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Physics and Astronomy Club

The club meets most Wednesdays from 7-8 in Tech Ed. 305.

Anyone interested in Physics/Astronomy, and/or interested in learning more is welcome to join. To join, students can contact our secretary Kyle at w1457990@apps.losrios.edu to find out when our next meeting will be.

We are putting together a spectropolarimeter for x- and gamma- rays in the stratosphere, to be launched on a high altitude balloon as part of the European Space Agency’s BEXUS (Balloon EXperiment for University Students).

We are collaborating with students from the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the National Institute of Astrophysics of Italy (INAF).

We're also building a cosmic ray sparking chamber detector, for demonstration and educational purposes.

"Many club members are taking Astronomy 481: Honors Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology. For interested students, enrolling in this course might be a good way to gain some background knowledge and get involved in our projects (but isn't a requirement)."

Featured Projects and Achievements

HASP Project

Spectropolarimeter Experiment

student payloads to an altitude of about 36 kilometers with flight durations of 15 to 20 hours using a small volume, zero pressure balloon. It is anticipated that the payloads carried by HASP will be designed and built by students and will be used to flight-test compact satellites or prototypes and to fly other small experiments.

Explore This Topic

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ARC team worked at NASA facility for ‘near space’ project

Space may be the final frontier, but American River College has gotten closer than most. On Sept. 4, a team from ARC’s Astronomy and Physics Club launched a payload into “near space” from in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico as part of the High Altitude Student Program (HASP).

Club Featured Photos

Weather Balloon The stratospheric balloon used to launch the HASP payload from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in September 2018.

Printer card circuit board The printed circuit board (PCB) used in our spectropolarimeter, custom printed by members of the Physics and Astronomy Club, fabrication courtesy of Bay Area Circuits.

soldering wires Club members completing some soldering during the Thermal and Vacuum Chamber tests (TVAC) at the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas, July 2018.