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General Meeting Topic
Science and Engineering Fair Houston 2018 Student Project Presentations
General Meeting Speaker
Five Students Present Their Science Fair Astronomy-Related Projects
Novice Meeting Topic
"Quasars and More: Student Astronomy Research at Bellaire High School"
Novice Meeting Speaker
Bellaire HS Students and Faculty Sponsor Jimmy Newland

For many years, HAS has supported the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH) by supplying volunteer judges to evaluate student astronomy or astronomy-related projects. In 2018, six HAS voluteer judges attended SFEH which was held at the University of Houston on February 23 & 24. We are very excited and proud to announce that our main program for the June membership meeting will feature five of the students presenting their projects from SFEH 2018. These are some of the best projects we have judged to date! Please join us to listen to their presentations, and encourage the students continuing interest in astronomy and the sciences.

 Starting at 8:00 pm on June 1, we will hear presentations from the following Students:

Mujtaba Hussain – Topic: Analog Kerr Black Hole Event Horizons
 
Qianxu (Jerry) Li - Topic:  Development of a very high efficient fiber bundle for detecting low-mass rocky planets around stars in the solar neighborhood
 
Carlos Eduardo Del Angel Aguilar - Topic:  Do We Need A 5-Day Sun Forecast?
 
Christina Kuruvilla - Topic:  Measuring Mercury
 
Victor Markhasin – Topic:  Identifying Urban Micrometeorites
By: Steve Goldberg
 
Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.
 
Constellation: Ursa Major
Right Ascension: 13h 10m 00.0s
Declination: +57 °31' 00"
Constellation: Gemini
Right Ascension: 06h 07m 25.0s
Declination: +24° 05' 48"
This asterism and star cluster NGC 2158 both look like the famous tower in Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower.  The asterism is easy to locate because of its proximity to the Mizar and Alcor stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, as seen in this finder chart.  The second, categorized as a star cluster, is very close to M35 in Gemini.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In a 13mm eyepiece at 147x magnification, this is the view in the eyepiece of the asterism Eiffel Tower.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The cluster NGC 2158 looks like an Eiffel Tower, also. In this chart, the cluster is to the upper left of M35, which makes it easy to locate.

Congrats Certified Telescope Operators

by Rene Gedaly

Congratulations to Trevor Arnold, Doug McCormick, and Tim Lewis, certified telescope operators of the observatory C14 and f/5 telescopes. You, too, can be a certified telescope operator like these astronomy wizards. Contact Chris Ober, Observatory Director, to get added to the training list. 

Prerequisite Requirements for Students:
  • Must be at least 16 years of age or older.
  • Must be a Society member in good standing with all dues paid.
  • Must have full knowledge of all general site rules and have completed the general site orientation.
  • Must have been a Society member for at least 6 months.
  • Will be required to execute an observatory building use agreement which is a contract of limited liability covering all rules, regulations, and requirements governing the use of observatory building facilities. Members under 18 years of age must have a parent or guardian execute the agreement on behalf of a minor user that is 16, or 17 years of age.

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