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 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 - To be announced

The FBAC Main Presentation - To be announced

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

• Jan 01 - GRAIL-B, Moon Orbit Insertion
• Jan 02 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
• Jan 03 - Quadrantids Meteor Shower Peak
• Jan 04 - Asteroid 2003 AF23 Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)
• Jan 05 - Earth At Perihelion (0.983 AU From Sun)
• Jan 06 - Comet C/2011 G1 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (1.582 AU)
• Jan 07 - Asteroid 1517 Beograd Occults HIP 114855 (4.2 Magnitude Star)
• Jan 08 - Stephen Hawking's 70th Birthday (1942)
• Jan 08-13 - Gordon Research Conference: Origin of Life, Galveston, Texas
• Jan 11 - Phobos-Grunt Reenters Earth's Atmosphere
• Jan 11 - 225th Anniversary (1787), William Herschell's Discovery of Uranus Moons Titania and Oberon
• Jan 13 - Mercury Passes 4.5 Degrees From Pluto
• Jan 14 - Kuiper Belt Object 20000 Varuna At Opposition (42.618 AU)
• Jan 14-23 - Globe at Night
• Jan 16-20 - Conference: Essential Cosmology for the Next Generation, Cancun, Mexico
• Jan 18 - Asteroid 13926 Berners-Lee Closest Approach To Earth (1.652 AU)
• Jan 19 - Comet C/2011 Q2 (McNaught) Perihelion (1.350 AU)
• Jan 19 - Johann Bode's 265th Birthday (1747)
• Jan 21 - SES-4 Proton M-Briz M Launch
• Jan 22-26 - American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Jan 23-Feb 17 - World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12), Geneva, Switzerland
• Jan 24 - Asteroid 3354 McNair Closest Approach To Earth (1.558 AU)
• Jan 25 - Progress M-14M Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 46P)
• Jan 26 - Comet P/2006 T1 (Levy) Closest Approach To Earth (0.236 AU)
• Jan 27 - 45th Anniversary (1967), Apollo 1 Fire (Gus Grissom, Edward White & Roger Chaffee)
• Jan 30 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
• Jan 30 - Sirius FM-6 Proton M-Briz M Launch
• Jan 31-Feb 03 - Meeting: From the Heliosphere into the Sun - Sailing Against the Wind, Bad Honnef, Germany

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