Posted By John Goss read more

Satellites – Another Observing Opportunity

Jun
16

By Bill Pellerin, Houston Astronomical Society

GuideStar Editor

If you’ve been outside on a dark night, looking up you’ve probably seen a number of satellites move across the sky. I see them in my eyepiece from time to time too; it’s a fairly common occurrence. They zip by in a hurry and I haven’t made an effort to figure out which one I saw. If you’re an imager you likely don’t want a satellite to be recorded on your camera. It happens, though, and there are image processing techniques to fix those problems.

Posted By Bill Pellerin read more

What's Up with the Astronomical League March 2013

Mar
29

In this issue:

  • Survey regarding members interest in attending a proposed ALCon 2017/Total Solar Event in August 2013 in Casper Wyoming
  • New electronic dues billing and office ballot programs for this spring
  • Proposals for possibly leasing the League’s ISS/AT
  • Best wishes for retiring Marni Berendsen with ASP
Posted By Carroll Iorg read more

New Stellar Evolution Program

Jan
03

The Astronomical League has added another observing program for your viewing and educational enjoyment. The Observe Stellar Evolution Program will introduce you to 100 objects in various stages of evolution. The program has an observing manual, packed full of interesting information along with selected celestial objects to enforce the evolutionary nature of the cosmos.

Posted By mhotka read more

Five New Asterisms Added

Dec
17

The Asterism Observing Program has been updated with new asterisms to observe. Today, 5 new asterisms were added to the list, making the total number of asterisms to choose from 114. You only need to observe 100 to get the Program's Award Certificate and Pin. Troy and Michelle Stratton's goal is to have 200 or more asterisms on the list to choose from so the list will be constantly updated.

Posted By mhotka read more

NEO Observing Award

NEO award pinTarget NEOs!* is an exciting opportunity for amateur astronomers to participate in a long-term citizen science project that will contribute to basic scientific understanding of near-Earth objects (NEOs). Observers collect data about asteroids on a selected list and submit images and corresponding reports. These observations directly support NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission and aid future mission designers and scientists. Citizen scientists’ astrometry and photometry data will enable scientists to test theoretical models about these objects to refine orbits and taxonomy. The observations, which are personally gratifying for the observer, represent important, real contributions to asteroid exploration. Some of the NEOs in this program are observable by 8-inch telescopes or larger equipped with CCD cameras. A larger telescope will allow more objects to be observed. Remote observing is welcomed, too.
Many advanced amateur astronomers are highly skilled, possess large aperture telescopes equipped with research quality instrumentation, and are eager to engage in research oriented activities. Your observations can complement professional observatio

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