November 2021 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society
November 1, 2021
Opening and Welcome
Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup
Thanks for your participation! May want to mute unless speaking.
Welcome guests and new members
11 in attendance this evening, including two guests—one first time and one recurring
Announcements
Library meeting room status:
The library is available for meetings! When do we want wheto meet in person?
January 10 is FBS final game
January 6? Denise will contact the library to reschedule the January meeting from January 10 to January 6. Mike advised that, based on current COVID-19 status, we should require masks at the January meeting. We will discuss this again at the December meeting.
Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg—Approved
Treasurer’s report—Evan Zorn:
Financials for the previous month:
Ending balance September 30 $7000.66
No activity in October.
Ending balance October 31 $7000.66
Committee reports:
Astronomical League news and activities—Denise Gregg
Peggy Walker is looking for photos for the MSRAL website.
Youth Club (BYA) news—Rick Bryant—Rick was not in attendance this evening.
Library display 2021:
If you have items at the First Christian Church, plan to pick them up at the church later.
There are two levels in storage—who are the owners?
Library display May 2022:
Need someone to volunteer to be chair of this event
Denise volunteered to be chair, but will need other people to work on this project
Denise has reserved Meeting room A from 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on May 7 for Astronomy Day, which we can use in conjunction with the library display.
Dark Sky Committee—John Blaesi:
We have made sky quality measurements at OHSP, 21.03 or better
At Jo Allyn Lowe on October 29, took measurements of 19.93
Need volunteers to take measurements
Email bvilleastro+darksky@gmail.com if interested in helping
Old business:
Astronomical League Coordinator:
Need permanent replacement for Kristi Herrmann—Denise Gregg is filling in
Web wizard and social media wrangler:
Need permanent replacement for Derek Herrmann—Denise Gregg is filling in
Need someone with Facebook and Twitter skills
Yahoo email:
Our old bvilleastro@yahoo.com email address—is it used anywhere?
Need letterhead and name badges with Club logo
New business:
We need participation of members!
Star parties:
No new specific star parties were discussed.
Elections in November:
Nominations?
Keep existing elected officers
Karen Cruce will resign from appointed at-large position; John Blaesi is willing to serve as an at-large Board member.
We will send out an email for people to vote
Dues:
Dues are payable in January.
Should we extend memberships again?
Should we ask if people want to be dropped from membership?
Active members should pay.
Evan and Denise need to work on getting PayPal to work on our Club website.
Tulsa Girl Scouts:
They are trying to get an observatory
Craig met with Rachel
8-inch SkyWatcher Dobsonian
Astronomy News and Events:
NOVA series on “Universe Revealed”
Astronomy News—Abby Bollenbach:
Abby is making presentations for Astronomy magazine
Latest are “The Voyager Missions” and “What Are Quasars?”
View them at http://astronomy.com, select the Videos tab
Astronomy Club of Tulsa:
November 22—in-person at Jenks Planetarium at 7:00 p.m.
John Blaesi presented on “Obtaining a Dark Sky Designation” via Zoom at their October meeting
John Land—anything to announce?
OKC Astronomy Club:
Okie-Tex October 1-9:
Did anyone attend?
Cosmosphere:
Kalamazoo Astronomical Society:
Zoom meetings online, register at https://kasonline.org
Next club Zoom meeting:
November 5 at 6:00 p.m. CDT. Topic is “Luminous”—a documentary screening about a prediction of a binary star merger in Cygnus in 2022
Astrophotography Special Interest Group (SIG):
Next SIG Zoom meeting is November 19 at 7:00 p.m. Topic is Gifts for the Astrophotographer. Register at above website.
KAS remote telescope sessions begin November 6 at 8:30 p.m. CDT
Introduction to Amateur Astronomy via Zoom begins January 15 at 12:00-2:00 p.m. CST. This takes place on five Saturdays. Register at above website. 900 people registered for the sessions that began in January 2021!
International Dark Sky Association (IDA)
Virtual Global Conference November 12-13 via Zoom
Register on their website
Upcoming meteor showers:
Taurids - November 4
Leonids – November 17-18
Other upcoming astronomical events:
Lunar eclipse November 19 – Early morning 12:00 a.m.-6:03 a.m., maximum 97% of totality at 3:03 a.m. (The penumbral eclipse begins at 12:02 a.m., partial eclipse begins at 1:18 a.m., partial eclipse ends at 4:47 a.m., penumbral eclipse ends at 6:03 a.m.)
Ceres – in opposition November 27; in Taurus now near Aldebaran, moving through the horns
Club events:
Star parties—Rick Buck:
Girl Scout Observing Event at Wah-Shah-She:
Reschedule sometime
Maureen of the Tulsa GSA is contact
They will possibly have an eVscope
School star parties:
Dewey School—TBA
St. Luke’s—TBA
Wayside School—TBA
Any other star parties?
Osage Hills First Light—next year!
John Blaesi—upcoming events:
Jo Allyn Lowe Star Garden with John Grismore
OHSP?
Observing Reports:
OHSP:
Went to OHSP a few times
Member photos:
Denise showed 6 images of the Milky Way that Bob Young sent to her.
Any other Club events since the last meeting?
Club members’ star party at Jo Allyn Lowe October 29. The lighting has improved since the City made recent lighting changes in the park. Three Club members attended. They observed Saturn with Titan, Jupiter with 3 moons, Venus, a number of nebulae and clusters, and the Andromeda galaxy. Craig also saw a meteor while observing Mizar in the Club telescope; we determined later that this was part of the lambda Ursae Majorids meteor shower. We used the Club 10-inch Dobsonian telescope, but it was challenging as it needs to be collimated! We would like to remind members that if they think they will be at a Club event at the park past 11 p.m., they need to contact Lisa Beeman with Bartlesville Parks ahead of time, so that she can notify the officers who check the parks after 11:00 p.m.
Tonight’s program:
Discussion of Club future:
John Blaesi sent an email to Club members before the meeting with ideas on encouraging member participation, and what the Club has already planned for the coming year. The text of this email has been converted to a Word document that will be posted on the Meeting Programs page of our website.
The email served as a springboard for discussion at the Club meeting. Beyond what was in the email, here are thoughts that were expressed at the meeting:
Get another library loaner scope
Put the Club business card on the current library loaner scope
Revisit the idea that has been brought up in the past about a texting system to notify Club members of late-breaking events. (The email about the star party at Jo Allyn Lowe on October 29 wasn’t sent out until late that afternoon, so not everyone in the Club may have seen it in time to attend.)
Put Club meetings on the city magazine calendar
Plan a Club visit to Tulsa Air and Space Museum and/or Jenks Planetarium
Discuss star trackers? We didn’t really discuss these at the meeting.
Next meeting:
December 1—topic TBD. Elections will take place at this meeting.
Future meeting programs:
Volunteers needed for upcoming meetings—contact Bob Young. Thanks!
Betty Keim interested in another meeting (in person or via Zoom this fall)
Adjournment:
Any other announcements or questions?
Ice cream at virtual Braum’s!!!
Motion to adjourn