thread in the fabric of public astronomy, Los Angeles style. Los Angeles Astronomical Society is the second oldest astronomical club in America,

and it grew quickly, and it became and remains a national leader in public astronomy. Over many decades, the Los Angeles Astronomical Society brought one headliner astronomer after another to speak at Griffith Observatory. made it with household names like Edwin Hubble, who of course discovered the expanding universe over there in Mount Wilson, which you can't even see right now. The LAS advances the astronomical expertise and the experience of its members, and it regularly puts telescopes, as you all know,

and 100 of them here today, and I counted them, into public service. We get along with each other, both of us, the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and Griffith Observatory, because we're both obsessive, about putting everyone's eyeball to the eyepiece. And seeing the sky that way transforms perspective. And so we are saluting a century of Los Angeles, astronomical society, astronomical enthusiasm.

You don't get a chance to do that very often. Griffith Observatory won't celebrate its centennial for another nine years. I am then cheered, of course, to announce the LAS century will be acknowledged permanently in bronze, inside Griffith Observatory, right at the Astronomy for All display in the Observing of California exhibit in the Anne-Marie and Jack C. Wilder Hall of the Eye on the observatory's historic level. The inscription recognizing 100 years of public service Los Angeles Astronomical Society 1926, 2026, with of course the emblem, the logo of the LAAAS. Let me just close with a little celestial history.

When Halley's comet last returned on its 1985-86 world tour, Griffith Observatory showed the comet through a telescope to more people than anywhere else on Earth. In 1996, more people saw the stealth comet, Yakutakotaki, through a telescope at Griffith Observatory than any other place on the planet. In 1997, Comet Hale-Bomp was seen through a telescope by more people at Griffith Observatory than anywhere else in the world. We could have not done that without the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. Just like Chuck Berry, you're a rock star.

Thank you. During the event, there were a series of short talks on the grass. One of the speakers was Louis Chilton. He's the historian of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. and he's been a member for over 60 years. He talked about the real origins of the LAAS, how it stretches back to the 1800s, long before the club was ever officially founded.

After his talk, I had a moment to speak with him about what it meant to him to see the centennial. So I'm here with Lewis Chilton. He's a historian that's been with the L.A. Astronomical Society for a very long time. How long have you been a member of this organization? I've been a paying member since 1961. But I started attending meetings in 1960, but I couldn't afford it at the time.

I was a starving high school student until finally someone very diplomatically approached me and said, you know, you've been coming to meetings for almost a year now. You should join, so I did. And I've been a paying member. Well, until recently we were paying members, but then they made us honorary life members, so now we don't have to pay dues. That's so well deserved. What does it feel like to be here at the 100th anniversary of this organization?

Oh, it's a big deal. It's just like Halle's Comet. When I was a kid in the 50s, they talked about when the next apparition of Halle's Comet would come in 1984. And I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm going to be in my 40s by then. Will I ever come to pass? Will I ever live that long?

Well, the same thing has happened again. When I became historian for the club in 1968, 100 years was a long ways away yet. And so I didn't think I would live long. enough to ever be here at the 100th anniversary of this club. I never expected to stay a member that long, but it always pulled me in. I always enjoyed the meetings. I have enjoyed the people who were members, and some of those people are lifelong friends now,

and we stay in touch to this day, even though they haven't been in the club for many years. Well, thank you so much for your time, and for recording the history of this organization. It has done so much for so many people's lives, and I truly appreciate it, and I bet there are so many wonderful facts in your brain. Oh, I bet there are too. One thing that Laura May mentioned in our conversation earlier was how these astronomical societies aren't just for amateurs. Professional astronomers show up too.

Dr. Bryce Bolin is a perfect example. He's a professional astronomer and a member of the LA Astronomical Society. We had him on the show a few months ago to talk about 3-Ey Atlas, the interstellar comet that he helped discover. On the night of the centennial, I bumped into him, and one of his tiny telescopes. It's wonderful to meet you in real life. Hey there, how are you doing?

Doing really well, although it is a little bit of a cloudy, rainy day here up at the observatory. Well, this is the observing life. I've been clouded out on many observing runs, so it's just part of what it's like being an observer. So what brought you to this centennial star party today? Yes, I wanted to participate. I have a tiny little bird scope here. I'm a professional astronomer, but I actually don't have my own personal telescope. I like to go birdwatching.

