About PAC

The Prairie Astronomy Club was founded in 1961 as a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the study of Astronomy and related subjects for the benefit of its members and the general public. The club presently has over 80 members with a wide variety of interests ranging from simple naked-eye sky gazing to deep-sky objects, variable star observing, and the use of computers. The club holds monthly meetings open to the general public on THE LAST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH, unless the date conflicts with a major holiday. The meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. at the HYDE MEMORIAL OBSERVATORY located in HOLMES PARK in southeast LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. Each meeting consists of a short business session, planning for upcoming events, and one or two short programs followed by refreshments and conversation. The following list of recent programs shows the variety of topics and interests that the meetings provide:

SKY TOURS How to identify the constellations.
BINOCULAR NIGHT What to look for in your next pair.
DEEP SKY OBSERVING What to look for and how to find it.
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY How to take deep-sky pictures the right way.
TELESCOPE MAKING Mirror grinding, testing and mountings.
EYEPIECES FOR TELESCOPES What is the best for the best price.
PERSONAL COMPUTERS Hardware and Astronomy programs available.
THE SPACE SHUTTLE Televised activities in the payload bay.
VOYAGER’S VIEW OF NEPTUNE Pictures via satellite from JPL.
THE NEW TECHNOLOGY TELESCOPES Observatories of the future.