The next meeting of the Chicago Astronomical Society will be on
Saturday, January 24, 2026
at the
Cernan Earth and Space Center.
Meeting Agenda:
5:00 PM -- Astro-talk over pizza and soft drinks. (Donations are welcome to offset the cost of food and beverage.)
6:00 PM -- The lecture will begin.
7:30 PM -- If the weather permits and it's clear and temeratures are above 20° F, there will be telescopic viewing of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. If you have a telescope, please bring it along and you can share views of the moon and planets with attendees.
Speaker: Mr. Bill Higgins
Topic: The Great Telescope of Birr Castle and How a 19th-Century Irish Family Changed Astronomy
About the Presentation:
For over 70 years, the largest telescope in the world was to be found in rural Ireland.
Years of effort culminated in 1845 when William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse, first gazed
into the eyepiece of his 72-inch-diameter telescope, named Leviathan, and glimpsed the spiral
arms of distant galaxies. The remarkable scientists, inventors, and artists of the Parsons clan
may seem the stuff of steampunk science fiction, but Bill Higgins, who has been to Birr Castle,
will assure you that they were quite real.
The Great Telescope at Birr Castle
Leviathan of Parsons town
About our Speaker:
Bill Higgins is a physicist who is retired from Fermi Lab and is a volunteer in NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program. He frequently speaks about spaceflight, astronomy, the history of science, and science fiction
Looking Ahead: The February meeting of the Chicago Astronomical Society (CAS) will be on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at the Cernan Earth and Space Center at 5:00
Membership: If you enjoy the activities of the CAS, please become a member.
Regular membership is only $30 for an individual and $50 for a family membership.
We now accept payment via Zelle.
We would like to thank the Cernan Center and its director Kris McCall for their support of the CAS and astronomy/science education. We encourage CAS members and all others who support science education to purchase memberships for the Cernan Center.
We would also like to thank our members for their past and continued support.
We hope that you can attend. Please feel free to forward and invite friends!
Clear Skies!
Tony Harris
V.P. and Program Manager,
Chicago Astronomical Society
