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 - 06/21/2013
The May Novice Presentation will be given by Billie Harland

Profile: Billie is an Electrical Systems Engineer at Veolia Environmental Services Port Arthur, Texas. He has been a member of ASSET for 21 years. He was a Building Manager at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park for five years.

Presentation Synopsis: "Star Lore - How ancient cultures believed the Cosmos came to be".

The FBAC Main Presentation - 06/21/2013
The May Main Presentation will be given by Dr. Daniel Mcdonald

Profile: Daniel McDonald obtained his PhD in medium-energy nuclear physics from Rice University. 
His thesis topic was the QCD phase diagram of nuclear matter, where he explored possible signatures of the phase transition between the Quark-Gluon Plasma and hadronic matter.  He has given over 20 public talks on his research, including invited talks in India and a feature talk at Quark Matter 2012, the largest particle physics conference in the world.  He has also published over 100 peer reviewed articles as a member of the STAR collaboration.

Presentation Synopsis: "Phase diagram of nuclear matter."  While that may sound scary, the talk will take a look at what we know about the evolution of matter shortly after the big bang, including a discussion on the big unanswered question in the field: Why do quarks only exist in bound states?  Also, why do quarks not exist in a free state, and do quarks have phase transitions?

June 2013 Astronomy/Space Calendar
(more at JPL Space Calendar)

• Jun 01 - Asteroid 3173 McNaught Closest Approach To Earth (0.870 AU)
• Jun 02 - 155th Anniversary (1858), Discovery of Donati's Comet
• Jun 03 - Asteroid 2013 LA Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
• Jun 04 - Kuiper Belt Object 174567 (2003 MW12) At Opposition (46.386 AU)
• Jun 05 - ATV-4 (Albert Einstein) Ariane 5ES Launch (International Space Station), Successful
• Jun 05 - Sydney's Observatory's 155th Birthday (1858)
• Jun 05-07 - Sedona Star Festival, Sedona, Arizona
• Jun 06 - Asteroid 19383 Rolling Stones Closest Approach To Earth (1.209 AU)
• Jun 07 - Shenzhou 10 CZ-2F/H Launch (Chinese Manned Launch to Tian Gong1 1 Space Station)
• Jun 07 - Lecture: The Surface Composition of Mercury From MESSENGER Data, Houston, Texas
• Jun 08 - Carlsbad Caverns National Park Star Party, Carlsbad, California
• Jun 08-15 - 2013 Grand Canyon Star Party, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Jun 09 - Comet 258P/PANSTARRS Closest Approach To Earth (3.535 AU)
• Jun 10 - Asteroid 2013 LD2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
• Jun 10 - 40th Anniversary (1973), Explorer 49 Launch (Moon Orbiter)
• Jun 11 - Comet P/2006 F4 (Spacewatch) Closest Approach To Earth (1.639 AU)
• Jun 12 - Mercury At Its Greatest Eastern Elongation (24 Degrees)
• Jun 12 - Asteroid 332 Siri Occults HIP 84478 (6.4 Magnitude Star)
• Jun 14 - Comet 258P/PANSTARRS At Opposition (3.539 AU)
• Jun 14 - Lecture: Massive Ice Avalanches on Iapetus Mobilized by Friction Reduction During Flash Heating, Houston, Texas
• Jun 16 - 50th Anniversary (1963), 1st Woman In Space (Valentina Tereshkova)
• Jun 17 - Asteroid 4147 Lennon Closest Approach To Earth (1.186 AU)
• Jun 17-23 - 50th International Paris Air Show, Paris, France
• Jun 18 - 30th Anniversary (1983), 1st US Woman In Space (Sally Ride)
• Jun 19 - 10th Anniversary (2003), Nozomi, Earth Flyby
• Jun 20 - Mercury Passes 2.0 Degrees From Venus
• Jun 21 - Summer Solstice, 05:04 UT
• Jun 21 - Max Wolf's 150th Birthday (1863)
• Jun 22 - 35th Anniversary (1978), Jim Christy's Discovery of Pluto's Moon Charon
• Jun 23 - Asteroid 4148 McCartney Closest Approach To Earth (1.227 AU)
• Jun 24 - Moon Occults Pluto
• Jun 24 - Comet P/2012 F2 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (1.971 AU)
• Jun 25 - Comet C/2013 G2 (McNaught) At Opposition (2.109 AU)
• Jun 26 - Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Pegasus XL Launch
• Jun 27 - Asteroid 3501 Veeder Occults HIP 57791 (5.6 Magnitude Star)
• Jun 28 - Asteroid 293726 (2007 RQ17) Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)
• Jun 29 - George Hale's 145th Birthday (1868)
• Jun 30 - 105th Anniversary (1908), Tunguska Explosion Event

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

Astronomers gear up to discover Earth-like planets

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