Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society

Greetings HAS members. It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of longtime HAS member Fred Garcia.  Fred has been a member of HAS since its earliest days in the 1950s. As a student of the University of Houston, Fred helped organize the amateur telescope making section of the HAAC (as HAS was then known). He also was instrumental in HAS’ incorporation as a non-profit corporation in 1978. He was also an original member of the Telescope Committee that constructed the 12.5” f/5 Newtonian reflector that was mounted in the HAS Observatory for several decades. He was also on the committee that worked on selecting a proper site for the HAS observatory, an effort that resulted in the Dark Site we still use today.  Fred continued to participate actively in HAS functions throughout his later years. Just recently he attended a VSIG meeting of mine and regaled us with tales of his observations. Fred always could tell a good story. Fred will be deeply missed in the HAS community. Fred’s wife has asked that in lieu of flowers or gifts that you instead make a donation to HAS. 

-Stephen Jones
 President

Wow! Things are hopping at the Dark Site and we are too happy to share the skies with students and the community.

“Kepler’s Laws”

By: Dan Roy

If you want to understand how anything orbits something else, you’ve got to know Kepler’s laws. After a short historical context Dan will describe how the impressive empirical work of Johanes Kepler built on the no less impressive work of Tycho Brahe to produce three laws that are still used today to compute the orbits of celestial bodies including that of our spacecrafts. Using the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, Dan will illustrate the elegant simplicity of Kepler’s laws. Only simple algebra is used and the logarithmic scale so often used in astronomy is gently introduced. A short bibliography is provided at the end for the nerds like Dan who love calculus.

To see the video, click Kepler's Laws.

“The ‘New Astrophotography’ and HAS”

By: Matt Boerlage & Erica Coenen

Astrophotography has changed dramatically over the past few years, and HAS members are responding! Innovations like phone app controls, harmonic drives, CMOS sensors, open-source processing software, and free YouTube guides have created a fresh energy—perhaps even a new era—in amateur astronomy. This exciting shift is drawing in a wave of new amateur astronomers, complementing traditional stargazing with creative and technical exploration, blending artistic passion with scientific curiosity.

Matt and Erica will share the story of how the AP SIG began at HAS and the growing community of astrophotographers it has inspired. Novice-friendly monthly webinars, in-person events, file-sharing opportunities, and exciting new areas to explore are all part of this movement.

You’re warmly invited to join this vibrant new chapter in amateur astronomy—you won’t want to miss it!

Speakers: Matt and Erica moved from The Netherlands to Houston about 10 years ago. Both hold PhDs in Mechanical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology and work in the Houston energy industry.

Their passion for astrophotography ignited two years ago, leading them to join the Houston Astronomical Society. They organize the astronomy outreach nights at the Kleb Woods Nature Preserve (Please join us Saturday, December 7th 5:30PM, either as participant or volunteer).

Matt and Erica’s interests include astrophotography and scientific imaging, with a focus on spectroscopy. Recently, Matt became a member of the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers). A year ago, Matt & Erica began hosting the monthly Astrophotography Special Interest Group webinars, every fourth Wednesday of the month.

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To see the video, click The ‘New Astrophotography’ and HAS.

All the fall objects are looking pretty good this month. Especially at the picnic & star party. Find details about both the visual and the astrophotography HAS Texas 45 observing programs under the Programs menu. Or here: https://www.astronomyhouston.org/programs. 

The Birth of Stars: Unraveling a Cosmic Conundrum

By: Peggy Mueller

It is now well accepted that stars form from clouds of gas and dust that collapse under their own gravity. However, if the angular momentum of the collapsing cloud was not removed during its formation, the young star would spin up so much that it would ultimately tear itself apart. Nevertheless, there are young stars rotating at a fraction of their break-up speed. How can we explain this conundrum? After an overview of the early stages of stellar evolution, this talk will focus on how we tested one of the explanations for this puzzling observation and what we learned.

Speaker Bio: Peggie Mueller has been a member of the Houston Astronomical Society since 2021. Her interest in astronomy deepened in 2016 after taking Modern Astronomy as part of the Master of Liberal Arts program at Rice University. Under the mentorship of Prof. Chris Johns-Krull, Peggie developed her capstone project which led to a published paper, Tests of Disk-Locking in T Tauri Stars of the ONC, in the March 2024 Astrophysical Journal. Tonight’s talk draws from their research, offering insights from her project and ongoing engagement in astronomy.

To see the video, click The Birth of Stars: Unraveling a Cosmic Conundrum.