And I thought, why not come out here and participate? They needed 100 scopes, and so I signed up and volunteered. I wanted to try and make it happen. When last we spoke, we were talking about 3-Ey Atlas. It's been a little while, but since we last spoke, that thing went on a wild adventure, and now it is on its way kind of out of the solar system. What has been your experience in the last few months as people have been following this thing along in its journey? Oh, yeah.

Well, speaking of the LAW, Los Angeles Astronomical Society, I went out to one of their observing sites called Lockwood Valley. It's about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles in early December to observe the comet, the interstellar comet. They let me use their Dobsonian over there. And we were able to the object was about magnitude. 12, it was very, very bright, and I was able to visually observe it. I was able to visually see in a telescope a piece of another planetary system. It was very cool. Oh, my gosh, that's got to be such a cool experience after doing so much following of this

and tracking it, like to actually get to see it through just a regular telescope with your own eyes. That's got to be something special. That's right. And thanks to Kevin and Laura May, who helped set up the telescope and find it in the sky and allowed me to get to see it. It's so wonderful to meet you out here, and I hope it doesn't rain on us and that we all get to see some cool stuff tonight.

It was great to talk with you as well. Jeff Schroeder showed up to the Centennial with the world's largest portable refracting telescope, and it was mounted to the top of his car. He built it himself when he was a young man, and as he'll tell you, that single passion project ended up taking in places that he never expected.

The first thing I saw when I came out here on the lawn, Was this massive telescope mounted to the top of this car? How big is this thing? This is an 11-inch refracting lens-type telescope. Very similar to the 12-inch Zycet Griffith Observatory here has, just very slightly smaller. And it's a type of telescope that is used for mostly lunar and planetary high-resolution observing. It's perfect for the moon and planets. But if you take it out under a dark sky, which I can easily do using the car, makes it portable,

then you can see thousands of nebula, galaxies, and other objects, because the only thing that really limits us is the darkness of the sky. Here in the city, we have a lot of lights, unfortunately. Lights up the sky, most people haven't ever seen the Milky Way from the city. But if you go out someplace like Joshua Tree National Park, where it's nice and dark, then you can see all of the planetary nebula and the open clusters and the globular clusters and galaxies and so forth, and really see the wonders of the universe. And incidentally, as far as portability goes, you don't really think of a refracting telescope

as a portable telescope, especially one of this size. This is the largest portable refracting telescope in the world. Okay, but then that means you probably can't just buy this off the shelf. Did you build this yourself? Yes, I did. It is totally homemade. All of the machining, grinding and polishing the optics, including the finder telescope. It's all homemade.

The classic old-school techniques of grinding and pitch-lap polishing, glass. It's a two-element acrimatic objective. It's a standard refracting telescope. It's just a little bit bigger than most amateurs have. In order to make this, was this a skill that you already learned before you joined the LA Astronomical Society, or is this something that you learned through your interactions with the people there? This happened long before I joined the LAAS. I didn't even know about them at the time. I started building this telescope when I was 19 years old and finished it when I was 21. And the nice thing about it, as I thought I was was wasting a tremendous amount of time on my hobby when I should have been studying and,

you know, going to classes and worrying about a career. That telescope became my career. Somebody noticed it, told me to go over to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and fill out an application. And I said, oh, no, I don't have the degree for that. You know, I mean, these are people that are, you know, three-degree, you know, Nobel Prize-winning physicists and stuff like that to work at a place like that. They're not going to be interested. He egged me on.

We were in the same class at Citrus College and said, just go over there, talk to them. So I finally to shut him up, I went over to JPL, walked in, and he said, we need an optician. You've got the job. Three days later, I had a full-time job, and they were showing me my office. I was there for 35 years. You never know when your passion is going to lead you to your next job. No, you don't. You don't.

And it went even further. That got noticed by some of the people at JPL, and I started working on astronomy projects. NASA had a program back in the late 1990s, early 2000s, that was looking for Earth-crossing asteroids. They were looking for what we're called Near Earth objects and potentially hazardous asteroids. And Congress, after the 1994 collision between Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 and Jupiter,

put money up for NASA to put together a program looking for these hazardous asteroids. I got the assignment at JPL to design and build the camera that went on the 48-inch telescope at Palomar Mountain to do the asteroid search. And the lead person on that project was Dr. Eleanor Helene, who is an expert on solar system objects, and one of her astronomers was a gentleman named Steve Provdo at JPL,

and he must have tipped off the people at Mount Wilson Observatory because I got a phone call about two in the afternoon one day, and I was just sitting there doing my engineering work, and it was the director of Mount Wilson Observatory. And he said, our telescope operator for the 100-inch just retired. Get your rear-end gear and get up here this weekend so we can train you. It wasn't even a question whether I'd do it or not.

