The Fort Bend Astronomy Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the acquisition and dissemination of information pertaining to the science of Astronomy.  Located in Stafford, Texas, FBAC's goal is to serve not only our members, but the general public as well. FBAC members hail from all corners of Harris, Fort Bend, Waller, and Brazoria counties.

FBAC holds monthly meetings and members regularly get together to observe at the George Observatory, a satellite facility of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located within Brazos Bend State Park.

For information about FBAC membership, please visit the About FBAC page.  For directions to the monthly club meeting, click here. For information about our community outreach activities, click here. For information about the FBAC list server click here.  To contact FBAC, send an email to fbacastro@gmail.com

The FBAC Novice Presentation - FBAC member Steve Goldberg will be giving a recap of this year's Texas Star Party at Fort Davis.

The FBAC Main Presentation - The May 18th Main Presentation will be given by Jim Wessell. Jim's presentation is titled 'Transit of Venus.'

May 2012 Astronomy/Space Calendar
(more at JPL Space Calendar)

• May 01 - Asteroid 711 Marmulla Occults HIP 91137 (6.9 Magnitude Star)
• May 02 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Polydeuces, Atlas & Dione
• May 03 - AEHF F-2 Atlas 5 Launch
• May 04 - Space Day
• May 05 - Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak
• May 06 - Willem de Sitter's 140th Birthday (1872)
• May 07 - Dragon C-2 & C-3 Falcon 9 Launch (International Space Station)
• May 08 - Asteroid 4341 Poseidon Closest Approach To Earth (0.808 AU)
• May 09 - Asteroid 9325 Stonehenge Closest Approach To Earth (1.372 AU)
• May 10 - Asteroid 1998 HE3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU)
• May 11 - Asteroid 2012 HB25 Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
• May 11 - Lecture: Compositional Diversity of the Moon's Primary Crust from Integrated Diviner and M³ Analysis, Houston, Texas
• May 13 - Asteroid 6470 Cronkite Closest Approach To Earth (1.583 AU)
• May 13-19 - Gravitational-Wave Advanced Detector Workshop, Waikoloa, Hawaii
• May 14 - Asteroid 90022 Apache Point Closest Approach To Earth (1.486 AU)
• May 14-17 - Extreme Space Weather Events Workshop, Boulder, Colorado
• May 15 -Soyuz TMA-04M Soyuz FG Launch (International Space Station 30S)
• May 16 - Asteroid 1213 Algeria Closest Approach To Earth (2.465 AU)
• May 17 - Vinasat 2/ JC-Sat 13 Ariane 5 Launch
• May 18 - Lecture: Faults and Folds on Mercury, Houston, Texas
• May 19 - Asteroid 2660 Wasserman Occults HIP 69564 (6.4 Magnitude Star)
• May 20 - Annular Solar Eclipse, Visible From China, Japan & North America
• May 21 - Asteroid 63163 Jerusalem Closest Approach To Earth (1.438 AU)
• May 22 - Mercury Passes 0.4 Degrees From Jupiter
• May 23 - Asteroid 433 Eros Occults TYC 6090-01641-1 (10.8 Magnitude Star)
• May 24 - 50th Anniversary (1962), Aurora 7 Launch (Scott Carpenter)
• May 25 - Asteroid 39382 Opportunity Closest Approach To Earth (3.756 AU)
• May 26 - Asteroid 7328 Casanova Closest Approach To Earth (1.604 AU)
• May 27-30 - Workshop: Whereabouts, Physical State and Metallicity of the Missing Baryons in the Local Universe, Cervia Milano Marittima, Italy
• May 28 - Comet P/2004 H3 (Larsen) Closest Approach To Earth (1.802 AU)
• May 29 - Asteroid 2322 Kitt Peak Closest Approach To Earth (1.348 AU)
• May 29 - John F. Kennedy's 95th Birthday (1917)
• May 30 - Comet 128P/Shoemaker-Holt 1-B Closest Approach To Earth (4.939 AU)
• May 31 - Telcom 3/ Express MD-2 Proton M-Briz M Launch
• May 31 - Martin Schwarzschild's 100th Birthday (1912)

FBAC members and friends gather informally each Tuesday evening between 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM at a southwest Houston restaurant just to socialize. FBAC members have been doing this for nearly 20 years. Come join us for dinner and conversation about most anything!

The current location is the Avalon Diner, 12810 SW Freeway (59 near Kirkwood). The Avalon Diner is at the far west end of the Fountains Shopping Center. Off highway 59, take the Kirkwood exit either way.

From 59 north, cross Kirkwood on the service road and enter the Fountains. From 59 south, go up to Kirkwood and loop under the freeway to come back south on the service road and enter the Fountains.
There are a couple of entrances. Go to the far west end near Borders and Sterling Bank. Click here for a map to the location.

Several observing programs are in the works at FBAC. Leonard Ferguson has developed a double star list and Keith Rivich a planetary nebula list.

 The double star list along with rules is available here.

The double star list by right ascension can be found here.  The original list is still available above.

The globular and planetary files are now available.  Click here for globulars and here for planetaries. Leonard Pattillo's Globular Cluster list is available in .xls format here. Leonard's planetary list in .xls format is here.

Click here for the carbon star list.

The galaxy observing list is now on line.  Click here to download a PDF file.

The Open Cluster Observing List can be obtained in PDF form by clicking here.

Observing forms are available for download here.

FBAC member Steve Goldberg has created a set of observing lists for users of Sky Tools astronomy software. These files are in .stx file format and will only work with Sky Tools software: Planetary Nebulas, Galaxies, Globular Clusters, Open Clusters & Carbon Stars