May 2018

18 people in attendance, two guests

Financials:

Beginning balance April 1 2018: $2992.10

1 renewal $40.00

Ending balance April 30 $3032.10

Abby received an Outreach Award from the Astronomical League. To receive an AL Outreach Award, you must be a member of the Astronomical League. She logged her outreach time for the last 3 years. She received the basic Outreach Award, (the pin and a certificate) for outreach at 5 events of at least 2 hours each; and a certificate for the Stellar Outreach Award which is for 50 additional hours of outreach. ( Note: Set up and take down time, preparation time and writing articles or presentations is vital, but does not count toward the Outreach Award. Face to face contact is all that counts.)

The Astronomical League website says, "The Astronomy League’s Outreach Award encourages and recognizes the work of individuals who promote the hobby of astronomy."

1. Outreach is paramount to the survival of our hobby. Our clubs need new members of all ages, and outreach programs by clubs or individuals are important to the growth of our hobby.

2. Outreach can also enhance the lives of individuals in our schools and communities. Astronomy is a worthwhile hobby and has much to offer individuals and society. Through outreach programs, we offer children and youth a door into mathematics and sciences which may become future career fields. Outreach to older adults can introduce them to astronomy as a new challenge that can enrich retirement years. Outreach for intergenerational groups can enhance a family’s life together.

3. The highly-successful League Observing Programs are popular and inviting. By making Astronomy Outreach on the same level as other League Observing Programs, it promotes the importance of outreach among our many members. It would also encourage clubs/societies to become more involved.

Upcoming events:

  • May 18 at 7 pm, Jenks Planetarium. An professor of History of Science from OU will speak. All invited to attend.

  • Sunfest June 1-3: Denise passed out sign-up sheets, is working on canopy and trying to find the Club banner.

  • August 18 Woolarac Astronomy Day: There will be daytime activities and an evening star party. If interested email Karen Cruce.

Abby’s Astronomy News highlights:

  • An international team of astronomers has found that a small Kuiper Belt object called 2004 EW95 is a carbonaceous (carbon-rich) asteroid -- the first of its kind to be confirmed in the Kuiper Belt, a distant region of icy debris that extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune.

  • A team of astronomers from the Australian National University and the University of Crete has determined the 3D structure of the interstellar molecular cloud Musca, and discovered that the cloud is vibrating with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves.

  • Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found a giant arc of light behind SDSS J1156+1911, a cluster of hundreds of galaxies located about 5.4 billion light-years from Earth

  • ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured the sharpest image ever of the Tarantula Nebula and its rich surroundings.

  • Astronomers using ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory have discovered an unusual laser emission from the planetary nebula Menzel 3 (often referred to as the Ant Nebula), which suggests the presence of a binary stellar system in its center. The discovery is described in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

  • Abby's site, from Pinterest login page: login is youthbastro@gmail,com, password astronomy. Then click on Bvill Astronomical Society.

Daryl’s astronomy update:

  • Jupiter in opposition in a couple days

  • Mars is good for viewing before dawn

  • See the ring nebula in Lyra around midnight

  • May 15 new moon, dark sky

  • He saw the globular clusters M3 last night

  • Can see largest open globular cluster in Alpha Centauri if you go further south—from latitude 30 degrees on south

  • He showed image of M3 in Bootes and an image of Jupiter and Mars taken May 6

Bob Young also showed an image taken near Tahlequah of an Eta Aquarid meteor shower!

Main presentation: String Theory by Daryl Doughty

Daryl made a very comprehensive presentation on this topic, from its historical roots through a range of renowned scientists back through centuries of pioneer work, to the present day. Daryl said that a helpful book on this topic is “String Theory for Dummies”!

“You can pull a string but you can’t push it”—Dwight Eisenhower. Here is a link to his presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d9x5Y2qev-jtNCFIlW6ghL8Eb916xyK6/view