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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.

Main Meeting April 5, 2024: Great Eclipses of History

Great Eclipses of History

A person standing next to a telescope

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By:  Don Selle

In Jackson Hole for the 2017 “Great American Eclipse”

We are only days away from a total solar eclipse which we call “The Great Texas Eclipse” while others up north refer to it as the “Great American Eclipse”. (I like our name better!). But isn’t every total solar eclipse a great eclipse?

Given the fact that there is at least one total eclipse somewhere on the Earth every year, they can’t all be great, especially when compared to some that took place in the past. Some historic eclipses live on to this day in legends and stories. A couple have even changed the course of history or totally revised how we look at the world. One eclipse is certainly the GOAT – Greatest of all Totalities! Tune in to find out which one it is!

Our speaker: Don Selle has experienced the best of totality and the worst of totality giving him a deep understanding of what makes an eclipse truly great (in present times). The upcoming “Great Texas Eclipse” will be his third.

He chased his first eclipse, the “Great Asian Eclipse” of July 22, 2009, all the way to Wuhan China, only be to totally rained out. Not so great! (Who knew where Wuhan was in 2009 anyway!) He did way better chasing the “Great American Eclipse” of August 21, 2017 to Jackson Hole Wyoming. It turned out to be a truly great experience!

So while Don’s eclipse experience is limited (it is more than most people have), this fact has not deterred him from critiquing many of the total eclipses of years gone by. This probably says more about Don than he will say about eclipses in this presentation!

Since 2003, Don has been an avid amateur astronomer, astro-imager and HAS member. Starting out with only a basic knowledge of photography, he has learned the ropes and has become a competent astrophotographer and nightscape imager.

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This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To attend, you must register for the meeting. You can do so using 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/tZAudO-qrz4oH9co3r3NVkygkKKk1ezzUvjf

You only need to register once!

Join us Friday, April 5th, 2024, at 7:00 pm CT.

See you then!

Novice Meeting April 4, 2024: Navigating the Spring Sky

" Navigating The Spring Sky "

A person standing on a mountain

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By: Chris Morisette

April marks the beginning of Galaxy Season.  In “Navigating The Spring Sky” Chris Morisette will present various references and methods to help you find your way around the cosmos.  In particular we’ll see how we can use The Big Dipper as a “sign post”, which will allow us to find and view several beautiful celestial objects, including some very cool galaxies.

Also… an announcement about an upcoming Spring Novice Lab will be presented.

Speaker Bio: Chris Morisette is HAS Novice Chairperson and an active member of the Houston Astronomical Society, North Houston Astronomy Club, and the Fort Bend Astronomy Clubs.  He is also a member of the University of Texas Astronomy Department Board of Visitors.  On clear Saturday nights you may find him volunteering at the George Observatory engaging with visitors and sharing his love of the night sky, or you may find him at the HAS dark site trying his hand at astrophotography.

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This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To attend, you must register for the meeting. You can do so using 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/tZMtdOCuqDMrH9LWIrD0tRlNPRdDizEqNzV0

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, April 4th, 2024, at 7:00 pm CT. See you then!

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 - Memorial Park

Outreach Event - April 20, 7:30PM 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.