Founded in 1937 at the US Naval Observatory by a group of professional and amateur astronomers, the National Capital Astronomers (NCA) is a volunteer-driven nonprofit aiming to ignite public interest in astronomy and space science. We're all about sharing the wonders of the universe with everyone!
While we marvel at the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, we recognize Earth's unique hospitality. This drives our mission to protect our planet's resources and life. After all, as Captain Kirk (a.k.a. William Shatner) discovered, space is a harsh place!
Join us for a cosmic journey and be part of our mission to explore, understand, and protect our universe!
NCA has regular monthly meetings September through June on the second Saturday of the month. For 2025-26, meetings will be held in-person at the University of Maryland Astronomical Observatory in College Park, Maryland (directions/map) AND online via Zoom (details below). Seating is limited, so we are encouraging folks to attend via Zoom.
Public transportation: Directions/maps to the UMD Observatory
Inclement weather: In case of severe weather (tornado/snow/impassable roads), a notice will be placed on the Observatory Website on the day of the meeting. (Be sure to refresh/reload the page to make sure you are seeing an updated page.)
The meetings for this year will be HYBRID (online via Zoom AND in-person), unless otherwise noted!
With permission of the speakers, most meetings will be recorded. Once available the audio and video will be linked.
National Capital Astronomers will be holding its 2025-2026 meetings online via Zoom and in-person. This year, the Zoom meetings have been set up so that there is no registration required. This is the direct Zoom link, it is the same for everybody for every meeting this year. If we have problems with Zoom bombing at a meeting, then the link will be canceled and a new one created that will require registration for subsequent meetings.
As usual, the Zoom room "doors" open at 7pm ET with the actual meeting starting on time at 7:30pm! While you do not need to sign in right at 7pm, please do not wait until 7:35pm!! And since we are not registering folks, it will be important that you have a recognizable name showing so that I can let you in from the virtual waiting room.
With the permission of the guestspeakers, we will be recording the meetings.
Join Zoom Meeting: NCA Monthly Zoom
These guidelines will be updated as needed.
Dr. Kristin S. Sotzen - JHU Applied Physics Laboratory
7:30 pm
Abstract: The fourth mission in NASA's New Frontiers program, Dragonfly, will land a robotic octocopter on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly is designed to take advantage of Titan's low gravity and thick atmosphere to sample materials and characterize Titan's geology and surface composition at multiple landing sites over the course of the 3.3-year mission. Titan is an ocean world and the only moon in our solar system with a dense atmosphere, which supports an Earth-like hydrological cycle of methane clouds, rain, and liquid flowing across the surface to fill lakes and seas. The abundant complex organic material accessible on Titan's surface makes it an ideal destination for studying the conditions necessary for the habitability of an extraterrestrial environment and the kinds of chemical interactions that occurred before life developed on Earth.
Dragonfly's relocatable lander concept will provide the capability to explore diverse locations across Titan's dunes, interdunes, and icy crater terrains. The science payload includes four instruments: a mass spectrometer (DraMS), a gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer (DraGNS), seven cameras (DragonCam), and a suite of geophysical and meteorological sensors (DraGMet). On the ground, Dragonfly will collect and analyze surface samples, take measurements of local bulk surface composition as well as atmospheric and seismic conditions, and image the surrounding geology. In flight, the rotorcraft will collect additional atmospheric data and aerial images to provide broader context for the surface measurements. The data from these instruments will allow us to assess the habitablity of Titan's environment, to investigate the potential progression of prebiotic chemistry, and to search for evidence of past or extant water - or hydrocarbon-based life. Dragonfly passed its Critical Design Review earlier this year, and we are fabricating flight hardware ahead of the launch period that opens in July, 2028.
Bio: Kristin Sotzen is a space systems engineer and planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). She is currently serving as the Instrument Scientist and Systems Engineer for the Dragonfly Geophysics and Meteorology Package for NASA's Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan. As a space systems engineer, she has worked in concept development, architecture evaluation, and interface definition for a variety of space systems and missions. Dr. Sotzen is also the Science PI for NASA's "Estimating Exoplanet Population Demographics with Planetary Infrared Excess" XRP program, a co-investigator/collaborator on several JWST exoplanet observing programs, and a co-investigator on NASA's "Strange New Worlds: Characterizing Nearby M-dwarf Habitable Zone Planets" ICAR program. Her research focuses on the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres using transmission and emission spectroscopy.
Dr. Sotzen holds a BS in Engineering Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an MS in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University. She earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Weather-permitting, there will be observing through the telescopes after the meeting for members and guests.
The telescope making, maintenance, and modification workshop with Guy Brandenburg is held in the basement (wood shop) of the Chevy Chase Community Center which is located at the intersection of McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue, NW, a few blocks inside the DC boundary, on the northeast corner of the intersection. The workshop is open on Tuesdays & Fridays, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. For information visit Guy's Website. To contact Guy, call 202-262-4274 or Email Guy!
Exploring the Sky is a joint program between the National Capital Astronomers and the National Park Service Rock Creek Park Nature Center and has been run since 1948 at this location, the field at the corner of Glover and Military Roads in the District. There is an adjacent parking lot. It is free and all are welcome who have an interest in observing the heavens. It's not an ideal dark sky location but we can still see solar system objects (even the occasional comet), open and globular clusters and maybe a fuzzy galaxy or two.
Questions? Call NCA at 202-262-4274 and leave a message.
| Date | Time | Things of interest |
| 05 Apr | 8:00pm | M45, Orion, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus |
| 03 May | 9:00pm | M44, Leo, Arcturus, M13, Moon, Mars, Jupiter |
| 07 Jun | 9:00pm | Leo, Bootes, Hercules, M13, Moon |
| 05 Jul | 9:00pm | Moon, Hercules, M13, Summer Triangle |
| 02 Aug | 8:30pm | Moon, Hercules, M13, Summer Triangle, M57 |
| 20 Sep | 8:00pm | Moon, Summer Triangle, Great Square of Pegasus, Saturn |
| 18 Oct | 7:30pm | Summer Triangle, Great Square of Pegasus, M31, Saturn |
| 15 Nov | 7:00pm | Venus, Summer Triangle, Pegasus, M31, Saturn, Uranus |