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 - 05/17/2013
The May Novice Presentation will be given by Tony Wiese Tony's interest in astronomy came later in life as he and his wife Barb literally backed into astronomy via their life-long interest in telephoto photography.

Trained in the West and East Domes, Tony is one of the Research Dome Main Telescope Operators and trains other RD Assists and TO’s. Tony has also helped maintain the equipment at the George including the 36-inch telescope. As a member of the East Dome Committee he was one of the small group of club members who planned and rebuilt the East Dome at the end of 2010.

Tony has also headed up FBAC Donations and Grants for many years. To help recognize FBAC member volunteer efforts, Tony created and administers both the FBAC Volunteer T-shirt Program and the FBAC Super Star Awards Programs. And Tony is a very active member of Astronomy on Wheels (AOW).

Tony has always worn many hats and one of those has been as a writer and photographer. His articles and photos have been published world-wide. Tony was an offshore powerboat racer in one of the top two classes in the world competing in "Super Vee" Class. He raced custom prototype 38-foot and 43-foot canopied race boats with supercharged twin engines (1350hp each). The race speeds for the Super Vee Class typically averaged 100mph to 115mph over the 90 to 120 mile courses. FBAC is one of the top four clubs in the country for volunteer hours.

FBAC club members put in an astounding 1,100 plus hours just in the last quarter of 2012 as logged by the Night Sky Network. Tony will talk about "Relative Sizes of the Planets and its Orbits". He will use the Night Sky Network (NSN) props to walk through his presentation.

The FBAC Main Presentation - 05/17/2013
The May Main Presentation will be given by Dr. Ramkumar Balasubramanian.

Dr. Ramkumar Balasubramanian’s profile goes as follows: - Completed undergraduate degree in India from the Univ. of Madras - Completed Masters degree in Physics from Univ. of Texas - Completed PhD from Rice University specializing in space physics and astronomy - Thesis is focused on space weather working with Prof. Pat Reiff. - Currently doing postdoctoral researcher at Rice working implementing realtime forecast models suited for space weather applications.

Dr. Ramkumar Balasubramanian will talk about: "Sun-Earth Connection and Societal Impacts" -- A broad overview of underlying physics of the sun-earth connection and space weather discussing its potential impact on space- and ground-based infrastructures.

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

• May 01 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Titan
• May 02 - Kuiper Belt Object 90568 (2004 GV9) At Opposition (38.315 AU)
• May 03 - Space Day
• May 04 - Comet 98P/Takamizawa At Opposition (0.929 AU)
• May 05 - Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak
• May 05-12 - Texas Star Party, near Fort Davis, Texas
• May 07 - Comet C/2012 K6 (McNaught) At Opposition (2.409 AU)
• May 08 - Asteroid 13070 Seanconnery Closest Approach To Earth (1.574 AU)
• May 09 - Asteroid 5102 Benfranklin Closest Approach To Earth (2.215 AU)
• May 10-13 - M-10 Star Party, Manitoulin Island, Canada
• May 12 - Asteroid 5020 Asimov Closest Approach To Earth (1.174 AU)
• May 13 - Comet 61P/Shajn-Schaldach At Opposition (3.844 AU)
• May 14 - 40th Anniversary (1973), Skylab Launch
• May 15 - Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille's 300th Birthtday (1713)
• May 16 - Comet 228P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (3.078 AU)
• May 19 - Comet 49P/Arend-Rigaux At Opposition (3.534 AU)
• May 20 - 25th Anniversary (1978), Pioneer Venus 1 Launch
• May 21 - Asteroid 5731 Zeus Closest Approach To Earth (1.106 AU)
• May 22 - Asteroid 3654 AAS Closest Approach To Earth (1.598 AU)
• May 23-27 - Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (RTMC) Astronomy Expo, Big Bear City, California
• May 24 - Comet C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (4.915 AU)
• May 25 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
• May 25 - 5th Anniversary (2008), Phoenix, Mars Landing
• May 26 - Asteroid 2012 KF25 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)
• May 27 - Mercury Passes 2.4 Degrees From Jupiter
• May 31 - O3b F-1, F-2, F-3 & F-4 Soyuz STB-Fregat Launch
• May 31 - 15th Anniversary (1998), Galileo, Europa 15 Flyby

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