December 6		LHAG Christmas Party at Kilaga Springs Members enjoyed a luncheon buffet, a raffle and an astronomy quiz (with prizes).
November 19	TIG	At the November meeting Ron Olson gave a presentation on the features of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters and how to locate them in the winter sky using Astronomy apps on cellphones, tablets and automated features of members' telescopes.  Contact Bob Collins bobpcoll@community.net  (916-253-9890) for more information.
November 16	CIG	DVD Lecture Series      "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 29 - Back to GUT - Matter and Forces Merge Lecture 30 - Puzzling Problems Remain Lecture Discussion and Q & A
November 4	GM	"Infrared Astronomy" by John Combes Celestial objects such as gas and dust clouds, protostars and exoplanets are easily detected using the infrared part of the spectrum. The Earth's atmosphere limits detecting infrared light which requires high altitude and space telescopes to carry out the task. John described how astronomers view objects using the infrared portion of the spectrum.
October 22	TIG	Ron Olson gave a presentation on locating planets, stars and deep sky objects that can be seen from Lincoln by members using their own telescopes.  Contact Bob Collins bobpcoll@community.net  (916-253-9890) for more information.
October 19	CIG	DVD Lecture Series      "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 27 - Physics at Ultrahigh Temperatures Lecture 28 - Back to a Microsecond - The Particle Cascade Lecture Discussion and Q & A
October 13	TIG	Lincoln Hills Observing Night at Rossi Lane Members gathered at Rossi Lane to view the planets, stars and deep sky objects at our Rossi Lane viewing site in Lincoln Hills.
October 7	GM	"The New Horizons Mission to Pluto" by Don Wilson Don described the various elements of the recent New Horizons mission to Pluto and concluded with what is between Pluto and the edge of the Solar system.
September 27		Total Eclipse of the Moon Viewing Party behind OC Lodge Telescopes and binoculars were set up behind Orchard Creek Lodge to view this unique event after sunset. A large number of members and guests viewed this unusual Lunar Eclipse.
September 24	TIG	This month's meeting began with a video from Sky and Telescope entitled "Caring for Your Telescope" followed by hands-on demonstrations.
Sepember 21	CIG	DVD Lecture Series      "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 25 - Light Elements Made in the Big Bang Lecture 26 - Putting It Together - The Concordance Model Lecture Discussion and Q & A
September 2	GM	"Saturn's F Ring: What We Know and How Do We Know It" by Robert French (SETI) The most dynamic of Saturn's fascinating rings, the F Ring, was not seen until Pioneer 11 in 1979. Further observations by Voyager, Cassini and the Hubble Space Telescope have shown the F Ring to be astoundingly dynamic even on an hourly basis. Rob presented how we discovered these interesting facts and what we know about he ring structure, particle size, dynamics, chemical composition, environment, evolution over time, and the causes of rapid change. Many of these facts have just recently been published.
August 27	TIG	The August meeting began with a Sky and Telescope video on "How to use a Telescope" followed by members Al Witten and Ron Yelton demonstrating how to align and use Alt/Az and equatorial telescopes. Contact Bob Collins bobpcoll@community.net (916-253-9890) for more information.
August 17	CIG	DVD Lecture Series      "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 23 - Atom Factories - Stellar Interiors Lecture 24 - Understanding Element Abundances Lecture Discussion and Q & A
August 5		Planetarium Show and Presentation      Professor David Dunn - "Eclipses in My Life" Sierra College Professor David Dunn gave an excellent planetarium show and the presentation "Eclipses in My Life." He described the various types of eclipses, when and where past eclipses occurred and when future eclipses will occur. A Total Lunar Eclipse will occur on Sept. 27 this year. This Lunar eclipse can be viewed at the LHAG Total Eclipse of the Moon Viewing Party behind the Orchard Creek Lodge.
June 25	TIG	The June meeting began with a Sky and Telescope video "How to Buy a Telescope. This was followed by Al Witten showed and described his two telescopes: a Dobsonian and a Schmidt-Maksutov. Contact Bob Collins bobpcoll@community.net  (916-253-9890) for more information.
June 11		Blue Canyon Star Party     A large group of LHAG astronomers enjoyed clear, dark skies and warm weather at our Star Party at Blue Canyon through a variety of telescopes with lens/mirror sizes ranging in sizes from 5.5 inches to 11 inches. Starbucks coffee and cookies provided by Nina Mazzo were enjoyed by all. We saw Venus, Jupiter and three of its moons, Saturn and a couple of its moons, double stars, galaxies, star clusters and nebulae objects.
