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.

Congratulations to Stephen Jones and Frank Mace who are the latest awardees of the Houston Astronomical Society's Texas 45 observing program. They join the honor roll of esteemed club members who have completed the program at our dark site observatory. Award certificates are suitable for framing and awardees wear their pin with pride.

To join this club within a club, check out Programs on this website. Or contact Rene Gedaly at [email protected] for the visual program and Chris Ober at [email protected] for the astrophotography program.

HAS Texas 45 Honor Roll

Frank Mace, silver level award, 45 objects via star hopping, certificate #16
Stephen Jones, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #15
Steven Powell, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #14
Carlos Arieu, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #13
Ron Birkhoff, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #12
Kailash Mirpuri, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #11
Mike Edstrom, Texas 45-AP award, 40 seasonal objects plus 5 solar system objects with an OSC camera, certificate #1
Craig Lamison, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #10
Steve Goldberg, silver level award, 45 objects via star hopping, certificate #9
Brian Cudnik, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #8
Clayton Jeter, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #7
Craig Lamison, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #6
Amelia Goldberg, silver level award, 45 objects via star hopping, certificate #5
Chris Thiede, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #4
Rene Gedaly, HAS Texas 45 author, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #3
Rob Torrey, silver level award, 65 objects, certificate #2
Steve Fast, gold level award, 65 objects via star hopping, certificate #1

To learn how to approach any observing list, view The HAS Texas 45: From Stargazer to Visual Observer on the HAS YouTube channel.

HAS members really enjoyed the “Loving Smart Telescopes” panel discussion featured at our July General Meeting—and the pizza at the in-person gathering was a nice bonus!

But we needed to leave the meeting hall promptly at 8:00 p.m., so Craig’s presentation unfortunately got compressed to an elevator pitch. By popular demand, he graciously agreed to record it again so everyone could enjoy the discussion.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/cYhfQMSkobQ

AP SIG TOTM is out! SH2-119: The Astrophotography Special Interest Group new Target of the Month! Sh2-119. Overlooked, but rewarding!

"Loving Smart Telescopes”

A Panel Discussion

In 2018 the French company Vaonis released the world’s first fully automated imaging telescope the Stellina. Since then, many new Smart Telescope brands and models have entered the market, each with different optics, cameras and operating systems.

As diverse as Smart Telescopes have become, they have a very basic commonality. They are extremely easy to use.

Set them up, turn them on, connect them to your phone or tablet. Pick a celestial object from those the Smart Telescope suggests. On its own it will find your target, take an astrophoto of it, and display the results on your device. On the way it may even tell you all about your target!

Because they are so easy to use, Smart Telescopes have become wildly popular. So popular that some astronomy pundits have predicted that they will soon become the way most people do astronomy!

This panel discussion features five HAS Members who are smart telescope owners, users and members of the HAS Smart Telescope SIG. In addition, our presenters also own several different brands and models of Smart Telescopes currently on the market.

Each of our presenters will share their insights and experiences in using smart telescopes and answer your questions. If you are curious about smart scopes, or maybe considering taking the plunge yourself, this program is for you!

Our Presenters:

Stephen Jones Craig Lamison

Jullian Hallai Mike Nelson

To see the video, click Loving Smart Telescopes.

“Gems of the Summer Sky”

By Chris Morisette

Summer offers a wide array of fascinating objects for viewing. In “Gems of the Summer Sky” Chris Morisette shows how we can continue to use The Big Dipper, as well as adding “The Keystone”, “The Summer Triangle”, and “The Teapot” to our repertoire of navigation signposts to help us find and observe some wonderful star clusters and nebulae.

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 Club. He is also a member of The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Department of Astronomy Board of Visitors.

To see the video, click Gems of the Summer Sky.

Please Note – Summer Schedule 6:00 to 8:00pm

"Collecting the Cosmos: Astronomical Highlights from the Harry Ransom Center”

By: Benjamin Gross, PhD

The Harry Ransom Center is an internationally renowned humanities research center at The University of Texas at Austin. It is home to the world’s oldest photograph, a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and the personal papers of Gabriel García Márquez, Gloria Swanson, and Lorne Michaels. While best known for its literary and artistic collections, the Center has also been acquiring rare scientific books and manuscripts since the 1960s. This presentation will provide an overview of the Center’s collections and showcases some of its remarkable astronomical holdings, including early lunar maps, handwritten notes and drawings created by the Herschel family, and memorabilia from the launch of Apollo 11.

Speaker Bio: Benjamin Gross is Head of Fellowships and Scholarly Programs at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. Before moving to Austin, he served as Vice President for Research and Scholarship at the Linda Hall Library, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Science History Institute, and consulting curator of the Sarnoff Collection at the College of New Jersey. He earned a PhD in the history of science at Princeton University, and his book, The TVs of Tomorrow: How RCA’s Flat-Screen Dreams Led to the First LCDs, was published in 2018 by the University of Chicago Press.

To see the video, click Collecting the Cosmos: Astronomical Highlights from the Harry Ransom Center