Welcome to the Museum Astronomical Resource Society, also known as the M.A.R.S. astronomy club. M.A.R.S. is sponsored by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), in Tampa, Florida. This site provides club news and astronomical information to our membership and to the public.

There's only one thing the people of M.A.R.S. enjoy more than observing the heavens... that's sharing it with others! Whether you are new to astronomy and curious about how to experience it, or a seasoned veteran looking for an active club to spend observation time. We invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings as our honored guest.

Monthly meetings are currently being held on the 3rd floor of MOSI in the Science Theater, and take place on the 2nd Friday of each month from 7:30PM to 9:00PM. Meetings are free and open to the public.

MARS Meeting Schedule

Next Meeting
Friday, March 9th 7:30PM
Speaker : Richard Scott - Installing a Mirror Locking System on a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope

2012 Meeting Schedule
March 9th, 2012
April 13th, 2012
May 11th, 2012
June 8th, 2012
July 13th, 2012
August 10th, 2012
September 14th, 2012
October 12th, 2012
November 9th, 2012
December 14th, 2012

Current Events

  • MOSI Skywatch - March 11th
  • MOSI Skywatch - April TBD


Recent Presentations

Astronomy League Observing Clubs
Author : TDB
Date : 3/9/2012
Topic : .

MARS News

2/15/2012 - In order to help develop a more interactive community, MARS created a Yahoo Forum group for Astronomy related discussions. We realize that many of you may already be members of existing forums, and we don't expect to replace those. However, we would like to offer a single place for our existing and new members to be able to exchange ideas, meeting locations, and other information exchanges as desired.

Invitations were sent out to all existing MARS members. While there is a existing MARS news group that everyone is already a part, we decided to split the the functions up between the two. The existing forum is intended to be a low volume newsletter and announcement related group. While we have no idea as to what the volume might be in this new forum, the intent is to avoid swamping the existing news and announcements group. We hope you join the new forum and please keep looking up.



The above Clear Sky Chart is a online resource developed by Attilla Danko out of Ottawa Canada. This resource is updated on an almost hourly basis. As with any weather based forecast, take the above with a grain of salt and look out the window before you start your car and head for dark skies.