June 3		Community Forum    "The Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations" by Sierra College Professor Barry Rice In his presentation, Professor Rice entertained the audience by having fun speculating about life in our galaxy. Why isn’t it the case that we’ve detected aliens? (Or have we?) And you’ll learn why you should never again utter the foolish phrase—“I think they’re out there, they just haven’t gotten here yet.” Prof. Rice discussed a comprehensive list of factors including interstellar travel times, reported sightings, cover-up theories, conditions for life, and active search.
May 28	TIG	The initial meeting was very successful, and the group will have its second meeting on June 25. This group will focus on all aspects of owning and using personal telescopes. This will include purchasing a telescope for those who wish toown their own telescope, assistance on how to operate their personal telescope, and learning the basics of finding objects in the night sky to make the viewing experience more enjoyable.
May 18	CIG	DVD Lecture Series "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lectures 18-22 Lecture Discussion and Q & A by Morey Lewis
May 6	GM	"Selling the Sun" by Forrest Lockhart Forrest Lockhart presented the recent history of earth based and robotic solar astronomy and how new technologies have allowed us to bring safe solar observing to the general public. Forrest also described the successful Solar Docent program he initiated at the Cameron Park Rotary Community Observatory with the goal of teaching safe solar astronomy to school children. The LHAG has scheduled a Solar Observing trip to the observatory on Thursday, May 21. RSVP to bob Collins, bobpcoll@community.net, 253-9890
April 20	CIG	DVD Lecture Series "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lectures 13-17 Morey Lewis conducted a review and discussion about the most recent 10 lectures in this series.
April 1	GM	"Hubble Space Telescope - 25th Anniversary" by John Combes John Combes presented an update on the latest discoveries by the Hubble Space Telescope - how this amazing telescope continues to make ground-breaking discoveries even after years of operation and why it is hailed as the one of the most important scientific instruments ever made in man’s history.Lecture Discussion and Q & A by Morey Lewis What's New in Astronomy  -  John Neill presented new information about the composition of asteroids.
March 26		Rossi Lane Observing Night Clear skies and warm weather contributed to an excellent turnout for this Lincoln Hills viewing event. Several telescopes and large binoculars were provided by members for all to view Jupiter, Venus,The Pleiades, other star clusters, galaxies and constellations.
March 16	CIG	DVD Lecture Series "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 21 - Giant Black holes - Construction and Carnage Lecture 22 - The Galaxy Web - A Relic of Primordial Sound Lecture Discussion and Q & A
March 4	GM	"The Kepler Mission: 1000 Exoplanets and Counting" by Edna Devore Edna Devore, Director of Education and Outreach at the SETI Institute, took us on a tour of exoplanet discoveries made by NASA's Kepler Mission. Launched in 2009, the Kepler Mission space telescope has collected the light from almost 200,000 distant stars in search of their planets. As of 2015,more than 1,000 exoplanets have been confirmed out of more than 4,000 candidate planets. We learned about these discoveries, and what they tell us about our home galaxy. What's New in Astronomy - Nina Mazzo presented an update on the Dawn Mission to the dwarf planet Ceres.
March 16	CIG	DVD Lecture Series "Cosmology - The History and Nature of our Universe" by Professor Mark Whittle Lecture 19 - Infant Galaxies Lecture 20 - From Child to Maturity - Galaxy Evolution Lecture Discussion and Q & A
February 4	GM	The Mars and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) The Mars and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) was launched in Nov. 2013 and it had arrived and is orbiting Mars! It will orbit the planet and study the top of its atmosphere and how it interacts with sunlight and with the Solar Wind. The goal is to understand where the water and CO2 from an earlier atmosphere went. In this video, at a public lecture at the American Geophysical Union Fall 2014 meeting, speakers discussed the mission concept, science observations made during the cruise to get there and observations of comet Siding Spring (which made a close approach to Mars in October 2014) as well as early observations of Mars' upper atmosphere. They also went into detail about how the spacecraft was developed and launched and the day-to-day operations as it orbits Mars.
January 19		Chabot Space and Science Center Trip Many Astronomy Group members and other LH residents enjoyed a bus trip to the Chabot Space and Science center. The center has many interesting astronomy exhibits and several different videos shown in the planetarium theater.
January 7	GM	"Roswell Incident" by Don Wilson Don presented the results of his investigation which revealed the truth behind the "Roswell Incident" in New Mexico's high desert.  The overall investigation encountered multiple erroneous interpretations of the observations which was further complicated by the relentless military cover-ups.