If she were an astronomer, she would have read that the moon's journey through the heavens is easily predictable.

But one can't really blame a young lady in 15th century Verona for not knowing when the moon rises and sets, the dates it waxes and wanes, and the exact times it enters and leaves the Earth's shadow during an eclipse.

Balls, banquets and the courtship of men like Romeo would have been first and foremost on her mind.

Not much has changed in 600 years.

Young men still court beautiful women. The moon still rises and sets. And most people still don't have the time to read astronomical charts.

But that shouldn't stop people who live in the South Bay from enjoying the sights that the nighttime skies have to offer, because organizations like the San Jose Astronomical Association are around to help them.

On Oct. 27, members of the association gathered to watch the lunar eclipse. Although member and Willow Glen resident James Linehan was unable to attend, he says the passage of the earth between the moon can create one of the night sky's most spectacular displays.

"Lunar eclipses are the most fun to watch," the Santa Clara University sociology teacher says. "The moon changes color because of the atmosphere."

But participating in the association's activities involves more than staring at the sky with a telescope, Linehan says. In the world of group astronomy, he says, no member is an alien.

"There's a lot of camaraderie," he says. "You are going out at night and chatting, and meeting interesting people."

The San Jose Astronomy Association aims to educate the public about the wonders of the universe, Linehan says. Members go to schools to teach children about astronomy, and the group holds public events to promote astronomy as a hobby.

One of the group's most popular outreach programs is its "star party."

Twice a month—during the quarter and three-quarter moons—members get together at Houge Park, located in San Jose just off the Southern edge of Campbell. There, they set up telescopes and let the public use them to gaze at the stars.

Use of the park for stargazing, however, has its pros and cons, says San Jose Astronomical Association President Mike Koop. But the location serves the purpose for which it was chosen.

"This isn't an ideal place," Koop says. "But it's still good."

Koop says the association gets permission from the city to turn off the lights around the park to make the immediate area as dark as possible. And, he says, it also helps that nearby Saratoga doesn't have streetlights.

"But there's still a little bit of light pollution around here," he adds, gesturing to the Southern skies, slightly aglow with other city lights. "Ideally, we would be above a mountain ridge, but we're here in the park for the public."

Kevin Roberts agrees.

As a person most interested in viewing deep-space objects—like galaxies, nebulae and star clusters—which are much harder to see than the moon or planets, Roberts needs darker skies to see what he's most interested in. When he is out to enjoy his hobby for himself, he goes to places like Henry Coe State Park in Morgan Hill and Fremont Peak in Gilroy.

When he's out for the public, it's Houge Park.

The views aren't as good at the park, he says, but most of the objects he wants to look at can still be seen. And because so many residents live near the park, it gives more people a chance to discover the hobby.

"I often get 15 to 20 children a night looking through my scope," he says. "If only one of them gasps at what they see, it makes the whole night worth it."

Sometimes, the group can have a few hundred people at the park. But on Oct. 22, only about 20 people and four telescopes are there, with each telescope set up on the sidewalk and pointed to the moon.

"This isn't a typical night," says Rob Hawley, a co-director of the club. "Sometimes we literally have hundreds of people from the public here. Especially in the summer, every parking stall here will be filled."

Hawley used a relatively small telescope, which he set up just behind his parked car. He has backed his vehicle into the stall, and he opens the hatchback, where he has a laptop computer inside.

The computer is running a software program that displays a star chart. After a few minutes of studying the chart, he points the telescope away from the moon to another area of the sky.

"That's Andromeda," he says.

The Andromeda galaxy is a collection of billions of stars arranged in a spiral structure. At 2.3 million light years away, the galaxy is the Milky Way's closest neighbor, and it's about twice the size.

It is one of the approximately 100 objects that the 18th-century French astronomer Charles Messier categorized as one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky.

But on this evening, even with the aid of the telescope, it's merely a messy blur.

"As you can see," Hawley says, "there's a thin layer of high clouds tonight."

Clouds also hindered the view of club members on Oct. 27 as they gathered at Houge Park for a star party to observe a full lunar eclipse.

Linehan says choosing an ideal night for observation can be something of a gamble.

"It's hit or miss," he says. "It can be a miserable night or a really clear night. But it can be hard to get a good night, especially in California, because in the valleys, turbulence can obstruct your vision."

But despite the touchy nature of stargazing, Koop says 200 to 300 people have come by for a look during celestial events in years past.

The San Jose Astronomical Association was established in 1954, when a small group of local astronomy enthusiasts decided to do something to promote their hobby.

Club secretary Jim Van Nuland says that with the James Lick Observatory so near, and locally based institutions of higher learning like San José State and Santa Clara universities growing rapidly, people thought that the conditions were ripe to start an amateur astronomy club in the South Bay.

In December of that year, 20 hobbyists from San Jose and surrounding areas got together for the first time.

Van Nuland, who joined the San Jose Astronomical Association in 1972, says that from the very beginning, the idea was to share astronomy with anyone interested in learning more about it. Group members did this by sharing telescopes, offering help and advice on when and how to best view certain objects or celestial events, and holding star parties.

But stargazing at Houge Park isn't the only activity the association engages in.

The group also has mirror-making classes—for telescopes—that it runs out of Houge Park. And it also has guest speakers come to speak in their various areas of expertise.

On Oct. 23, for example, there was a lecture given about the astronomical advances of ancient China. In November, member Don Machholz is scheduled to give a talk on spotting comets—he's spotted 11 of them. And the group is also planning to have various speakers give talks about how the hobby of amateur astronomy has changed during the five decades since the association was founded.

The club has attracted people from all walks of life, Roberts says.

"It's a varied crowd," he says. "We have woodworkers, physicists, engineers, and car mechanics."

It also allows one Willow Glen resident to nurture a budding passion. Linehan says he first became interested in astronomy when he attended "star parties" at Mt. Tamalpais. Looking for a way to continue enjoying his hobby locally, he joined the San Jose Astronomy Association three years ago.

And one of the aspects of "star parties" Linehan particularly likes is that on a clear night, the universe unfolds for even the most novice stargazer.

"If you get a good night when you can see a lot of detail, it's really rewarding," he says.

For more information on the San Jose Astronomical Association, including star parties, classes, and other meeting places, call the club's information hotline at 408.559.1221 or visit the website at www.sjaa.net.

Comet discoverer (and SJAA member) Don Machholz will discuss finding his 10th (C/2004 Q2) at the regular meeting of the San Jose Astronomical Association Saturday Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. at Houge Park, San Jose. Refer to www.sjaa.net for directions.

Staff writer Meghan O'Hare contributed to the story.