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 - 3/19/10: "Planning Your Observing Session… Why Plan?" by Steve Goldberg

The FBAC Main Presentation - 3/19/10: "Inside the Making of the Hubble 3D IMAX Film", by Gordon Houston

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

• Mar 01 - Asteroid 39382 Opportunity Closest Approach To Earth (2.932 AU)
• Mar 02 - Planetary Science Decadal Survey Meeting: Inner Planets Panel, Woodlands, Texas
• Mar 03 - Asteroid 2001 PT9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
• Mar 04 - Lecture: A Private Astronaut's Path to Space, Houston, Texas
• Mar 06 - Asteroid 2006 LD1 Near-Venus Flyby (0.043 AU)
• Mar 06-13 - 2010 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana
• Mar 08 - Asteroid 249 Ilse Occults HIP 107556 (2.9 Magnitude Star)
• Mar 10 - Lecture: Mineralogical Indicators of the Thermal, Temporal, and Textural Evolution of a Terrestrial Magmatic-Hydrothermal System: Insights from the Porphyry-Cu-Mo Deposit at Butte, Montana, Houston, Texas
• Mar 13 - Percival Lowell's 155th Birthday (1855)
• Mar 15 - Asteroid 2002 AJ129 Near-Mars Flyby (0.041 AU)
• Mar 16 - Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake Closest Approach To Earth (51.283 AU)
• Mar 18 - 30th Anniversary (1980), Soviet Rocket Launch Explosion (48 Dead)
• Mar 19 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan
• Mar 20 - Vernal Equinox, 17:32 UT
• Mar 21 - Saturn At Opposition
• Mar 22 - Dragon Qualification Unit Falcon 9 Launch
• Mar 24 - Astra 3-B/ ComsatBw-2 Ariane 5 Launch
• Mar 25 - 355th Anniversary (1655), Christiaan Huygens' Discovery of Saturn Moon Titan
• Mar 26 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #240 (OTM-240)
• Mar 29 - Asteroid 5036 Tuttle Closest Approach To Earth (1.612 AU)
• Mar 30 - Asteroid 17059 Elvis Closest Approach To Earth (1.615 AU)
• Mar 31 - Comet P/2008 Y3 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (4.266 AU)

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.

March 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:

Friday Night Group (Cancelled)
March 12 - 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Sail La Vie, 40+ visitors
Please contact Carl Sexton to volunteer for this Friday night event: carlsexton@hotmail.com

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

March 06: Building Managers, McCollum/Sexton (justinmccollum@hotmail.com / carlsexton@hotmail.com)

March 13: Building Managers, McKaye/Sexton (jemckaye@comcast.net / carlsexton@hotmail.com)

March 20: Building Managers, Knauss/Rivich (birdbarn2000@yahoo.com / icgalaxies@cs.com)

March 27: Building Managers, Lockwood/Mills (mplockwood@att.net / k5jmm@yahoo.com)

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!