Houston Astronomical Society Page 1 February, 2014 February, 2014 Volume 32, #2 At the February 7 Meeting Highlights: The Cosmic Origins of Hernan Contreras 6 Surprising Young Stars 9 Carbon and Nitrogen The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 10 Dr. Reggie DuFour Founder's Event 15 Kid’s Outreach and Star Parties Professor, Rice University Urban Observing—February 6 16 Carbon and nitrogen are two of the elements crucial SkyTools Software at 50% Discount 17 for life. Special Awards Judging by HAS Originally thought only to come from All About Telescopes exploding massive stars, there is now Starbirth in the Neighborhood 18 evidence that intermediate mass stars CW Leonis 19 like the sun eject significant amounts of these elements at the end of their lives (via planetary nebulae). HAS Web Page: Reggie will talk about these new concepts and a Hubble Space Telescope program to better evaluate http://www.AstronomyHouston.org the contributions of carbon and nitrogen from stars See the GuideStar's Monthly Calendar of producing planetary nebulae. Events to confirm dates and times of all events for the month, and check the Web Page for any last minute changes. All meetings are at the University of Houston Science and Research building. See the last The GuideStar is the winner of the 2012 page for directions to the location. Astronomical League Mabel Sterns Newsletter award. Novice meeting: ·······················7:00 p.m. “All About Telescopes” — David Haviland See page 14 for more information The Houston Astronomical General meeting: ·····················8:00 p.m Society is a member of the Astronomical League. See last page for directions and more information. Page 2 February, 2014 The Houston Astronomical Society Table of Contents The Houston Astronomical Society is a non-profit corporation 3 ...............President's Message organized under section 501 (C) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Society was formed for education and scientific purposes. All 4 ...............February/March Calendar contributions and gifts are deductible for federal income tax 5 ...............Observations of the Editor purposes. General membership meetings are open to the public and attendance is encouraged. 6 ...............Hernan Contreras Officers & Past President 9 ...............Surprising Young Stars 10 ...............The Search for Extraterrestrial Inteligence President: Bill Pellerin ................................... C:713-598-8543 Vice Pres: Rene Gedaly ................................. 15 ...............Founder's Event Secretary: Bill Flanagan ................................. Kid's Outreach and Star Parties Treasurer: Don Selle ..................................... 16 ...............Observatory Corner Directors at Large Urban Observing 17 ...............SkyTools Software at 50% Discount Ash Alashquar ............................................... Mark Holdsworth .......................................... H:713-478-4109 Special Awards Judging by HAS Bram Weisman ............................................. All About Telescopes John Haynes .................................................. H:802-363-8123 Brian Cudnik.................................................. H:832-912-1244 18 ...............Starbirth in the Neighborhood 19 ...............CW Leonis Committee Chairpersons Observatory ......... Mike Edstrom Audit .................... Scott Mitchell .................. H:281-293-7818 Education ............. Debbie Moran ................. Other Meetings... Field Tr./Obsg ...... Steve Fast........................ 713-898-2188 Novice .................. Debbie Moran Program ............... Brian Cudnik.................... H:832-912-1244 Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society meets in the Publicity ............... Bram Weisman the Lunar and Planetary Institute on the 2nd Friday of Outreach .............. Bram Weisman Telescope ............. Allen Wilkerson each month. Web site: www.jscas.net Welcoming ........... Vacant Membership ........ Steve Fast........................ 713-898-2188 Fort Bend Astronomy Club meets the third Friday of the Ad-Hoc Committee Chairpersons month at 8:00 p.m. at the Houston Community College Southwest Campus in Stafford, Texas Texas Star Party ... Steve Goldberg. .............. H:713-721-5077 AL Coordinator ..... Doug McCormick ............ http://www.fbac.org/club_meetings.htm. GuideStar ............. Bill Pellerin ...................... C:713-598-8543 Novice meeting begins at 7:00 p.m., regular Outreach .............. Bram Weisman ............... Webmaster .......... Jeffery McLaughlin .......... meeting begins at 8:00 p.m. Website: Email: [email protected] http://www.fbac.org By-Laws Review ... Scott Mitchell .................. H:281-293-7818 Urban Observing .. Mike Rao ......................... 