“Observing Programs of the Astronomical League”

By: Aaron Clevenson

Astronomical League Observing Program Director and Secretary

The Astronomical League has promoted Observing Programs since 1967.  Aaron Clevenson, an AL Observing Program Director, will give a presentation of where the Observing Program Division has been, where it is today, and where it is going in the future.

Currently there are over 70 Observing Programs offered, covering everything from novice to Expert, Naked-Eye Observing to Telescopes, every imaginable type of astronomical object, and some specialty categories for the adventurous.

At the conclusion of the talk we hope you will decide to tackle one or more of the Observing Programs, you should have the information you need to determine which Observing Programs are for you, and how to approach them.

Speaker:  Aaron Clevenson is very active in the Astronomical League (AL) and is the current Secretary.  He is also an Observing Program Director (since 2006), the assistant webmaster, and the editor of the current AL Observing Manuals.  He is the recipient of the League’s C. R. Wright Award (2014) and the Astronomical League Award (2022).  He was the author of many of the AL’s Observing Programs including:  Constellation Hunter, Galileo, AL Observing Challenges, NASA Observing Challenges, and the Master Observer Progression.

Clevenson has earned many of the AL’s Observing Programs and is one of the AL’s Master Observer Triple-Crown awardees.  He is a retired astronomy professor from Lone Star College – Montgomery, TX, having taught introductory astronomy for 18 years.  He is the author of the monthly What’s Up Doc? Newsletter and an electronic introductory textbook, Astronomy for Mere Mortals, both of which are available at no cost on the AL website.

Clevenson is a member of the North Houston Astronomy Club (TX) and is the Director of the Insperity Observatory in Humble ISD.

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, July 11th, 2025, at 7:00 pm CT.

See you then!

" 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.

In addition, a short supplement entitled “The Vera Rubin Observatory” will be presented.  We’ve all seen some of the beautiful images from this new telescope, here we’ll explore a bit about the mission of the observatory and the background of its namesake.

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 Astronomy Department Board of Visitors.  On clear Saturday nights you may find him volunteering at the George Observatory engaging with visitors and sharing his love of the night sky, or you may find him at the HAS Dark Site trying his hand at astrophotography.

This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To attend, you must register for the meeting. You can use 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, July 10th, 2025, at 7:00 pm CT. See you then!

Our esteemed treasurer, Bonnie Neuren, has offered to resign in order to focus more on family and other issues she is presently dealing with.  Her years of service to the club are greatly appreciated 

HAS member Marc Chouinard has offered to fill the role of Treasurer, pending an election by the Membership.  Marc has been active in the club for several years and has been helping out with observatory training, and has a background in finance.  I believe he is more than qualified to perform these duties. Our bylaws require at least 15 days notice of said election, so we will conduct the election to fill this vacancy for the remainder of this term at our July 11 General meeting.  We will also take nominations from the floor.  This post will serve as formal notification to the Membership.

Stephen Jones

President – Houston Astronomical Society

This Is the First U.S. County to Be Fully Dark Sky Certified.

Teton County in Wyoming just became the first county in the world to be certified as an International Dark Sky Community.

To see the article click here.

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