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Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society

Founded in 1955, Houston Astronomical Society is an active community of enthusiastic amateur and professional astronomers with over 60 years of history in the Houston area. Through education and outreach, our programs promote science literacy and astronomy awareness. We meet on the first Friday of each month at the Trini Mendenhall Community Center. Membership has a variety of benefits, including access to a secure dark site west of Houston, a telescope loaner program, and much more. Joining is simple; you can sign up online, by mail or in person at a monthly meeting.

September 06, 2019, 6:30PM: Sept HAS Monthly Meeting

 

Meeting Location: Trini Mendenhall Community Center

Meeting room open at 6:00pm. Come join us for some social time before the Novice Meeting at 6:30pm. Light refreshments will be served.

General Meeting: 7:15 PM
HAS Master Observers Panel Discussion

The Astronomical League Master Observer award is a goal that many amateur astronomers hope to acheive. It is the culmination of an individual’s dedicated effort to learn astronomy and know the night sky, hands on at the telescope.

HAS is priviledged to have seven current members who have acheived this prestigeous award. Several of them will share with you their experiences and the challenges they faced in order to receive this honor.

 

 

Make a difference. Join us Sep 7 or Sep 10

At Discovery Green, we routinely get hundreds of visitors who come out just to look through our telescopes. At other events, we might only have 40-50. In either case, the kid who looks through your telescope might end up being the next Edwin Hubble, Carl Sagan, or Clyde Tombaugh. All it take is a spark; and I like to think that, if nothing else, we're doing our small part to provide that. That's why outreach is one of the most important functions we have as a society.  I implore you, if you've never done one of these outreach events before, join us for one in the near future. 

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First, it's a great opportunity to meet other members of the club and get to know others who share the same passion you do about astronomy. Second, you'll learn a lot from those people. And lastly, you get to interact with people from all walks of life who just want to learn, and chances are, you'll be able to help them with that.

Out next event at Discovery Green is Saturday, September 7, and then we have another star party at the Westbury Community Garden on September 10. Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon will all still be visible then, so there will be no shortage of things to look at. If you're interested in joining us for either, please email me at [email protected] to let me know.  Bring a telescope or just bring yourself and help out however you're comfortable!

Joe Khalaf
Vice President and Education & Outreach Co-Chair
Houston Astronomical Society

Congrats to newest observatory trainee

Congratulations Kay McCallum! Kay took observatory training back in March during one of our pop-up mid-week sessions. She was the only student so had to run the gauntlet of opening and closing and bending and lifting everything. But it was all worthwhile as you can see by Kay’s smiling face. 

Save the Date! The next class is Saturday September 21. Interested? Check the requirements here: Observatory Training Prerequisites. Questions about training? Contact Rene Gedaly at [email protected]. 

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Asterisms – Little Orion

By: Steve Goldberg  (Posted 8/6/2019)

Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.
 
Constellation: Cygnus
Right Ascension: 20h 56m 00.0s
Declination: + 43° 34' 00"
Magnitude: 6 to 9
Size: about 1 degree      
 
 
 
This asterism is composed of 7 stars that form a “little” constellation Orion. It is located near the star Deneb in Cygnus. Deneb is the “tail” of Cygnus the Swan.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This asterism is located next to the North American Nebula and near star 57 Cygnus.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this view with a 10” scope and 32mm eyepiece, you can see the 3 “belt stars” with 2 bright stars on either side representing Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel and Saiph.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The “Little Orion” is located on the edge of North American Nebula, NGC 7000, with “Betelgeuse” touching Florida. The “belt stars” point to the Gulf of Mexico. In really dark skies, the North American can be seen with the naked eye, and easily in binoculars. Make an attempt to see NGC 7000.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

HAS Texas 45 Honor Roll

See your name in lights! Join the following members who have completed the HAS Texas 45 observing or imaging program. Congratulations!

  • Steve Fast, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #1
  • Rob Torrey, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #2
  • Rene Gedaly, program author, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #3
  • Chris Thiede, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #4
  • Amelia Goldberg, silver level award, 45 objects via star hopping, certificate #5
  • Craig Lamison, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #6 (silver), #10
  • Clayton Jeter, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #7
  • Brian Cudnik, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #8
  • Steve Goldberg, silver level award, 45 objects via star hopping, certificate #9
  • Craig Lamison, gold level award, certificate #10. Also certificate #6 for the silver.
  • Mike Edstrom, bronze level award, 40 seasonal objects plus 5 solar system objects with a OSC camera, certificate #1

For more information about the HAS Texas 45 observing program, check out the Programs section of this website.

HAS Online Store

HAS Store is now online! Visit our store to order HAS shirts and other goodies!

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Night Sky Network