The Sun City Oro Valley Astronomy Club is a chartered club of Sun City Oro Valley. We are located in the town of Oro Valley, a suburb of Tucson, Arizona. Club meetings feature prominent guest speakers from renowned local astronomy organizations. Our club activities include:
Featured Speakers (January - May) For the 2023-2024 season, the SCOV Astronomy Club will be meeting at the Activity Center.
Dates, times, and speakers are: Thursday, January 18,2024 7pm, Pete Phifer & Ed Jacoby, "Astrophotography" Thursday, February 15, 2024 7pm, Del Spangler, "Mapping the Interstellar Medium in the Galaxy" Thursday, March 21, 2024 7pm, Jakob Helton, "James Webb Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey" Thursday, April 18, 2024 7pm, Janet Woods, "Understanding the Nature of Stars" Thursday, May 16, 2024 7pm, Lily Whitler, "New Eyes on the Skies"
Each above session includes an excellent speaker. More details HERE
Featured Speakers (Sept '24 - May '25) September 19, 7:00 pm, Activity Center - Dr. Bashar Rizk will present, "OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer Mission: Close-up of an Asteroid." October 17, :00 pm, Activity Center - Dr. Mihailo Martinovic will present, "Parker Probe: NASA's Mission to Touch the Sun." November 21, 7:00 pm, Activity Center, Ms. Janet Wood will present, "Archeoastronomy: Astronomy Knowledge and Practices of Ancient Tribes." December 19, 7:00 pm, Activity Center, Dr. Sarah Sutton will present, "Europa Clipper Mission: Probing Jupiter's Ocean Moon." January 16, 2025, 7:00 pm, Activity Center - TBA February 20, 2025, 7:00 pm, Activity Center, Dr. Joe Schools will present, "Venus and Io Volcanic Worlds of our Solar System." March 20, 2025, 7:00 pm, Activity Center - Brother Guy Consolmagno will present, "Discoveries. of the Vatican Observatory." April 17, 2025, 7:00 pm, Activity Center - Dr. Tom Zega will present, "The Findings of OSIRIS-Rex Missions- Asteroid Bennu Sample" May 15, 2025, 7:00 pm, Activity Center - TBA
Star Parties See our calendar HERE for the current schedule. We normally have 5 to 6 telescopes for viewing. You may bring your own binoculars which would be helpful for your personal tour of the night sky. There is always a member of our club that will help guide us through the night sky.
Stars and Pizza, a special event for Astronomy Club members, will be held on Tuesday, October 8, 6:00 pm, in the Golf Cart Parking Lot. A pizza dinner will be served, followed by star gazing. This is a free event, but reservations are required and can be made by emailing Steve Nash at [email protected]. Ed Jacoby will conduct the "October Sky Tour." All are welcome to bring their own telescopes and binoculars. In case of cloudy weather, the party will be held in the Activity Center and Ed will give us a great indoor presentation.
Field Trips We organize outstanding trips to locations of astronomical interest.
School Outreach We coordinate with the Coronado K-8 school to provide classroom instructions by our members. Our Club members make tax free donations that allow us to provide every 5th grade student with a telescope.