Houston Science Enthusiasts

ONLINE: The Houston Astronomical Society presents
Don Selle in a presentation titled “One Hundred Years Living in the Universe" - Part 1".

Description: "Humanity has been living in the Universe for exactly 101 years. We got here on January 1st, 2025, when a paper by Edwin Hubble titled “Cephids in Spiral Nebulae” was read to the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held in Washington D.C. that year.

"Since we have always lived in the Universe, one filled with about a trillion galaxies like our own Milky Way, this sounds strange, but it’s true. The results in Hubble’s paper, proved unequivocally that the multitude of “spiral nebulae” astronomers had studied, were not a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, but existed far outside of it. Suddenly, the Milky Way was demoted from being the entire Universe, to being a rather common member of an immensely larger system of galaxies like the Milky Way.

"This presentation provides a brief survey of the understanding of the Universe from about 1920 through the confirmation of the Big Bang in 1965. During this period, our concept of the Universe changed dramatically. It will touch on the key discoveries, the new technology which made them possible and the people whose research expanded our understanding of the Universe we live in."

Speaker: Don Selle is a happily retired engineer and project manager whose career in the offshore oil and gas industry took him to many places around the world. Some of them were even nice places to work.
Since 2003, Don has been an avid amateur astronomer, astro-imager and HAS member. Studying the history and science of astronomy kept him well occupied and mostly out of trouble during his long stays away from home.

But his real passion has been for astro-imaging. Starting out with only a basic knowledge of photography, he has learned the ropes and has become a competent astrophotographer and nightscape imager. After 20 years of learning the craft, he is still striving to complete that perfect astro-image that knocks the socks off those who view it and wins multiple awards. It’s good to have a dream!

This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. To attend, you must register for the meeting. You can use the link below. You will receive an email with the details of the meeting and a link that will allow you to join in.

Register here.

You only need to register once!

Join us Friday, January 9th, 2026, at 7:00 pm CT.
See you then!

Top image credit: NASA/ESA

HYBRID: The Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society will hold a meeting featuring NASA Solar System Explorer Annie Wargetz in a presentation titled "To Boldly Go Closer to the Sun Than Ever Before."

Bio: Annie Wargetz is a life-long space enthusiast who has a passion for getting the public and all those around her as excited about space exploration as she is. Annie holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston in Communications. She focused on public relations/advertising and earned a minor in mathematics. She holds a graduate degree in Space Sciences from the University of North Dakota where she focused her studies on human spaceflight. She studied mission and spacecraft design as well as life support systems. Her masters thesis looked at the psychological challenges humans may face during the long duration missions back to the Moon and Mars.

The meeting at will be held at the University of Houston-Clear Lake STEM Building, Room 1203 starting at 7:30 p.m.. People should arrive between 7 and 7:15 p.m. Attendees should park in Parking Lots D3 or D4 no earlier than 7 p.m.

Please see the UHCL Map here -- Please park in lots D3 and D4. The STEM building is building #5 on the map. Come in from the east side and go left. When you come to the end of hallway, you should find the auditorium where the meeting will be.

The meeting can be accessed by going to the JSCAS YouTube Channel at the link: https://www.youtube.com/c/JSCAstronomicalSociety

Also, the JSCAS YouTube Channel link will be posted on the JSCAS web page: http://www.jscas.net

To submit questions for our presenters during the meeting, please either enter your questions as a YouTube comment (if you have an account that will allow doing so) or send your questions to: jscaslive@gmail.com

JSCAS is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy and membership is free. After joining, you’ll have access to our amazing Astronomy DVD Library with 100’s of choices to learn from (from Astronomy Magazine, NASA, The Great Courses, Discovery Channel, etc.).

Top image: NASA

IN PERSON: Join us for a fun, relaxed Game Night where the goal is simple: bring your favorite games and enjoy playing them in good company.

Some game suggestions and how to play: Codenames, Taboo, Decrypto, Ransome notes, Just One, Bananagrams.

We will meet at Brasil in the back, street parking is available on Westheimer/Dunlavy or nearby streets.

Come by, meet new people, and spend the evening playing games!

IN PERSON: Let's meet and talk about our transition away from fossil fuels based on Henry Sanderson's work.

"Electricity is the thing. There are no whirring and grinding gears with their numerous levers to confuse. There is not that almost terrifying uncertain throb and whirr of the powerful combustion engine. There is no water-circulating system to get out of order – no dangerous and evil-smelling gasoline and no noise." Thomas Edison

"Within a year, I hope, we shall begin the manufacture of an electric automobile. I don’t like to talk about things which are a year ahead, but I am willing to tell you something of my plans. The fact is that Mr. Edison and I have been working for some years on an electric automobile which would be cheap and practicable. Cars have been built for experimental purposes, and we are satisfied now that the way is clear to success. The problem so far has been to build a storage battery of light weight which would operate for long distances without recharging. Mr. Edison has been experimenting with such a battery for some time." Henry Ford

Everyone is welcome whether you have explored the topic before or not.

You can:

• read sample
• view past selections
• view pool of candidates
• add your ideas to the pool of candidates

At this meeting each person can nominate a publication to be voted on whether it is from the pool of candidates or not.

We'll be meeting at Cafe Express. There is ample parking in the nearby lot.

Come prepared to discuss and share ideas on the topic and have a good time.

Looking forward to seeing you there!