Welcome to Houston Astronomical Society

Dear Astronomers!

HAS member, Ken Kattner, recently collected data from his observatory in Chile and has volunteered to lead a tutorial via Zoom on processing the data in PixInsight. You are kindly invited to join!

When : Thursday June 19th 7-9pm CST

Program:
- This is a guided "process-along", we will all start from the raw files and process simultaneously.
- if you just want to watch and follow along, that's OK, too.

If you are a member of the Houston Astronomical Society watch for further information on the HAS Email list.

Matt, Heather, Kenric

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These members are saying or imaging...

• 5/24/2025
  • Craig Lamison - Had the Seestar beavering away, even during twilight, and it captured this picture of the Sombrero. The sky conditions were not the best.
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• 5/21/2025
  • Stephen Jones - Smart Telescope SIG object for the month: NGC 5128 - the Centaurus A galaxy... find yourself a nice southern horizon for this one.
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• 5/21/2025
  • Mike Nelson - NGC 3718 in Ursa Major from last night, no extra processing other than native to the scopes. Unistellar eVScope 2 (87 minutes), Dwarf 3 (97 minutes), Vespera 1 (60 minutes). In this comparison, the Dwarf looks pretty good to me, as does the Unistellar as usual.

    NGC 3718, 52 mly away, exhibits a warped, S-shape, possibly a result of gravitational interaction with NGC 3729 (150,000 ly away from NGC 3718) which is also clearly visible. The Hickson Compact Group 56, UGC 6527, can be seen south of one of NGC 3718's spiral arms, and is 8x further away (~400 mly).

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• 5/21/2025

  • Ward Booth - Some of my Celestron Origin images from TSP. Haven't done any processing or cropping on most of them yet.

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• 6/8/2025

  • Andres SalaverriaCat’s Eye galaxy. I am surprised that I got any details at all! Under 90 mins and in the middle of a horrible night last night - LP, clouds rolling in, moon, etc. C8 edge at f/10 l-pro filter. Let's see if I can add more subs, but the prospects are not great .

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• 6/7/2025

  • Mike Hooper and Kenric Kattner - NGC3572 Southern Tadpoles. Data by Kenric Kattner from Obstech Chile with CDK20 and Moravian C5 Pro. LRGB total of 31 hours. Processing in Pixinsight by me. BlurX, gradient correction, SPCC, NoiseX, StarX, GHS for nebula, Arcsinh for stars, curves with mask, CreateHDR, Dark Structure Enhance and Dynamic Crop. I wasn't going to crop but a star in the bottom left made me do it.

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• 6/6/2025

  • Gary Ray - IC 443, the Jellyfish Nebula. Shot this last March, but just got around to processing it. Is a supernova remnant 5000 light years away in Gemini. Imaged from my backyard in Sugar Land with an Askar FRA400 with an ASI2600MC Pro and an Optolong L-Ultimate filter. 40 x 360s subs (4 hrs integration). Flats, darks and bias frames applied.

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The June 2025 target of the month for the Astrophotography Special Interest Group (AP SIG) is the Triffid Nebula (M20), located in the constellation Sagittarius. This striking object features a blue reflection nebula alongside vivid emission from Hydrogen-alpha, Hydrogen-beta, and Sulfur II, all interwoven with dramatic lanes of dark nebulosity. It's a rewarding subject for both one-shot color (OSC) and narrowband imaging—bright enough to yield quick results, yet complex enough to challenge and refine the skills of even the most seasoned astrophotographers.

“Unlocking the Chemistry of the Heavens”

In memoriam Prof. Harold Linnartz

By: Danna Qasim

Senior Research Scientist, Planetary Science Research Staff at Southwest

In this talk, Dr. Qasim will discuss her career path, starting at age 16 when she decided to become an astrochemist, and the research projects she engaged in that lead me to her passion for bridging interstellar chemistry to the chemistry in our Solar System. These included experimentally testing the role of the mineral schreibersite on meteorites in biochemical reactions which may have been critical to life,  the challenges of forming interstellar methane ice analogs in the laboratory and experimental investigations on the role of interstellar inheritance in the detection of amines and amino acids in meteorites. Dr. Qasim will also give brief overview of her current research in the Nebular Origins of the Universe Research Laboratory (NOUR Laboratory), and reflect on the current funding climate for (space) science. Dr. Qasims talk will be dedicated her late PhD supervisor, Prof. Harold Linnartz, whose belief in her scientific potential often exceeded her own.

Speaker: Dr. Danna Qasim is a laboratory astrophysicist and astronomer. Her long-term goal is bridging interstellar/protoplanetary disk chemistry to the chemistry in our Solar System. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and minor in astronomy at Northern Arizona University (2012), and her Master of Science in Chemical Sciences at Kennesaw State University under the supervision of Prof. Heather Abbott-Lyon, where she experimentally investigated early Earth phosphorylation reactions by meteoritic minerals (2016). She received her PhD in Astronomy at Leiden University under the supervision of Profs. Harold Linnartz and Ewine van Dishoeck (2020). Notably, she developed a method to experimentally investigate carbon atom chemistry occurring in dark interstellar clouds, which resulted in two international dissertation awards.

After her PhD, she did her postdoctoral at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she worked in the Cosmic Ice and Astrobiology Analytical Laboratories to bridge interstellar chemistry to the chemistry found in meteorites. In 2022, she joined SwRI’s Planetary Science Research Staff, where she is currently leading a JWST Cycle 3 Program on interstellar sulfur chemistry, a NASA New Frontiers Data Analysis Program on analyzing Juno data of Ganymede and is head of the newly formed Nebular Origins of the Universe Research Laboratory (NOUR Laboratory; NOUR =نور = light).    ___________________________________________________________________________________

To see the video, click Unlocking the Chemistry of the Heavens.

" Filters for the Enhancement of Visual Astronomy"

By: Kenneth Drake

Various filters are typically used to aid in visual astronomy. As background to understanding how filters help Kenneth will discuss details of our eyes such as the functions of the retina and iris rods and cones, Rhodopsin (Visual Purple). He will also describe the concepts of adaption range, dark adaption, and averted vision.

Kenneth will also discuss the use of color filters for enhancement of details on solar system objects, and the use of interference filters for the enhancement of nebulae, both emission and planetary. In addition, he will discuss the use of light pollution rejection filters as well as the meaning of bandpass and per cent of transmission.

Speaker Bio: Kenneth Drake (affectionately known as Drako) is a native Houstonian who lived in H-town until 1978 when he moved to the Conroe area, 40 miles north of Houston. Not only is he a native Houstonian, but he is also a 6th generation Texan with Cherokee Indian roots, and a direct descendant of Giovanni Battista Hodierna, an Italian astronomer of the 17th century who cataloged celestial objects prior to Messier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Hodierna

Kenneth graduated from Bellaire High School and worked with Bellaire a/c and heating while still a student. He later spent several years with Camera Supply and spent several years in maintenance at the Host Airport Hotel, repairing large laundry equipment, the turntable at CK's Restaurant, and general room A/C repairs. For the next 40 years, Kenneth did appliance repair for Sears. 

His hobbies have included target shooting, hunting, photography (no astro-photography), gardening, and hiking. Astronomy was added in 1983. That love really began in his pre-teen years as during summers spent near Weches, Texas, under very dark skies. Kenneth has spent the last 40+ years exploring many branches of the astronomical tree.

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To see the video, click Filters for the Enhancement of Visual Astronomy".