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Countywide : Club Members Have Stars in Their Eyes

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A Ventura County club helps people see stars.

Members of the Ventura County Astronomical Society use their hobby to help professional astronomers advance understanding of the universe.

“Amateurs can really make some meaningful contributions to astronomy,” said Charles Townsend of Oxnard, a retired laser physicist and club member.

Since he joined the club in 1969, Townsend said he and other club members have developed techniques to measure comet and asteroid positions from photographs.

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“It’s interesting to see how the gap is closing between what we can do and what Palomar Observatory can do,” said Tony Hallas, a club member whose photos of distant galaxies have appeared in Newsweek and other magazines.

Several of the 100 club members have published astronomy articles, photographs and a textbook used by an astronomy class at Moorpark College.

But the 30-year-old club is not just for advanced astronomers, members say. It provides beginners with advice on buying telescopes, lends telescopes to members and sponsors lectures. It also hosts public star-watching events and monthly star parties, where members gather on a mountaintop to view planets, star clusters, galaxies and nebulae.

Hallas, a Ventura camera shop owner, said the club opened his eyes to a whole new universe.

“I just got a few squiggly stars on my photo at first,” Hallas said. “Well, that really interested me because I really like a challenge.”

With the help of the club’s members, including engineers who make their own telescopes, Hallas has become one of the premiere amateur astro-photographers in the United States.

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For others, the club took away the excuses that kept them from enjoying the night sky.

“I know when I joined the club, it gave me a reason to get my telescope out instead of staying at home and saying, ‘Oh, it’s too cold,’ ” said club president Rick Williams of Moorpark.

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