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Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society

Fostering the science and art of astronomy through programs that serve our membership and the community. Founded in 1955, Houston Astronomical Society is an active community of enthusiastic amateur and professional astronomers with over 70 years of history in the Houston area. Through education and outreach, our programs promote science literacy and astronomy awareness. We meet via Zoom the first Friday of each month for the General Membership Meeting and the first Thursday of the month for the Novice Meeting. Membership has a variety of benefits, including access to a secure dark site west of Houston, special interest groups that focus on particular areas of astronomy, an active community outreach program, and much more. Joining is simple.

Kleb Woods Outreach Report - 3/9/2024

Big THANKS - to all the volunteers that helped out yesterday. We made a big bang at the Kleb Woods nature center astronomy night yesterday. We doubled (!) our participants from last time in January, over 120 visitor book sign-ins (but that is only the adults). We got a bit of a shock when a scout troop walked up, but we managed to get most of the people a seat (we used the chairs from the lobby and the park offices).

The star party was a blast! It was a great atmosphere in the small Kleb Woods park, between the trees, with a bright clear Orion above us. Clear skies exactly when we needed it. A little bit of luck but also thanks to great preparation by all of you. From dobs to Seestars, livestacking the Horsehead... we brought the universe close up that night. You all blew the lid off. Thank you all for bringing your equipment and managing the crowd! 

Khady Ndao wowing the audience with info about the coming eclipse. Fellow Eclipse Ambassador Dan Roy at right


Special thanks to Dan Roy and Khady Adama Ndao; our guest NASA Eclipse Ambassadors. We held a team presentation on the Eclipse, why you need to go, how it works (explained by a real Astrophysicist, how cool!!!), and how to enjoy it safely with Dan's build projects. It was a great show, full of energy and excitement - we are so happy we survived the smart questions from the kids ;-). The pinhole camera building was an absolute hit, many arrived with cereal boxes and left with a NASA approved solar eclipse viewer - what a blast!
 

Our Kleb Astronomy night is now officially a top visited event for the Kleb Wood park. Our Kleb naturalist is a big fan of our work and we will coordinate with her on the next events to put together, will keep you all posted!

Thank you all again for all the help and support, what an astronomical awesome community!

clear skies!

Matt & Erica

Outreach - John Paul Landing

CANCELLED due to weather

Monthly Outreach - Mar 16, 2024

John Paul Landing Park

24202 West Rd, Cypress, TX 77433

Start time: Sunset to 9PM

Bring your telescope for an enjoyable evening of enlightenment as you show a very interested group of  visitors the wonders of space.  You will have the opportunity to answer individual questions, see the wide eyes of children and hear the exclamations of "Wow!" from young and old as they see the rings of Saturn for the first time or perhaps a close up view of the craters on the Moon.  No experience required and expect to have a lot of fun as you mingle with visitors and fellow HAS members. If you have any questions, please contact Don Adams at this email.

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Outreach - Memorial Park

Outreach Event - Mar 16, 7:00PM to 10:00PM

The HAS is hosting an outreach event at Memorial Park,The Clay Family Eastern Glades. We are looking for volunteers from the HAS to help show the public the night sky. Here is the flyer for the event.

The location is The Clay Family Eastern Glades, Memorial Park, 6502 Memorial Dr, Houston, 77007. We will observe on the North lawn (#3 on the map)  and will have the North pavilion (#4) reserved for us.

If you would like to volunteer to support this event contact Dan Roy at this email. If you do not have a telescope or binoculars, you can still come out and see how outreach events are done. You will be hooked on doing outreach when you hear the "WOWS!" when visitors see the Moon, Jupiter, and especially Saturn for the first time.

Cool pictures of the Sun at Solar Max

Lecture and photos by Alan Friedman

By:  Alan Friedman

avertedimagination.com

The sun is a unique and rewarding subject for the astrophotographer. It can be studied in different wavelengths, imaged from almost any location and can be presented in different ways to portray our star in a unique and compelling light.  The sun is now well along on its journey to maximum activity (predicted 2023-2026) and a Total Solar Eclipse visible from many locations across the United States is only weeks away on April 8, 2024. Now is the perfect time to hone our solar imaging skills for the opportunities to come. This talk will discuss technical and creative considerations in solar imaging with the goal of exercising those solar “muscles” and preparing for the increase in activity that lies just around the corner. 

See the full presentation here.

Novice Meeting March 7, 2024: The Nature of Time

 

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By: Bill Spizzirri

Bill’s presentation will focus on the nature of time itself. He will describe what we think it is, and address such questions as does time flow, can we directly measure?  How does time relate to relativity and everyday life, does it really exist at all and if it doesn't exist, why do we seem to know so much about it?

Speaker Bio: Bill Spizzirri is a retired mainframe computer software engineer who has been studying all types of science including astronomy for over 65 years. His favorite thing to do is to teach astronomy to the public, especially children. Bill has been doing this more or less continuously for over 40 years. He now does it at Houston area schools and community centers. The pay is excellent, in the form of great questions from the students.

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This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To attend, you must register for the meeting. You can do sousing the link below. You will receive an email with the details of the meeting and a link that will allow you to join in.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMof-uqrz0sGdWRHNzElidsKhoAEZQrlyEe

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, March 7th, 2024, at 7:00 pm CT. See you then!