It was just get up here. So I went up there. They gave me like a two or three-hour tutorial on how to operate probably the most historic telescope on the planet. And for 10 years, I was doing astronomical research with various observers, everything from asteroid occultations to search for extra solar planets, to infrared astronomy. probably one of my most interesting observations was we are testing a deep infrared camera on star fields at three in the afternoon on a bright sunny day

with the dome slit of the 100-inch telescope wide open, sunlight flooding in, and I was looking at 12-magnitude stars in the deep infrared with a 100-inch telescope in broad daylight. And most people are just like, what? Now that observatory has so much legacy to it. I mean, what Hubble discovered up there, all the beautiful images of Einstein, even Fritz-Zwicky, for the people who are super deep into it, that place has such a legacy. And I love knowing that your time working on this telescope led you to be a part of that history.

And I still donate to them up there, and I still show up for various events. I mean, it is a wonderful place. It is not only probably one of the most, no, I will say it is the most significant scientific site on Earth due to the discoveries it's made. everything from solar astronomy to the expansion of the universe and its confirmation with Hubble, as you mentioned. And stellar physics is just, it's incredible what has happened up with that one observatory and it's just right here, local. Giovani Samosa, or Gio, has been coming to star parties for about 20 years. The last time you heard him on the show was during the 2024 solar eclipse in Fredericksburg, Texas.

He was running our star party that night before totality. Gio is a volunteer at the Planetary Society, but he also works at Mount Wilson and Griffith Observatories. He's helped countless people, including me, understand what it means to share the sky with someone else. Hey, Gio, nice to see you here. Nice to see you. Always a pleasure to see you. So you're basically like the chief of the volunteers at the Planetary Society. Yeah, I've been doing that for just over 15 years. How long have you been a member of the LA Astronomical Society?

Oh, God. I think coming up on about, well, unofficially 20 years, I was just somebody that would hang out with them for five years. And eventually I said, let me pay some money and be a real member. Well, I want to say, this is actually true many a year ago. I came here to Griffith Observatory. I had just gotten hired. We were having a star party out on the lawn. And I walked up to you. And it was through that interaction looking through your telescope that I first learned about the planetary society. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, you know, I love sharing the gospel of the planetary society because we do so much, and we're always promoting NASA and promoting science and education that we forget to promote ourselves sometimes. So whenever possible I let people know, planetary society is here. But also it shows the beautiful interactions between all of the different member organizations that are trying to promote astronomy.

Like we're here at Griffith Observatory, which is also here with the LA Astronomical Society, which is also tied into the Planetary Society and Mount Wilson and all the local institutions. It's really cool seeing all this community come together in one place. Oh, it is. We even have a few people from sidewalk astronomers and every once in a while we'll have like a high school science team that will bring a telescope or two.

Well, I've also seen you show telescopes to not only the patrons that come through here, but to tens of thousands of children who come here on the school program. So what would you say to people who are just, beginning on their telescope journey, what are the coolest objects that they should look at first through their telescope? Well, the best thing or the first thing you should try to master is the moon.

It'll be easier to find, it'll be easier to focus. But more than anything, find a club, any club, all astronomy clubs want to help you. And I remember 20-some years ago when I started, I didn't know what to aim the telescope to. And even the moon was a little difficult to find when you don't know how to use a finder scope. And so it was just,

those interactions with astronomy members that just, they showed me the sky and started telling me these amazing stories about how to like jump from one star to another. And if you jump from here to here, you can find this, you know, things like, you know, find the handle of the big dipper and see that arc, follow that arc till you reach the star arch tourist. And you're like, oh, arc to art tourists. Okay, that makes sense. It all makes sense when somebody's there showing you and walking you through the steps.

and then it just becomes ingrained in your mind. It's good advice. Man, I want to get my own telescope and come out here and learn from the people of the LA Astronomical Society because through my experience studying astrophysics and through my interactions with people, I've played with many a large, large telescope,

but having your own is a totally different thing. What would you say to the people who might want to buy their first telescope and I really know where to get started? You know, the cheapest pair of binoculars you can find is a good way to start, something that has a wide angle, could be a $20, $25 piece of equipment. And then when you join an astronomy club, many of them will let you borrow their equipment.

