Founded in 1972, the Cornell Astronomical Society (CAS) is a Cornell University undergraduate student organization, and has run public observing nights at the Fuertes Observatory for 50 years.

The club is open to Cornell undergraduate and graduate students, but faculty and staff members also occasionally volunteer at Fuertes Open House Nights and other Astronomy Department outreach events. Club members are given opportunities to learn how to use the historic 12" Irving Porter Church Refractor (finished in 1922) as well as many other telescopes at Fuertes.

During the Cornell academic year, CAS generally holds meetings every Friday night at 7:30 PM at the Fuertes Observatory. Sometimes a lecture will be given instead of a meeting. CAS members then run Open House Night at Fuertes from 8pm to midnight. We operate the telescopes, give tours of the building and instruments, and explain to visitors what they see in the night sky.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the club, feel free to contact the CAS officers ([email protected]), or simply come to one of our meetings (as advertised on our mailing list). No prior experience or intent to major in astronomy (or any STEM field) is required. You can subscribe to our email list to get weekly notifications about CAS events (see bottom of homepage). We are also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

The Faculty advisor for the club is Professor Phil Nicholson.

CAS is funded by the Cornell Student Activities Funding Commission.

Left to right, back to front: Ella Mansfield (President 25-26), Andrew Lewis (Vice President 25-26), Abby Bohl (Newsletter Editor 25-26), Treyton Grahn (Treasurer 25-26, President 26-27), Christopher Brown (Vice President 26-27), Samuel Kim (Newsletter Editor 26-27), Valene McInerney (Treasurer 26-27), Elina Stengle (Outreach Coordinator 25-26, 26-27)

What do CAS members do?

CAS members are responsible for opening the Fuertes Observatory to the public every Friday night, operating the telescopes, and sharing the wonders of the universe with over 4000 visitors per year. Club members also use the telescopes at Fuertes for their own personal use (observing and astrophotography) on non-Friday nights.

Do I need to have experience with telescopes, be familiar with the night sky, or be an astronomy major to join CAS?

No prior experience or intent to major in astronomy is required. We will teach you how to use the telescopes and find stars, planets, deep sky objects, & constellations.

Is there an application or interview process?

Nope. Anyone can join CAS at any time, provided you are a Cornell student (undergraduate or graduate). Just come to our meetings or Open House Nights on Fridays. Feel free to contact the CAS officers or email [email protected] if you have any questions about joining.

Do I have to learn to use the telescopes to be part of the club?

While we do encourage all of our members to learn how to use the Irving Porter Church Refractor and the other telescopes, it is certainly not a requirement. Many members prefer to give tours of the telescopes, museum, slide wall, and/or night sky (with a laser pointer) instead of operating the telescopes.

To what equipment does CAS have access?

• The historic 12" Irving Porter Church Refractor (the observatory's main telescope)
• An Obsession 15" Dobsonian
• A Celestron 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain
• A Meade 90mm Coronado H-alpha solar telescope
• An Orion 10" Dobsonian
• An Orion 8" Newtonian astrograph (for astrophotography or visual observing)
• Two 6" Orion Dobsonians
• An Orion Atlas Pro computerized telescope mount
• A 5" computerized Meade refractor
• Several pairs of astronomy binoculars
• A large selection of high quality telescope eyepieces, solar filters (white light and H-alpha), and several astrophotography cameras for club use