Club Address:
65-1158 Mamalahoa Hwy.
Kamuela, HI 96743

An electronic publication of The West Hawaii Astronomy Club -

Vice President:
    Cliff Livermore

Secretary:
   

Treasurer:
    

To meet regularly, socialize, discuss the wonders of the cosmos, hold observing sessions & clinics, and generally promote the advancement of the hobby of astronomy on the west side of the big island of Hawaii.

Beautiful photos courtesy of member Bill Brevoort!

Welcome! Please feel free to browse around.  We hope you enjoy our website. We look forward to seeing you at a future club function.

Who are we? Well, apart from our vision statement above:

• We unofficially call ourselves "WHACos"....it's a historical thing...we're really not crazy.
• We live and work on West Hawaii island (from South Point to Kohala.).
• We typically observe together in very dark sky conditions either at the club dark site or at the HP visitor's center, or as arranged during club meetings.
• We are sponsored by CFHT and the Keck Observatory. We have friends and associates at other Mauna Kea observatories.
• We have meetings on the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm. Meetings are open to the public, and are for exchange of knowledge, information, and interesting discussions concerning all aspects of Astronomy. The meetings are held at either the Headquarters of Keck or at CFHT headquarters in Waimea. Look on the website event calendar for upcoming meeting location and agenda.
• We rely on our web interface and a Yahoo group for club communications. Please check often for event schedules and updates. The yahoo email group can easily be joined (top of this page....links you to the Yahoo group).
• Our club members run the range of experience from little, to advanced/semi-professional astronomers. Club members also have a wide variety of equipment all the way from none to a 24" dobsonian (as large as the smallest telescope on Mauna Kea!). We have some pretty advanced visual astronomers and astrophotographers in the group, as well as some aspiring learners.
• We have a motto that is inclusive. You don't need to have a lot of experience to join us, but we do ask that you have a willingness to share your enthusiam. The beauty of astronomy is that the field covers physics, chemistry, math, optics, art, philosophy, religion, etc (although we don't encourage religious debate...that often gets ugly!). It is impossible for one person to be well versed in all of these fields. If you can help us learn and/or share your interests, and if you have passion for learning the wonders of the cosmos, (or if you just like socializing with other gearheads and nighttime observers), you will probably fit right in with our cadre.

Membership is open to anyone with interest in the hobby of Astronomy. You don't need to own a telescope to join, but we hope you'll eventually desire to find a dark sky with us and at least look for yourself in an eyepiece. We suspect that once this happens, we'll have even more telescopes in the club.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Cooper