So our club has a loaner program. You put down $10 just to promise that you'll bring it back or so. And then you take the telescope home for a week or two. And you practice that way. And you find Star Party. There are Star Parties all over the world. So, you know, Google search your zip code and Star Party and see what comes up. And when you come to like this one, for example, you get to try out different types of telescopes, find out what you like, and even ask, what did you pay for this one? Would you buy it again? And you get to learn how telescopes work. So my first event was here. The first time I got to see through a telescope was here at Griffith Observatory. And I was looking through these that were $10,000, the ones over $3,000. And then I found the ugliest one. And it looked just as good. And when I asked them, why is this thing so ugly?

And the guy looked at me kind of befuddled. And it's like, I made it from scratch. It's a homemade telescope. I didn't know you could make telescopes. And this club teaches people how to make telescopes. So that's how I became an astronomer. I learned how to make a telescope from scratch. That's so cool.

I met someone earlier who literally built a giant telescope that's mounted on their car right now. It's crazy. Yes. Oh, my God. That guy is crazy. So he has that beautiful telescope on top of his bubble. And his name's Jeff Schroeder.

and Jeff just drives around town and shares that telescope with the public and amazing. And he has designed some of the custom eyepieces that we use at Mount Wilson Observatory. So at Mount Wilson Observatory, we have these four-inch eyepieces, and Jeff Schroeder has designed some of them for us. Did you start working at Mount Wilson Observatory before or after you became a member of the LA Astronomical Society? So LA Astronomical Society was the start of it all for me. It was the journey. It's what got me excited.

I started attending the lectures, learning from other professionals. And so LAS was the stepping stone for me to get into this field. Eventually, when I applied here at Griffith, when they saw that I was an LAS member, my application was put to the top of the pile because they figure, oh, this guy's a true professional. He's with LAS. And that got me at least into the door for an interview. From here, I met Bill Nye at an event, and we hit it off and started working at the Planetary Society. and then from there I just picked up shifts

and started working at Mount Wilson. So one led to another, led to another. So now I have nine jobs, and I love every one of them. Well, thank you so much, Gio, not just for being here today, but for making a difference in my life by showing me beautiful things to the telescope, taking me to Mount Wilson for the first time and introducing me to the Planetary Society.

You have completely changed the arc of my life because you took that time to show people the sky. You know, we all pay it forward, and right now somebody's listening to this that it's getting inspired by you. So we all just pay it forward. That's the power of space community, man. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Listening to Geo talk about paying it forward, I realized something. I've been going to star parties for years, benefiting from the generosity of people who showed me the sky. And I never actually joined the LA Astronomical Society. So after we finished recording this episode, I can now say that I am officially the newest member of the LA Astronomical Society,

or at least I will be after their next meeting. And speaking of looking up, there's plenty to see in the night sky right now. It's a really great time to pull out that telescope or binoculars and maybe start your own little star party at home. Joining me next for What's Up is Dr. Bruce Betz, our chief scientist at the Planetary Society, with a look at what you can view in the night sky in the next month. Hey, Bruce.

Mark. That was hello and dog. I had such a good time going to that star party, Epic Griffith, and celebrating 100 years of this organization. I just, I love star parties. Do you go to them ever? No, but it is very cool. And I hung out with that group occasionally and given talks to them. And they're great as our other amateur astronomy organizations. It's just when you go to them, it's fun. People get together and they stare at the sky and they look through telescopes and it's a good time. Yeah.

And it's dark. Well, I mean, in this case, that's the tricky bit about having these kinds of events at a place like Griffith Observatory. That's a city run place. They end up closing pretty early. So you get a few hours of that like darkness time. But it gives you a good reason to pull out the solar observing scopes. It's a good time for it, planet-wise. Oh, that's true.

Huh. You can actually see Venus and Things at that hour. Venus and Things. It's the new show from Astronomy Central. Yeah, right now it's just lovely. If you haven't looked over in the West and the evening sky, do so, please. Because we've got super bright Venus. And then above it is very bright Jupiter.

