What would it be like without stars at night? What is it we lose? Starry night skies have given us poetry, art, music and the wonder to explore. A bright night sky (aka light pollution) affects energy consumption, health and wildlife too. Spend a few minutes to help scientists by measuring the brightness of your night sky. Join the GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaign (www.globeatnight.org). The first campaign starts January 3 and runs through January 12.

The Astronomical League has added another observing program for your viewing and educational enjoyment. The Observe Stellar Evolution Program will introduce you to 100 objects in various stages of evolution. The program has an observing manual, packed full of interesting information along with selected celestial objects to enforce the evolutionary nature of the cosmos.

By Bill Pellerin
Houston Astronomical Society GuideStar Editor

What skills do you need to have to become an amateur astronomer? It depends on what you want to do as an amateur astronomer. I was thinking about this question as I recently upgraded the operating system on my computer. Doing so involves performing backups of the computer, establishing a back-out plan if the upgrade fails, testing the system after the upgrade, and resolving the odd problems that remain following the upgrade.

The Asterism Observing Program has been updated with new asterisms to observe. Today, 5 new asterisms were added to the list, making the total number of asterisms to choose from 114. You only need to observe 100 to get the Program's Award Certificate and Pin. Troy and Michelle Stratton's goal is to have 200 or more asterisms on the list to choose from so the list will be constantly updated.