832-689-4584 Audio/Visual ........ Michael Rapp .................. North Houston Astronomy Club meets at 7:30 p.m. on Video.................... Rob Morehead ................ Steve Goldberg .... Recognition ..................... the 4th Friday of each month in the Teaching Theatre of the Student Center at Kingwood College.Call 281- Advisors 312-1650 or [email protected]. Web Dr. Reginald DuFour, Rice Univ. site: www.astronomyclub.org Dr. Lawrence Pinsky, U. of H. Dr. Lawrence Armendarez, U. of St. Thomas Brazosport Astronomy Club meets the third Tuesday of Dues and Membership Information each month at the Brazosport planetarium at 7:45 p.m. The Brazosport planetarium is located at 400 Annual Dues:Regular ................................................ $36 Associate ..................................................................... $6 College Boulevard, Clute, TX, 77531. For more Sustaining ................................................................. $50 information call 979-265-3376 Student ..................................................................... $12 Honorary .................................................................. N/C All members have the right to participate in Society functions and to use the Observatory Site. Regular and Student Members re- ceive a subscription toThe Reflector. The GuideStar, the monthly publication of the Houston Astronomical Society is available on the web site. Associate Members, immediate family members of a Regular Member, have all membership rights, but do not receive GuideStar deadline publications. Sustaining members have the same rights as regular members with the additional dues treated as a donation to the Society. Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines are available for the March to members at a discount. Membership Application: Send funds to address shown on last page of GuideStar. Attention- Treasurer, along with the following issue information: Name, Address, Phone Number, Special Interests in Astronomy, Do you own a Telescope? (If so, what kind?), and where you first heard of H.A.S. is February 15th Page 3 February, 2014 President’s Message by Bill Pellerin, President What’s Going on with the HAS? Get your dues paid for 2014! — To take advantage of the SkyTools discount you The HAS Board completed its every-other-month meeting on January must be a member of the Houston As- 15 at the Houston Arboretum. The next meeting will be in March. tronomical Society. Among the other There was a lot of work to do and a lot of work was done. benefits of membership is access to the HAS observing site. You can pay at the Review and approve HAS budget for 2014 — The board approved meeting or on the HAS web site. a budget for 2014 provided by our treasurer Don Selle. The budget funds the various committees of the HAS based on requests from Field Trip and Observing — announced those committee chairs and estimates its income based on the that there will be two picnics at the HAS income from dues and donations in 2013. The budget is subject to site this year. review and modification at every board meeting. Thanks to Don for his hard work putting the budget together. Founder’s Day event — In 2013 the board funded the purchase of Cheers, plaques and a historical marker for the observatory site. These are in the works and will be presented to the membership at the event in late March. (More information in this issue.) ..Bill Pellerin Quorum for membership voting — In November, 2013 we were President unable to have our leadership election due to the lack of a quor- um. The board discussed alternatives to the existing requirement in the bylaws, but decided to table the issue until a more compre- hensive set of bylaws amendments can be presented to the mem- bership. Video recording of meeting presentations — Rob Morehead dis- cussed with the board a plan and the associated costs of video recording meeting presentations. The board agreed to fund an experimental process which records the audio and the slides from the presenter. These recordings will be posted to the Internet and will require the permission of the speaker. Colorado County Tax Status — Our application to reestablish the HAS as a non-taxable entity is under review from the Colorado County Taxing authority. We have received no results to date from that review. Starline not working — The dial-up membership messing service ‘Starline’ is not working. The president recommended that the HAS terminate that service and the board agreed. Group purchase of SkyTools software — The board expressed support for establishing a group buy (at a substantial discount) for SkyTools astronomy planning software. As of this writing the capa- bility to purchase Skytools