If the weather cooperates, let’s do a flash star party and bring your own picnic. If it’s a go, I’ll send a notice to all members via the usual channels: email, Facebook group, Discord, and this website.

You bring your own picnic: food to grill, or a picnic basket, or fast food from Columbus, and a chair. I’ll be at the picnic area by 2:30pm to open things up—come by and say hi, whether you’re cooking or not! We’ll start shutting down around 4:30pm so we can finish setting up on the observing field by sunset. 

Observing is your choice. However, if you’re interested in learning to view some great objects using binoculars, I’ll have the BINO SIG sign set up on the field. Just bring your binoculars and chair. I’ll have printed sky maps, red flashlights, and clip boards for us to use.

Rene Gedaly
Field Trip & Observing Chairperson
[email protected]

"Measuring Cosmic Distances"

by Bill Spizzirri

When we are at a dark sky area looking at the night sky, as beautiful as it may be, we are essentially seeing it only in 2D. Sure, the bright stars do seem a bit closer, but is that really the case?

Ancient Greek philosophers recognized the 2D appearance of the stars. In his model universe, Aristotle placed the stars on the inside of a crystal sphere a fixed distance from the Earth which they revolved around.

We now know much more about the universe than Aristotle ever would have imagined. Learning to measure cosmic distances was one of the keys that unlocked this knowledge, and is one of the more remarkable achievements of modern astronomy.

Bill Spizzirri will take us on a journey of discovery as he describes how modern astronomers measure cosmic distances. He will touch on the history of discovery, and describe some of the science behind the measuremts.

Our Speaker: Bill Spizzirri is a retired computer software engineer who has been studying astronomy for over 65 years. His favorite thing to do is to teach astronomy
to the public, especially children. He has been doing that more or less continuously for over 40 years. He now does it at Houston area schools and community centers. The pay is excellent, in the form of great questions from the students.

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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.

TBD

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, May 4th, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDST. See you then!

"Measuring Cosmic Distances"

by Bill Spizzirri

When we are at a dark sky area looking at the night sky, as beautiful as it may be, we are essentially seeing it only in 2D. Sure, the bright stars do seem a bit closer, but is that really the case?

Ancient Greek philosophers recognized the 2D appearance of the stars. In his model universe, Aristotle placed the stars on the inside of a crystal sphere a fixed distance from the Earth which they revolved around.

We now know much more about the universe than Aristotle ever would have imagined. Learning to measure cosmic distances was one of the keys that unlocked this knowledge, and is one of the more remarkable achievements of modern astronomy.

Bill Spizzirri will take us on a journey of discovery as he describes how modern astronomers measure cosmic distances. He will touch on the history of discovery, and describe some of the science behind the measuremts.

Our Speaker: Bill Spizzirri is a retired computer software engineer who has been studying astronomy for over 65 years. His favorite thing to do is to teach astronomy
to the public, especially children. He has been doing that more or less continuously for over 40 years. He now does it at Houston area schools and community centers. The pay is excellent, in the form of great questions from the students.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

TBD

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, May 4th, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDST. See you then!

HAS Monthly Meeting – via Zoom

Friday May 5^th at 7:00pm CDST

"Total Eclipse: The Thrill of the Chase"

By: Debbie Moran

Solar eclipses are astronomical events of awesome proportions. They are so awesome that some observers, after experiencing their first are inspired to travel the world in search of their next eclipse experience.

Texas is blessed to have two solar eclipses in the next 11 months. An annular eclipse takes place on October 14^th, 2023, and a total eclipse on April 8^th, 2024. If you have not yet experienced an eclipse, make sure you catch both by observing them as close to their center lines as possible!

HAS member Debbie Moran is a dedicated eclipse chaser. She will share with us some of her previous experiences, and how to plan your observation. She will also instruct us on what to expect during the eclipse, and how to best observe these truly fantastic phenomena.

Join us for what promises to be an exciting talk and learn what you need to know to observe and truly appreciate our upcoming Texas solar eclipses!

Speaker Bio: Deborah Moran is an avid “eclipse chaser” who has observed 15 total and 5 annular eclipses. She is also very lucky, having been clouded out on only 2 occasions!

Debbie has had a lifelong interest in astronomy since her childhood in Midland, TX where all the scenery is in the sky. She has been a long-time member of the Houston Astronomical Society and participates in HAS outreach programs and is a volunteer telescope operator at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park.

She is also a major advocate for responsible night lighting and in 2017 was recognized by International Dark-Sky Association with the Hoag-Robinson Award for education of government officials about outdoor lighting issues. In 2010, her Woodside neighborhood became the first one within Houston city limits allowed to install low glare fully shielded decorative streetlights.

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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.

TBD

You only need to register once!

Join us Friday, May 5th, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDST. See you then!

Astronomical League Observing Programs and Master Observer Progression"

by Craig Lamison

The Astronomical League has produced many observing programs and recommended a progression of programs to optimize their value to the observer. The League’s programs cover visual, astrophotography, and scientific observing. This presentation shows how these can benefit you, whether you choose to formally complete programs and follow the progression or not. It explains the progression, provides an overview of how the programs work, gives general guidelines on program requirements and further describes some the programs. These Astronomical League resources are fun and informative, hopefully this presentation will inspire you to take up or continue your observing progression. If you’ve been out at the dark site on a good weekend night, you may have heard some of your fellow HAS members talking about the observing programs they were working on.

Craig Lamison will describe the AL observing programs and how you may participate in them. He will also describe the required and optional observing programs you must complete in order to gain the title of Master Observer.

Our Speaker: A member of HAS since 2013, Craig is a retired subsea and pipeline engineer. An evening star party run by the Austin Astronomical Society inspired him to see what Houston had to offer. He was excited to find HAS had a dark site at which the Milky Way was visible. That had never been true anywhere he had lived. He was further hooked and introduced to observation logging by the TX-45 list developed for HAS by Rene Gedaly.  His current, somewhat long term, astronomical goal is to complete the Astronomical League’s Master Observer program.

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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.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpcOqopj8qHNTCkh4f7wLq_tILWJaCKdjF 

You only need to register once!

Join us Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDST. See you then!