September 28, 2019, 8:00AM: Land Sea & Sky Swap Meet and Demo Day
Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society
Founded in 1955, Houston Astronomical Society is an active community of enthusiastic amateur and professional astronomers with over 60 years of history in the Houston area. Through education and outreach, our programs promote science literacy and astronomy awareness. We meet on the first Friday of each month at the Trini Mendenhall Community Center. Membership has a variety of benefits, including access to a secure dark site west of Houston, a telescope loaner program, and much more. Joining is simple; you can sign up online, by mail or in person at a monthly meeting.
October 26, 2019, 3:00PM: HAS Member and Guest Picnic
HAS Picnic
And Club Observing
Oct 4 All Clubs Meeting hosted by HAS at Mendenhall Community Center
Asterisms – Mini Coat Hanger
By: Steve Goldberg (Posted 9/13/2019)
Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.
Constellation: Ursa Minor
Right Ascension: 16h 29m 37.9s
Declination: +80° 16' 19"
Magnitude: 9 to 11
Size: 20’
This month’s asterism is the “Mini Coat Hanger”. The more famous “Coat Hanger” is in Vulpecula, a nice binocular or low power asterism. The “Mini Coat Hanger” is just that, a mini version.
The asterism located just off a line from Zeta ζ Ursa Minor, a corner star in the bowl, and Epsilon ε Ursa Minor, the first bright star in the handle.
In this medium power eyepiece you can definitely see how the “mini” coat hanger resembles the “major” coat hanger.
Doing a Google search for “Mini Coat Hanger”, the first in the list points to our own Guidestar article from May, 2017, written by the Guidestar Editor, Bill Pellerin. The link is: https://www.astronomyhouston.org/newsletters/guidestar/shallow-sky-object-month-mini-coathanger
September 21, 2019, 6:45PM: Novice Lab at the Dark Site
Join us at the Dark Site for a hands-on course for learning to navigate the night sky. Make sure as always to bring your red flashlights and insect repellent, but also be sure to bring a folding chair to sit in, and some paper and pen/pencil. Schedule of activities is as follows:
7:30-8:30 - detailed presentation on general sky mechanics plus a tour of the constellations.
8:30-9:00 - constellation sketching - we will all begin working on the AL's Constellation Hunter program together
October 05, 2019, 8:00PM: Discovery Green Star Party/International Observe the Moon Night
Join Discovery Green and the the Houston Astronomical Society (H.A.S.) for a star party in the heart of Space City. Take a deeper look at space with complimentary telescopes and learn more about space and astronomy.
Where: Discovery Green
October 08, 2019, 7:00PM: Loaner Scope Training
Training on the use of HAS Loaner Telescopes will is scheduled for October 8, 2019 at the Trini Mendenhall Community Center (where the HAS December 1414 Wirt Rd.
Training will start at 7:00 and run to 8:30 PM in a classroom assigned by the TMCC Staff. As you walk in to the Center, look at the room listing board to see which room this will be held in.
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Night Sky Network
