Bartlesville Astronomical Society

Next BAS Monthly Meeting:

Monday, April 1, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the library (meeting room C) and via Zoom

Topic:  The Eclipse That Verified Einstein's Theory of Relativity by Dr. Brian Turner, Oklahoma Wesleyan University


Einstein's Eclipse:  The total solar eclipse of 1919 confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity and made him a world-wide celebrity with his brilliant and revolutionary ideas. It was not an easy measurement, however, and scientists had to battle travel, weather, and even world war to bring Einstein what he needed. This is the story of how an eclipse could prove Einstein correct, and how photographing such an eclipse would become an adventure - full of failures, but ultimately success.



The Great American Eclipse of April 8, 2024 is coming up soon!  Are you ready?  At the April 1 BAS meeting, the countdown will be at T-minus 7 days to the April 8 eclipse, and after that, we won’t have another total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. until August 23, 2044!  That's twenty years from now.  Don’t be left without the dark!


Club members will be sent a link to the Zoom meeting.  Here is a link to the Join page on our website!  If you are not a Club member but would like to attend, please email bvilleastro@gmail.com and ask to have the Zoom link sent to you!

BAS meetings feature presentations on a variety of astronomy and space science topics. Meetings are usually on the first Monday evening of each month and are open to the public. Guests are always welcome. More event details are listed on our calendar.

Next Bartian Youth Astronomers (BYA) Monthly Meeting:

To be determined.  BYA meetings are on hiatus right now.  

Any youth-related questions can be directed to our main Club email address, bvilleastro@gmail.com.

This is a link to the former Bartian Youth Astronomers page on our website.

Any future youth meetings will be listed on our calendar.

Horsehead Nebula, February 2024, by Daryl Doughty

Rosette Nebula, March  2024, by Daryl Doughty

Girl Scout Event at WahShahShe, April 2023

Bartlesville Public Library Display for May 2023

Solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024.  These will be partial eclipses in Bartlesville.

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | The 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipses: Map and DataThe map was updated on March 15, 2023, to correct times in Mexico along the total eclipse path. || A map showing where the Moon’s shadow will cross the U.S. during the 2023 annular solar eclipse and 2024 total solar eclipse. Available at 5400 x 2700, 10,800 x 5400, and 22,500 x 11,250. || This map illustrates the paths of the Moon’s shadow across the U.S. during two upcoming solar eclipses. On October 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America creating a path of annularity. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth while at its farthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, it does not completely block the Sun. This will create a “ring of fire” effect in the sky for those standing in the path of annularity. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North and Central America creating a path of totality. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon completely blocks the Sun while it passes between the Sun and Earth. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk and those standing in the path of totality may see the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) if weather permits.Making the MapThis map uses datasets from several NASA missions. The eclipse data were calculated by visualizer Ernie Wright using elevation information from SRTM, lunar topography from LRO, and planetary positions from the JPL DE421 ephemeris. The lead visualizer, Michala Garrison, used Earth imagery from NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation to create the terrain map. Likewise, nighttime Earth imagery from NASA’s Black Marble were used along the path of the 2024 total solar eclipse. Reading the MapThe dark paths across the map are where the largest area of the Sun will be covered by the Moon. People in these paths will experience either an annular or total solar eclipse. Inside these dark eclipse paths are irregular ovals that delineate the Moon’s shadow on the Earth’s surface. For an annular solar eclipse, these ovals are called the antumbra and together make up the path of annularity. For a total solar eclipse, the ovals are called the umbra and create the path of totality. On the map, the ovals contain times inside corresponding to the shape of the Moon’s shadow cast at that time during the eclipse.Also within the dark paths are duration contours. These delineate the length of time annularity or totality will last. The closer to the center of the solar eclipse path, the longer it will last. For the annular path, times range from a few seconds on the outer edge to a maximum of around 4.5 minutes in the center. For the total path, times range up to 4 minutes. Outside the eclipse paths, the map displays contours of obscuration, or percentage of the Sun’s area covered by the Moon. Readers can trace the lines to percents printed along the left and top of map for the 2023 annular solar eclipse and along the right and bottom for the 2024 total solar eclipse. Notice how the 2024 total solar eclipse has a higher maximum percentage because the Moon will completely cover the Sun’s surface.Learn more about the map here. View an up-close tour of the map here. Download Eclipse Data 2023 Annular Eclipse Data: 2023eclipse_shapefiles.zip 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Data: 2024eclipse_shapefiles.zipEach .zip file above contains the following files:center.shp A high-resolution polyline tracing the path of the shadow center. Region limited.duration.shp Isocontours of maximum total or annular duration, at 30-second intervals.ppath.shp “Penumbra path,” contours of maximum partial obscuration (area of the Sun covered by the Moon) at 5% intervals.ppath01.shp “Penumbra path,” contours of maximum partial obscuration (area of the Sun covered by the Moon) at 1% intervals.umbra_hi.shp High resolution umbra (or antumbra) polygons, at 1-second intervals. Region limited. umbra_lo.shp Lower resolution umbra (or antumbra) polygons, at 10-second intervals. Global.upath_hi.shp High resolution path shape. Region limited.upath_lo.shp Lower resolution path shape. Global.More Map Versions

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) near Mars in Taurus on February 11, 2023.

You can also see the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and the Hyades.

Total lunar eclipse taken by one of our Club members May 15, 2022

Bartlesville Clear Outside Chart

Visit TheSkyLive.com for more information about the moon and many other objects in our solar system. 

 

BAS is part of the Astronomical League and the Night Sky Network:

https://www.astroleague.org/
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club-view.cfm?Club_ID=1422

      

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