May 2017

21 people attended

Financials:

April 1 beginning balance $2581.27

Sunfest registration $20.00

Ending balance April 30 $2561.27.

We agreed (by voting) to donate $100.00 to Ranch Heights Elementary for prizes at the event at which we will be participating. We will be listed as a sponsor for the event.

Event May 12 at Ranch Heights Elementary:

8:30 am-12:30 pm. Need volunteers especially for the 3rd-5th graders. (They will be presented a color chart on the solar system.) the kindergartners and pre-K (3 groups) will make comet necklaces. Abby and Derek from the youth group and Denise will help with the younger ones.

Event recap--April 15 at Tulsa Central Library:

400 people were there!! Rick and Jerry brought 3 solar scopes and showed the Sun to about 30 people.

The library has a grassy area and garden—2 astronauts on the Space Station were recorded reading children’s books and 40 kids lay back on blankets on the grass and looked up at a screen on the outside building wall and watched the astronauts reading to them!

There was face painting and Russian sweet breads and black tea.

There were Russian souvenirs you could buy, like sets of their famous large nested dolls.

There was a TV inside with an astronaut who played music in the space station.

Tatiana, Olga and Stacy were some of the people at the library who organized this event.

Dr. Kathryn Gardner-Vandy (who presented to us last December on meteorites) came with her daughter; Dr. “Kat” will be a guest speaker next year at a library event.

The children who attended this event were very well-mannered—they even said thank you at the end!

BAS Youth update—

Fran Stallings told stories at their last meeting.

Next public star party—

Steve will talk to the police dept. to get their OK to do one at Sooner Park May 20. (May 20 would have darker moon than May 19.) Community Center not an option those dates due to a performance May 20 and rehearsal the evening before.

Sunfest—

Sent around sign-up sheet for the setup, take-down and various time slots on June 2, 3 and 4.

(Denise will do separate communication to club members on slots still open.)

Night Sky Network—

We have 3 pins with date that we are going to use for the best pictures taken of the total solar eclipse.

One pin for youth, one for members who view the total eclipse, ane one for members who view a partial eclipse.

Steve has also received a number of solar glasses which he is passing out to those who could use them for the eclipse!

Main Program—Roundtable on Lessons Learned from Eclipse Viewing; Things to Do and Not to Do

There was a lot of good discussion!

Don’t use exposed 35 mm film (as we were told in days gone by was safe). Not safe.

Don’t use a smoked microscope slide to view the eclipse—the slide could break!

A certain grade of welders’ glasses may be OK (not sure what grade)

You can make solar glasses with sheets (8 ½ by 11) of Mylar astrosolar film. You have to be reasonably careful with the sheets when you cut them. You can use paper card stock to trace apertures; you can use a compass to draw circles and trim down with scissors. Use linen gloves when cutting. You then put the cut out Mylar sheet between two pieces of inner and outer PVC tubing. Make your filter at least a couple weeks ahead.

The Club could maybe schedule a weekend workshop to make solar filters.

You have to use a solar filter except during totality. Totality will last appx. 2 min 30 sec, depending on how close you are to the center line of the eclipse.

Thousand Oaks Optical sells glass solar filters for $80-100 of various types, including some for binoculars.

You can also go to the manufacturer’s website of your camera or binoculars to see what they may sell that would work with your equipment. Maybe even for the camera on your phone!

You can make a cardboard box with pinhole to view the eclipse (like many of us did in years gone by). You can us white paper or another color. A smaller pinhole works best with a smaller-size box; if you have a larger box you can use a bigger pinhole.

Could also consider doing a video recording of totality. Even a tape recorder could capture the calls of birds starting to roost for the night!

Bailey’s Beads (when almost total) would need a filtered telescope to be seen

If you view the eclipse from an area that will be partial, the sky will have a steely or metallic look to it

Leaves on the ground as the eclipse progresses will have a crescent shape

Eclipse websites:

www.eclipse2017.org

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

Boonville, Missouri, where Daryl is going (childhood roots there) is about 5-6 hours from Bartlesville.

NASA will be broadcasting from the Beatrice fairgrounds in Nebraska.

Practice using your equipment before you go. Be sure to practice using your remote finderscope, if you have one on your telescope.

Make a checklist of the things you want to bring with you, similar to what you would bring when you view an occultation

Be sure you bring charged batteries, including backup batteries

Take spares of any other equipment parts that you may have

Take water, sunscreen, bug spray, sun umbrella and rain umbrella

On the day: Allow twice as much time as you think you will need to set up your equipment on the day. Try not to get too flustered!

Future club presentations—need volunteers!

Denise is planning one on clouds for the fall. Daryl said he would do one on his solar eclipse pictures.