General Meetings
ASKC General Meetings are usually held at the UMKC Volker Campus in Royall Hall, Room 111, on the fourth Saturday of each month — except:
- September: Members-only picnic (no regular meeting)
- November: Saturday prior to Thanksgiving
- December: Annual holiday party (no regular meeting)
The night begins with 30-Minute Astronomy (a short program on an introductory topic), followed by a meet and greet with light refreshments. ASKC's library will be open for browsing and material checkout. The meeting format typically includes welcome and introductions, guest speaker presentation, Q&A, and then general announcements and business items.
Meetings are free and open to the public.
This Month's Program
Join us for the May 23, 2026, General Meeting when our featured speaker will be Astronomical Society of Kansas City member Bill Wren. He is retired from Special Assistant to the Superintendent, University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory. Bill is a veteran supernova searcher, helped to design, build, and operate a number of unique telescopes, and led the effort to protect McDonald Observatory’s dark night skies. Retiring after 32 years at McDonald, he and his wife now live in Kansas City and are active members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City.
His presentation for May 23, 2026, is “Black Holes: A Logical Outcome of Stellar Evolution.” He will explain that black holes are physical objects in space. They are the end state of the most massive stars. The nature of matter inside a black hole is a mystery, and while it’s fun to stretch your mind in conceiving of the curvature of space around it… Well, it’s fun. The simplest way to conceive of a black hole is as a physical object in space so massive that not even light travels fast enough to achieve escape velocity. Think Newton’s Cannon.
Wren
Schedule
Saturday, May 23, 2026
- 6:00 PM: Thirty-Minute Astronomy
- 6:30 PM: Refreshments / Meet-and-greet
- 7:00 PM: General Meeting and Speaker
- 8:15 PM: Warko Observatory open (subject to weather)
Location
Royall Hall, UMKC, 800 East 52nd Street, Kansas City, Missouri
Free parking is available in the garage south of 52nd Street.
Enter Royall Hall via the east doors under the pedestrian bridge.
Virtual option: ASKC members will receive an invitation to participate via Zoom.
Upcoming Meetings
The next General Meetings will be June 27 and July 25, 2026, at UMKC.
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