November 2013

Steve Plank conducted the meeting as Daryl was sick. He even managed to do it without his laptop, because it wasn't working! Well done!

Treasurer's Report

Beginning balance October 1 $1161.07, ending balance $1241.07. During the month 4 renewals @20.00 each came in.

Star Party at Wesleyan Christian School

We discussed having another star party at the Wesleyan Christian School. (We had one there several years ago.) It would be held on a TBD date in January around 5:30/6 pm for the 4th/5th grades. It would start with a small program (held inside) followed by star-watching in the playground for about an hour. Likely date would be 2nd or 3rd week in January on a Thursday night. The exact date/time would depend on the school's schedule and lunar phase.

Big binoculars would work as well as telescope. If can bring either, email Steve Plan at bvillepiper@sbcglobal.net.

Comet ISON

Brightest between Thanksgiving and Christmas; try watching November 27 early am before sunrise. What happens on Thanksgiving when the comet passes closest to the Sun will determine what we see after that. Try looking in the vicinity of Mars/Regulus/Leo right before daylight.

Program Chairman

We Need One. Any volunteers?? Daryl can name a proxy program chairman.

Dark Skies Update

We found out that we could apply for certification without becoming a member of the Dark Sky Association. Not applying now (for sure) would avoid us having to file official forms by January 31 without actually having done any Dark Sky activity, so we will at least not become a chapter this year.

There was a lively discussion about should we even think about trying for Dark Sky certification with the relatively small membership we have right now!! It was suggested that we try to bring more people into the BAS by taking our telescopes out to where the people are--say outside a movie theater at the mall, or outside Frank and Lola's or the Painted Horse (formerly Two Sisters) on a Friday or Saturday night. Say have 3 telescopes, one pointed to the Moon, one at Jupiter (maybe see some moons) and one at Saturn. That might spark some interest. It would be good to increase active membership in the BAS anyway, let alone thinking about Dark Skies!

Joyce Gray Ritchie said that she has taught recently in the schools and astronomy gets little attention. In lower grades, it would be part of "earth science" and given maybe 2 days' attention in a school year. In high school would be a small part of a physics class only. (Reaching people "where they are" with telescopes may help!)

Could we set up an LED light menu board to advertise our star parties??

Bartlesville spent $250,000 a year 8/9 years ago just on street lights.

PSO owns them. New light fixtures more suitable for Dark Sky certification would be more expensive than current lights. Denise said she will research before the next meeting what newer kinds of lighting PSO might offer.

A good star viewing site is about 25 miles north of town, north of Hulah Lake.

Calendars

Karen Cruce brought the calendars people had ordered. She also brought a sample of one called the Year in Space (12.95 each for a wall or desk calendar) which she gave to Clarence.

December Program

Karen Cruce volunteered to do something on comets

January program

Virgil volunteered to do something, topic TBD.

Publicity

Carroll said that he and Joyce will take this up again. She said that the Examiner isn't making as much space available now to announce meetings like ours. The "yellow sheet" does attract the downtown work crowd.