The Fort Bend Astronomy Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the acquisition and dissemination of information pertaining to the science of Astronomy.  Our goal is not only to serve our members, but the general public as well.

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: "Black Holes: Cosmic Wells in Space" by Adam Atanas

The FBAC Main Presentation: To be announced, please check back

February Astronomy/Space Calendar
(more at JPL Space Calendar)

·  Feb 01 - Asteroid 6019 (1991 RO6) Occults HIP 58450 (6.5 Magnitude Star)
·  Feb 02 - Comet C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring) Closest Approach To Earth (2.193 AU)
·  Feb 03 -[Jan 29] Progress M-4M Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 36P)
·  Feb 04 - Asteroid 2008 CL20 Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)
·  Feb 06 - Asteroid 2001 SF286 Near-Mercury Flyby (0.036 AU)
·  Feb 07 -[Jan 30] STS-130 Launch, Space Shuttle Endeavour, Node 3, Cupola, International Space Station
·  Feb 08 - 10th Anniversary (2000), Discovery of GRV 99027 Meteorite (Mars Meteorite)
·  Feb 09 -[Feb 01] Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Atlas 5 Launch
·  Feb 09 - Lecture: Virgin Galactic, London, United Kingdom
·  Feb 10 - Asteroid 2008 CQ116 Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU)
·  Feb 10-14 - 16th Annual Orange Blossom Special Star Party, Dade City, Florida
·  Feb 11 - Lecture: Habitable Zones and the Search for Life, Houston, Texas
·  Feb 12 - Intelsat 16 Proton M-Briz M Launch
·  Feb 13 - Cassini, Mimas Flyby
·  Feb 14 - Comet P/2004 R1 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (1.858 AU)
·  Feb 15-18 - Conference: Probing Strong Gravity near Black Holes, Prague, Czech Republic
·  Feb 17 - 45th Anniversary (1965), Ranger 8 Launch (Moon Impact Mission)
·  Feb 18 - Lecture: Origin of Pseudotachylite in Terrestrial Impact Basins, Houston, Texas
·  Feb 18 - 80th Anniversary (1930), Clyde Tombaugh's Discovery of Pluto
·  Feb 19 - Kuiper Belt Object 90482 Orcus Closest Approach To Earth (46.951 AU)
·  Feb 19 - Lecture: Humanlike Robots - The Realization of the Science Fiction of Synthetic Humans, Pasadena, California
·  Feb 20 - Asteroid 2009 UD2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU)
·  Feb 21 - Tom Gehrels' 85th Birthday (1925)
·  Feb 22 - Asteroid 4 Vesta Closest Approach To Earth (1.411 AU)
·  Feb 23 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #237 (OTM-237)
·  Feb 24-26 -[Jan 29] 9th UCLA Symposium On Sources And Detection Of Dark Matter And Dark Energy In The Universe, Marina de Rey, California
·  Feb 25 - Cryosat 2 Dnepr 1 Launch
·  Feb 26 - Asteroid 3808 Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (0.974 AU)
·  Feb 27 -[Feb 02] Cosmos-Glonass M24, M25 & M26 Proton M-DM2 Launch
·  Feb 28-Mar 02 - Workshop: Multi-Phase Interstellar Medium and Dynamics of Star Formation, Nagoya, Japan
·  Feb 28-Mar 06 - 23rd Workshop in Particle Physics, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy

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.

Stay tuned for the planetary nebula list to be published soon.

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.

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.

February 2010 George Observatory Events

You can view all of the monthly George Observatory events by clicking HERE.

Friday Night Reserved Groups: All times are 7:30 to 10:00 p.m..Please contact the following building manager teams to volunteer:

February 05 - Friday Night Group
7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Windwood Presbyterian
30+ visitors, Building Manager Carl Sexton
carlsexton@hotmail.com

Saturday Public Observing – All times are dusk to 11:00 p.m..Please contact the following building manager teams to volunteer:

Feburary 06: Building Managers, Knauss/Rivich (birdbarn2000@yahoo.com / icgalaxies@cs.com)

Feburary 13: Building Managers, Lockwood/Kingsley (mplockwood@att.net / gnjkingsley@att.net)

Feburary 20: Building Managers, Lockwood/Mills (mplockwood@att.net / k5jmm@yahoo.com)

Feburary 27: Building Managers, Wilson/Wilson (gobserve@consolidated.net) 

Check Moon Phases HERE.

*New members are encouraged to volunteer! No experience is necessary, volunteering is how you can gain experience. Volunteering under the stars is the best public service work in the world. Come and join us!