And they're actually hanging out in the same part of the sky. You need to catch it not too long after sunset, so Venus is still up, but it's actually pretty high for Venus right now. So that's a great thing to look for in the evening sky. And, but wait, it gets better. They want to be friends again. So they're coming closer and closer together. And June 8th and 9th, note those dates because both of them, Venus and Jupiter, are very close to each other in the sky, as seen by us. then Jupiter will be below Venus after that and Venus above.

And it's pretty cool. But wait, don't order yet. Mercury starts coming up a little bit later in the month and gets higher, but it's Mercury, so it doesn't get that high. But there's a particularly lovely lineup on June 17th. We're going from, and this again, this is early evening in the west. And going from top to bottom, up to horizon, you've got the crescent moon, a very thin crescent moon, super bright Venus, bright Jupiter,

and less bright but still bright Mercury if you're out early enough and if you have a clear enough view to the Western horizon. And thanks to our planets orbiting in a plane, they're all roughly in a line. You know, I think in all of my years I've only ever seen Mercury maybe like once or twice. It's a tricky little bugger, but you've got to look at the right time. and have the view to the horizon and do it not too long after sunset or before sunrise when it's doing its other thing. But this time it's sunset. But are you ever awake before dawn? Yes, unfortunately.

Oh, well, then you can go out and look to the east. So we've been looking to the west where the sun was. Now on the pre-dawn, looking to the east where the sun is wanting to come up. And you have to go out early enough before that. and low to the horizon right now is Mars, not being its brightest, but looking reddish. And then above that is Saturn looking yellowish. And Saturn is just cranking up. So over the few days and weeks, you can watch it getting higher in the sky.

Mars is just kind of being lazy, hanging out fairly low, being kind of dim. It'll get excited later on. And if you have a small telescope or a big telescope, check out Saturn, in particular because you can check out those rings if you have good enough optics and it doesn't require much and in the evening sky you can Jupiter is particularly a nice thing to look at because it's got it's the Galilean moons the four little dots beside it that represent the four largest moons Galileo discover those in 1609 and 1610 I believe something like that and so that's a cool telescope view from that, but there's just

all the planets you can see without telescopes are up right now. Three in the evening, two in the pre-dawn, although Mercury's a little tough for a few days, but then it gets higher. So it's good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. Did you look at any of these things when you were star partying? Unfortunately, it rained on our party, which is just the worst thing to happen with 100

telescopes in one place. Oh, my. But it did give us a lot of chances. to hang out and splash about and have good talks. So, I mean, in the end, it was less about talking to other people about space and more about us just kind of connecting with each other, which was kind of the whole spirit of the party. That's great.

It's funny, too, at Griffith Observatory, they actually have a model of Galileo's telescope. And I don't know, when I was a kid, I always imagined it would have taken a lot more to see the Galilean moons. But it's actually a pretty tiny little telescope, which I guess makes sense. Yeah, you can actually use binoculars. If you have just reasonable binoculars, and if you can hold them steady enough and maybe balance your elbows on something, you can actually often pick out the Galilean satellites just using those, but certainly a small telescope. They are impressively bright.

The only challenge is when they pass in front of or behind Jupiter, then you can't see them. Yeah. You know, I've got something related, so it's not really random, but it's a spaceback. And that is Venus and Jupiter are the only two planets that are brighter than the brightest star in the night sky, serious. And Venus is significantly brighter than serious. And Jupiter is, I mean, also noticeably brighter, whereas a couple of the other guys come up to similar things. Now, Mars gets wacky around opposition. and so it cranks up and gets super bright and friendly

and sniffs the other planets. It's odd, but right now, go check them out. They're bright. They're cool. They're neat. If they're blinking, you're looking at the wrong thing. That's an airplane or a helicopter. Okay, that's what I got.

What do you get? What do you bring into the party? No, it's just, it's reminding me, so listeners of this show will know that I worked at Griffith Observatory for, about six years there. And one of my favorite things was when I was on the front desk listening to the phone calls.

We probably got maybe two, three, four phone calls a day that were just literally, what is that shiny thing? Every single time, it was Venus. It freaks people out because it's so much, it's so bright. It's so bright. That it's like, well, it must be something else.

But no, it just are really nasty evil sister planet. Right? If it's really bright single star, probably Venus. And if it's a little smudgy thing, always the Pleiades. Or your glasses are dirty. Also possible. All right, everybody. Go out there, look up the night sky and think about grass and why can't we eat it? Thank you. And good night.

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