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General Meeting Topic
Launching in 2018: TESS and InSight
General Meeting Speaker
Annie Wargetz - NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
Novice Meeting Topic
The Texas Star Party Sky: Spring Constellations and the Summer Milky Way
Novice Meeting Speaker
Debbie Moran

Launching in 2018: TESS and InSight

This year brings some exciting new missions to the family of missions already in progress at NASA. Having launched on April 18, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, joins the family of exoplanet missions seeking to discover planets beyond our solar system. This all-sky surveying space telescope will search for exoplanets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants by monitoring the brightness of more than 200,000 stars. TESS will discover these small planets with bright host stars in order to capture detailed characteristics of the planets and their atmospheres. NASA's InSight lander, which aims to launch on May 5, will head to Mars in order to study the martian interior. Using a seismometer, a heat probe, and a radio science instrument, the lander will seek to understand the interior of the red planet in order to further our understanding of how the rocky planets formed. The seismometer is the first in more than 40 years to be sent to Mars and will seek to capture information on marsquakes from tectonic activity, weather activity, and meteorite impacts on the surface. Bring your excitement and questions for a discussion on these exciting missions!

Annie Wargetz is a life-long space enthusiast who is a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador volunteer. Having grown up watching the Shuttle launches, Annie's passion lies in human spaceflight and the physiological and psychological challenges of living and working in space. Annie previously worked on NASA's Orion spacecraft and OSIRIS-REx missions and recently moved back home to Houston to be with family. She is honored to be speaking at HAS again!

Congrats to our AL Master Observers

If you were at the April Membership Meeting, you know we have a new Master Observer. Congratulations Stephen Jones! As a member of HAS, you are also a member of the Astronomical League. Check out their website to learn how you, too, can earn observing and imaging awards. Congratulations to all our master observers. Who will be next? 

Rene Gedaly, Past President

Master Observers.JPG

By: Steve Goldberg

Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.
 
Constellation: Virgo                       
Right Ascension:  12h 33m 19.0s
Declination:  -00° 38' 42" Magnitude:  11 to 13
Size: 42”

This asterism is located in Virgo. Starting with Spica, locate star Porrima Gamma γ VIRGO. This star is the “anchor point” for the semi-circle of stars in Virgo.

Just above a line from Porrima to Zaniah Eta η VIRGO, Brosch 1 can be located.

Brosch 1 is a square or diamond, depending on how it appears in your eyepiece. The object first appears as 4 stars. But looking closer, one of the stars is a double. See if you can split that double. Another name for this asterism is the Virgo Diamond, which is very descriptive.

Brosch 1 is named for Noah Brosch, an Israeli astronomer still doing research today. Here is Wiki info on Brosch.

Wiki Noah Brosch