Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society

" Your Very Own Planetarium "

By: Chris Morisette

Planetarium applications are widely used by astronomers, educators, and enthusiasts to explore the universe, plan stargazing sessions, and visualize celestial events.  In this month’s Novice Meeting Chris Morisette will present a brief overview of the functionality of planetarium apps, then dive into a demonstration of Stellarium where parameters such as time, location, and Bortle rating will be adjusted in order to get a dynamic view of the night sky.

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 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.

Register here.

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, May 1st, 2025, at 7:00 pm CT. See you then!

“HAS Dark Site Development

1979 to Present”

By: Steve Goldberg

One of the best assets an astronomy club can own is their own private, dark sky observing location. The HAS is fortunate enough to have an 18-acre dark sky site away from the Houston light pollution dome. Steve Goldberg will discuss the development of the HAS Dark Site from the mid-1970s through today.

Steve along with other notable HAS members were key players in the site’s development, from the initial land clearing and first working building through its present configuration. The site has grown from humble beginnings to a true astronomy village for HAS members to use and support.

Speaker: Steve Goldberg has long been interested in astronomy since “discovering” Saturn with his own telescope many years ago. He is past president of the Pontchartrain Astronomy Society in New Orleans and the Houston Astronomical Society. He observes with a 15” Obsession Classic telescope. Steve has organized several local astronomical events and solar eclipse trips over the years, including Astronomy Day starting in 1980.

Steve and wife Amelia are still very active, supporting various astronomy outreach events in the Greater Houston Area, and Steve is an active promoter of responsible night lighting for Houston. Both Steve and Amelia have a big spot in their hearts for the HAS Dark Site and over the years have been a big part of its development and operation.

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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.

Register here.

You only need to register once!

Join us Friday, May 2nd, 2025, at 7:00 pm CT.

See you then!

The H.A.S. Library Telescope Loaner Program is restarted!   Members in good standing for at least 2 months may borrow any available scope for 30 days (with optional loan renewal for a total of 60 days).  The loaner program telescopes come with Nightwatch by Dickinson, an excellent resource for novice observers.   Also check out “Whatsouttonight.com” for a monthly free all sky map.   In addition, scopes (except SeeStar) come with two eyepieces, and finally an optical finder and/or a Telrad or similar unit power finder.  Send an email with your name and phone number to [email protected] to initiate a loan.

 The following telescopes are available to borrow via the Telescope Loaner Program:  

• #10 Orion SkyQuest XT8 8” f/6 dob (NEW) 
• #12 Zhumell 10” f/5 focal ratio dob on a custom wood base.
• #21 Zhumell 8” f/5.9 focal ratio dob
• #35 Orion Astroview 6” f/5 newtonian on an EQ mount adjusted to alt-az. 
• #40 Seestar (details to follow) 

More 8” and 10” dobs to be available soon as well as a solar scope. AND Now we have Vortex Diamondback HD 8x42 Binoculars available to borrow.

Jim Haley
Telescope Chairperson

The Target of the Month (April 2025) - The famous Antenna Galaxy. The next AP SIG zoom call on Wednesday April 23rd (7:30pm) - for the link, look for the next HAS SIG meetings email.

Saturday, we had a blast at the Kleb Woods Nature Reserve Astronomy Night – and thanks to the volunteers who helped on short notice, it turned into a superb star party!

This HAS outreach event started with a talk by Erica and Matt on how you measure distances in the universe – a response to a question from one of the young participants at the previous event. We explained the cosmic distance ladder, covering Radar, Parallax, Cepheids, Supernovae, and Redshift. Bats, firetrucks, and thumbs came in handy to walk the kids through how these things work. We measured out cosmic distances by putting the printed numbers on the floor, and there was a lot of excitement when we reached 13.7 billion light-years. Our now-famous Q&A session was just as exciting, as our participants demonstrated unbounded curiosity.

Equipped with star charts, we moved on to the outside star party. Kleb Wood Park is secluded among trees, with a dark enough sky to clearly see the constellations. Thanks to Mark, Ron, Bob, and the loaner telescope Jim arranged for us – we were well-equipped. A 25-inch Obsession with a night vision eyepiece, a 12-inch Dob with a Pi-finder, and the 8-inch Orion equipped with Bob’s eyepiece spectrograph. We showed nebulae, planets, moons, star clusters, and Sirius’ Balmer lines.

It was wonderful to share our excitement about the universe, as both our young and more experienced participants were equally captivated. Kleb Woods Nature Reserve events are quite special; we only have four events per year, and the park is open by exception for Astronomy Night. We now enter our summer (and mosquito) break, but we will return in September. Thank you to our telescope volunteers in particular – the equipment, skill, and excitement you brought to the event turned this into a cosmic spectacle!

Matt & Erica