September 2016

Financials:

Beginning balance August 1 $1956.27

1 new member $20.00

1 new family membership $40.00

Payment ton NH Insurance Co. liability $320.00

Ending balance $1696.27.

20 people attended, including some youth. (Some youth, including Abby, could not attend due to competing events, such as the tryouts for the ballet company’s Christmas production of the Nutcracker.)

Special event September 29, storytelling by Cassandra Wye, “Firelight Starlight”

Sponsored by the Tallgrass Storytellers; Fran Stallings is arranging it and we will do the publicity. Starts at 7 pm. Fran has sent details to Denise with the publicity that she would like to have. Cassandra (from England) has worked with Lynn Mahoney in Oklahoma City also on this.

Tulsa Astronomy Club special event Sept. 10 evening:

Richard Brady of the Tulsa club has invited anyone interested to an event they are hosting at the planetarium in Jenks Sept 10 at 7 pm. They will show John Grismore’s video of the Aldebaran-lunar conjunction video. Steve will try to go.

Special event September 24: Rocket Club of Tulsa

is having a rocket launch event at the Pawhuska Airport outside Pawhuska during the day, plus a special night time launch. If you want to be there at night, you can watch the rocket launch plus bring a telescope to look at the night sky in general. To get there, if you go west from here on 60, you go through Pawhuska and then watch for signs to go to your right to the airport. The airport exit is just after the exit for Lake Pawhuska. The Bartian Youth Astronomers may go.

Daryl’s images of the month:

Aug. 27 conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Closest approach is when the sun was still up but he was able to get pictures, through his telescope, using a 135 mm lens, then a 1000 m lens and other lenses while still keeping the Sun out of the pictures. He even mananged to do a hands-off auto-focus picture, and it worked! Daryl demonstrated how using different types of lens will give you different types of images.

Sunspot grouping August 13; has since diminished and sunspots in general now are still dropping off

Next month’s meeting: Daryl will present on next year’s solar eclipse in Missouri. He mentioned getting a room at the Bonneville, MO casino, so you could do something else if it is cloudy! Daryl suggests booking a hotel now for next summer. The totality of the eclipse will begin (in the US) in Oregon, then go through Nebraska to Missouri and then to South Carolina. Maximum period of totality will be 2 min 40 sec. The band of totality in Missouri will be 70 miles wide.

Main presentation—Resistance Is Futile by the Bartian Youth Astronomers

Rick Bryant’s leadoff:

Rick, who heads the group, explained that the group started with 4 youth and now have 25 members with three more close to joining.

They are getting requests for information at the rate of about two per month, including some youth who heard about the group at Sunfest.

The group could not do what it does without the support of the parents, who help with driving, taking notes and providing snacks. A key snack ingredient for the club is chocolate in some form! Racheeta and Jerry from the BAS adult club have volunteered to provide additional leadership to the youth group.

The group has an emblem, a galactic emblem with the Big and Little Dippers and Cassiopeia, and a mascot, Barvin 1.0. Barvin even has a twin, Barvelle.

Each member has a notebook to record observations. (Members are also active on their own, in addition to what they do at meetings!)

The youth of the group are a source of infinite energy, and some of the latter comes from chocolate…

Derek Herman’s main presentation:

Derek illustrated the fun events the Bartians have had with his own and other Bartians’ images and videos.

He showed his first astronomical image of the Moon’s terminator, taken with a Canon SX camera mounted on a tripod.

He showed Abby’s video of the ISS lunar transit April 15, taken with a Panasonic point and shoot camera mounted on a tripod.

He showed Abby’s video of Mercury transiting the Sun taken at the BAS/BAS Youth event during the day on May 9.

He discussed Sunfest—which resulted in a lot of new members!

He showed Abby’s video of the ISS solar transit, taken before the BAS adult meeting June 6.

He showed images he took at the June 11 star party at Wah-Shah-She of the Moon plus Jupiter with 4 moons. These images were taken with iPhones and cameras.

He showed his video of the ISS lunar transit on June 16.

He discussed the star party at the BCC July 22, which a number of Pokemon-Go downtown walkers visited!

The Bartians’ next outdoor event was the Perseid meteor shower August 12 at Abby’s friends’ house and yard.

Rick then described how a typical Bartian club meeting goes—

Welcome new members and guests

Celebrate any milestones the members have

Have a short business meeting

Snacks, including chocolate

Have a main program—it could be a learn and earn hands-on skill session, for example.

Plan the next meeting in detail

Door prizes (just started having those)

The group has had 3 or 4 meetings so far.

Derek and Abigail (at 14 years of age) are the oldest members of the group.

Derek, in his “Reflections of a Bartian”, said that he enjoys learning about telescopes, astronomy, and leadership.

Rick read some of Abby’s speech that she was going to present. Abby noted that the club makes astronomy less intimidating. It has added to her vocabulary and has stimulated her mind.

Christi (Derek’s mother) noted in her presentation that the club develops skills in public speaking and in volunteering to help others and work with others.

Brendan, another parent in the group, discussed in his presentation that he has seen 3 major “connections” benefits of the group: Connection to the universe, to the community, and to family (learning together). He found out about the group at Sunfest.

One final thought..Okie-Tex star party weekend coming up over the state line in rural New Mexico