About us
"Starry Evergreen" consists of stargazers belonging to the San Jose Evergreen Community College District, in addition to several local residents near the Evergreen Valley College campus. Montgomery Hill Observatory is located at Evergreen Valley College, San Jose. We offer free Astronomy talks, stargazing nights, Astronomy workshops and field trips to the public each month.
Our participant members consist of several children and parents, EVC and SJCC professors and staff, astronomy amateurs, astro-photographers, students, all sharing their passion for the skies. The listed activities are weather dependent. To be a member of this group you must be 18 or older.
Upcoming events
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Free Public Stargazing at the Montgomery Hill Observatory
Montgomery Hill Observatory, Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, CA, USFree Public Stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory.
This activity is weather-dependent. Please dress for cool to chilly weather.
Enjoy a free public stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory from 7:30 to 10:30 pm. View the skies at our observatory with several telescopes set out for the public. Perfect for kids to learn how to use telescopes! We will be projecting images collected from our main telescope as well as from our Enhanced Vision telescope.
Red Giants vs. Blue Giants: Can we spot the difference?
Red giant stars and blue giant stars are quite different in terms of properties. Red giant stars are older, cooler (relatively!), and less massive (Though larger in diameter!). They get their name because the lights that red giants emit are reddish, while the blue giants emit more blueish light.
If we were near these stars, we would see them very differently; Blue giants would be large blue balls in the sky, red giants would be larger red balls in the sky (for reference, our sun is quite smaller and emits more yellow light). In the night sky, we can see red and blue giants, but they are very far away! From that far away, can you spot the difference? Join us this March 13th to give it a shot for yourself!
Blue Giants: Orion’s Belt. Orion’s Belt is composed of 3 blue giants: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka as seen from east to west. All three of these stars have Arabic names that reference the concept of a belt with Alnitak meaning “the girdle”, Alnilam referencing “the Perls of the belt”, and Mintaka meaning “the belt” itself. Throughout time, these three stars have inspired people to think about the belt belonging to some figure in the sky. For the Arab world, it wasn’t Orion the hunter whom they saw in the sky, but rather Al-Jawza, a female figure in the sky. And it was Al-Jawza who wore this belt night after night.
Red Giants: Betelgeuse and Aldebaran. These two red giant stars stand out: Betelgeuse is Al-Jawza’s (or Orion’s) shoulder, and Aldebaran is “the eye of the bull” in the constellation of Taurus. The concept of Aldebaran being an eye or being “watchful” goes beyond its location within the Taurus constellation. In Ancient times, for the Persian world, this star was referred to as the “watcher from the east” since back in those times this star used to rise near the spring equinox. Today, due to Earth’s precession, that is no longer the case, but the inspiration that shaped these stories continues through our times.
Many stories have been inspired by these celestial objects over centuries, and as we study the night sky, we continue to get inspired today. I hope you can join us so we can get inspired together as a community and investigate the beauty of the night sky.
Parking: Free Parking after 7:00 PM in parking lot #9A for this event.
EVC map: https://www.evc.edu/sites/default/files/2022-03/evc_campus_map.pdf
For questions, contact Carlos Morante at carlos.morantemelendez@evc.edu15 attendees
Past events
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