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!
Our Stellar Activities:
Monthly Star Talks: Join us every second Saturday at the University of Maryland Observatory for enlightening lectures followed by stargazing sessions (weather permitting).
Exploring the Sky: In collaboration with the National Park Service, we host free monthly telescope events at Rock Creek National Park. Catch a planetarium show before diving into the cosmos!
Sidewalk Astronomy: We pop up around DC with telescopes for both planned and spontaneous events, showcasing celestial wonders against the city's bright lights.
Science Fair Fun: We scout and reward top-notch astronomy projects in local science fairs.
School & Scout Outreach: We bring the stars to classrooms and scout groups with talks and telescope demonstrations.
Telescope Making Workshops: Since WWII, we've been running free workshops where you can craft your own Newtonian telescope or fine-tune a commercial one.
Deep-Sky Adventures: Our members often venture to darker sites for deep-sky explorations with other astronomy clubs.
Affiliations & Contributions: As part of the Washington Academy of Sciences and the Astronomical League, we actively combat light pollution with Dark Sky International and are part of the Night Sky Network.
Our Cosmic Perspective:
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!
Our Meetings
Monthly Meetings with Educational Presentations are Free and Open to the Public
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.
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!
Meeting Schedule for 2025-2026
Sep 13, 2025: Rob Zellem (GSFC), Exoplanets: Finding Life in the Galaxy
Jun 13, 2026: Science Fair Winners!! and Astrophotos!
With permission of the speakers, most meetings will be recorded. Once available the audio and video will be linked.
Online Meeting Information
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.
AUDIO: Please mute yourself! Only unmute after "rasing your hand": and being called on by moderator. If you need to test your system, please do so after the Zoom room opens but before the meeting starts! The moderator has the ability to mute viewers.
VIDEO: Attendees may have their video on. Be mindful of what is in your background.
Please have your name clearly posted.
Use the "Raise Hand" function when you would like to ask a question. A moderator will call on you at which time you may unmute to ask your question. Questions may also be sent to a moderator via the chat function.
With the permission of the guestspeakers, these Zoom sessions will be recorded.
Moderators will mute individuals as needed. Any particularly unruly participants will be kicked out.
The meetings will start at 7:30pm EST (00:30 UTC). The Zoom room will open at 7:00pm. Initially, we will not "lock the doors" at 7:30, but if folks joining late becomes disruptive, we will institute that requirement to be on time.
Next Meeting Date: Saturday, 13 June 2026
7:30 pm
Science Fair Winners
Each spring, NCA members judge local regional science fairs in order to identify good projects in astronomy. We would like to congratulate the following students on their wonderful projects:
Jason Wright, Madison HS, Can Magnetic Field Line Intensity predict high velocity coronal mass ejections?
Rushil Kukreja, TJHSST, Agent-based modeling to safeguard satellites under extreme space weather
Harshpreet singh, TJHSST, Real-time magnetic field modeling using physics infused neural operators
Teo Kamath & Benjamin Lang, Woodson HS, Does the ISS's SPADE-3 probe's magnetic field sensor data align with existing models?
Anderson Hsu, ?? HS, The Effect of Star Multiplicity on the Absolute Magnitude of Stars
John Kelley, ?? HS, Applicability of Free, Open Source Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Software.
Buket Guner, ?? HS, Evaluating Radio Emissions in the 1-2 GHz Band as indicators of Close-In Exoplanets Around M Dwarf Stars
Madison Morgan, DC International Charter School, Measuring dark matter by rotational velocity of parts of spiral galaxies
Brad Chen, Langley HS, Identifying new candidate substructures in the Milky Way halo with photomettry
Jenila Benedict, Madison Han, and Pariya Naderi, Chantilly HS, The effect of machine learning algorithms on the prediction of solar flares
Kyle He, McLean HS, Comparing Exoplanet Transit Detection Pipelines Under Realistic Noise and Data Gaps
Nicholas Cabrera, ?? HS,
The winners each receive:
A certificate
An invitation to speak at our June meeting.
One year membership in NCA.
A one-year subscription to Sky & Telescope.
Choice of NCA Hat or Hoodie.
We look forward to hearing from these young astronomers at the June meeting!
Weather-permitting, there will be observing through the telescopes after the meeting for members and guests.
Telescope-Making and Mirror-Grinding
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!
Come See the Stars at Exploring the Sky 2026!
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.
