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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 University of Houston. 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 14, 2018: September Meeting - All Clubs

Novice Meeting: 7:00PM
Novice Meeting Topic: 
None
Novice Meeting Speaker: 
None
General Meeting: 8:00PM
General Meeting Topic: 
All Clubs Meeting
General Meeting Speaker: 
Dr. C. Renee James
About the General Meeting Presentation

The September HAS meeting has been cancelled and the “All Clubs Meeting” will take its place on Septermber 14th. The location for the meeting is the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

See the Astronomy Day web page at http://www.astronomyday.net/

Parking and Directions (View Map)

Meetings are held in the Science & Research building at the University of Houston Main Campus. The novice meeting is in room 116, the general meeting is in room 117.

NOTE NEW PARKING INFORMATION: Parking is available in lot 15C. Refer to the Google Map below for directions. This parking is available from 6:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on the Friday night of the HAS meeting.

This parking is free. If you get a notice from the UH campus police on the night of the meeting, call the UH Security office and let them know that this area has been made available on HAS meeting night by the Parking Department.


Map to Parking

Asterisms – Herman’s Cross

By: Steve Goldberg

Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.

Constellation: Sagittarius
Right Ascension:  20h 00m 00.0s
Declination: -27° 00' 00"
Magnitude: 4
Size: 2 degrees                 
 

This binocular or finder size asterism in Sagittarius looks like its name:  a cross. It is located in Sagittarius, halfway between the Tea Pot and Capricorn.

 

As of this writing, Mars is in the neighborhood.

The asterism is made of the 4 stars: Omega, 59, 62, and 60. The outer circle is a typical finder view.  The small inner circle is a 48x low power eyepiece. So this is definitely a finder object.

This asterism is on the Astronomical League’s Asterism Observing Program. You can read about the naming of Herman’s Cross here.

 

HAS Texas 45 Honor Roll

See your name in lights! Join the following members who have completed the HAS Texas 45 observing 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

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!

Get Connected!

HAS has begun using RainedOut, a text message service, to communicate late-breaking news about events. Click here to learn more and subscribe!

Night Sky Network