When you can hold out your thumb and block three bright objects in the sky at once, you know it’s a special night for stargazers. That’s exactly what happened in our night skies to officially kick off the Astro Club "season". Kenton Dyck of the Pembina Valley Astronomy Club shared that Jupiter, Venus and the moon were huddled close together in the eastern sky.
“So, multiple planets do this throughout the year just simply because the plane of the ecliptic, which is the disc that all of the planets rotate on, some of them are moving at different speeds. Inevitably, you will get them lining up,” he said.
Fall stargazing season begins
August 15th marked the launch of the club’s Fall 2025 tour, with the first event taking place at Alexander Ridge Park in Miami.
“Fantastic location.", says Dyck, "...It is located up on a hill. There's virtually no light pollution there."
Dyck explained the start times shift with the season, with Miami's meet-up starting at 9:30 PM. However, by the time October arrives, the meeting time is a bit earlier, for example 8 PM in Altona on October 3rd.
“That's when it actually starts getting dark. So later on in the year we can start having events as early as 8 o’clock. Even in the course of the week, it does add up, because every day it gets dark about two minutes earlier.” Shares Dyck.
Expanding across Manitoba
This year, the Astro Club is traveling further than ever before.
“We are going as far west as Clearwater and as far east as Steinbach this year,” Dyck shared. “I think it did the math, it’s something like 11,000 square kilometers… so yeah, we are greatly expanding this year.”
Thanks to sponsorships from local businesses, Dyck was able to outfit the club with new telescopes and cover travel costs.
“With that sponsorship we were able to purchase that new Dobsonian telescope… and the leftover funds will cover all of the travel expenses for the Astro Club for this fall season,” Dyck said. “So if we show up at your town, you have them to thank for it.”
A special focus on Winkler and Morden
This season will also see paired events in Winkler and Morden, with partnerships involving local restaurants and gathering spaces.
“For our full moon events in Winkler this year, we will be having them at Charley B’s,” Dyck noted. “And in Morden for our full moon events, we will be having them at the Jurassic Clubhouse up by the beach.”
He added that dark sky events will be held at Dead Horse Cider Co. in Winkler and at Conner Hill Park in Morden.
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Pulling an all-nighter
While there are no massive celestial events on the calendar, Dyck is particularly excited about Saturn’s rings, which are becoming more visible again after a recent tilt made them hard to see.
“From now pretty much till the end of the year, all of the planets come out,” Dyck said. “We try and stay up all night for the Harvest Moon Festival. We go from around 9 in the evening to 5 AM… and this year we should be able to see five maybe six planets in one night if you stay up.”
For a full schedule of events, visit @astroclubpv on social media