The 70th meeting of the North Houston Astronomy Club featured several presenters who did a great job and we would like to than

The 70^th meeting of the North Houston Astronomy Club featured several presenters who did a great job and we would like to thank them. Sue Wheatley lead the novice program, Brian Cudnik from the Prairie View Observatory did a very entertaining presentation for the advanced program about the Messier marathon. Brian used images taken by several NHAC astrophotographers, mostly by Randy Brewer. During the general meeting, our own Ed Knapton introduced the membership to the many features of the NHAC website. Thank you Ed again for the fantastic job you’ve done developing such a comprehensive source of information. The featured speaker was Steve Goldberg, a noteworthy member of the Houston Astronomy Society, who is the main organizer in Houston for the Texas Star Party to be taking place from the first to the eighth of May of 2005 at the Prude ranch in west Texas. Visit the website http://www.texasstarparty.org/ in order to get further information. Every year there has been a growing number of NHAC participants and we hope this year will not be different. We will create a list of this year’s participants in order to help the newcomers. HAS and NHAC member Susan Kennedy announced the HAS banquet and several members from our club were present to this important event. Don Pearce continued with his tradition of keeping us updated with any comets events. Thank you Don, Steve and Susan.

For the 71^st meeting on March 25^th, Bill Leach will lead the novice program on how to find objects in the sky, and Kingwood College Art department chair, Prof. Amori Mari will show how to make those nebulae sketches better. We are accostumed to ask Aaron Clevenson “What’s up Doc… in the sky?” This time he will lead the main program presentation with a “History of our Knowledge of the Universe.” I have seen Dr. Clevenson tackled difficult subjects before. I am sure he will succeed again.

The Observation Committee, lead by Henry Norton has organized the first BBQ party at the Neal site for Saturday April the 9^th. You may arrive as early as 2 pm, the BBQ will take place from 4 to 6 pm. At 7 pm a special novice presentation will take place. The observation committee has decided to organize a community star party for September 10^th of 2005. This activity has received the approval of the NHAC executive board and the backing up of Kingwood College’s Dr. Coppolla, Dean of Science and main supporter of our club. The objectives for this community party are to increase not only the club’s membership and community exposure, but also the club’s financial resources. The executive board will appreciate any help in the organization and realization of these important activities. The club faces several obstacles which will be facilitated with greater financial resources and increasing membership dues will be our last option. Purchasing club’s T-shirts, calendars, and helping with these important activities will contribute greatly to the club’s financial well being.

If you are not a subscriber to Netslyder you are missing with all the action that is going on in the club. Ask any of the officers how to subscribe. [webmasters note: click here] Keep updated with the astrophotography that our members produce whenever Houston’s cloud cover allows.

In a personal note, I visited recently the Haynes Planetarium of the Museum of Natural History in New York City. If you happened to be in the Big Apple this is a place that should not be missed.

I hope to see you at the March meeting. Meanwhile, keep looking up.

Juan Carlos