1.This evening (8-19), NCA trustee Zack Gleiberman is giving a talk at Rhizome DC on astronomy in DC. Admission is free. The talk will start at 7 pm. 

2. This Saturday (8-22), NCA members will help the DC Dark Sky International staff a table at the National Book Festival, which will be held from 9 am to 8 pm at the Walter Washington Convention Center.

3. This Sunday (8-23) National Capital Astronomers will have its required annual board meeting to plan events, examine the budget, and so on. All officers and committee heads are expected, and any member of NCA is welcome, but there will be no public lecture or slide show. The physical location is my house, 1316 Randolph St NE, WDC 20017, starting at 3 pm, with light refreshments, or you can attend remotely at https://umd.zoom.us/j/95619565617?pwd=uqwxzZ39zgVfgOypmcp8cy6xFaCcRb.1

4. Next Wednesday (8-26), some NCA members will bring telescopes to another overnight event at the DC Department of Parks and Recreation program at Camp Riverview, MD. The camp (free; enrollment by lottery) is very close to Point Lookout, MD., which is a pretty long drive from DC. This event will be for senior citizens.

5. On the night of Thursday/Friday, August 26/27, the Earth’s shadow will cover almost all (96%) of the Moon. For us in the DMV region, the partial phase will begin at 10:33 pm, maximum eclipse will happen at 12:12 am (ie after midnight), and the partial phase will end at 1:51 am. No particular optics are required, and there is no chance of actual danger from viewing the event with either a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or your unaided vision.

6. The next day, August 27, the Astronomy@250 conference of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (now known as the Astro Society) begins with a public panel on Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, who as you probably know was the first chief of science at NASA, shepherded the Hubble Space Telescope into eing, and was a member and officer of NCA for many years. The link to join this session is www.youtube.com/@astrosocietydotorg

7. Saturday, August 29 is the deadline for any articles or photos you would like to include in the September 2026 Star Dust newsletter.

8. On Sunday, August 30, around 8 AM, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral on a Falcon Heavy rocket. It is expected to revolutionize astrophysics with its unprecedented wide-field infrared observations. Does anybody want to hold a watch party for the event?