February 2022 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2022
• Opening and Welcome
• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup
• 10 people in attendance, including one visitor
• Tonight’s Program—update on library display from Denise
Denise discussed the plans for the library display in May. Our theme is objects that you can view with naked eye/binoculars/camera/small and large telescopes, plus give information about our Club and its history, the BYA (including what youth do to get Sky Puppy Awards) and our work on setting up Osage Hills State Park as a dark sky park. We want to show pictures of our Club and the BYA actively “doing things”…to show that we had outreach events prior to 2020!
Denise reviewed pictures taken from the digital display that Abby and Lashawn put together. Denise picked out some of the best of the best that fit our theme to enlarge, but we need originals to do them!
Denise also discussed a Q and A that Lynne Hunt developed about the James Webb telescope. The library display committee will decide if we should include this.
• Astronomical News and Events--John Blaesi and John Grismore
John Blaesi presented these news items:
James Webb telescope: The James Webb Telescope has reached its destination, the L2 point about 932,000 miles beyond Earth. The mission has gone so well so far, it’s possible that its active life could be 20 years instead of 10! It would need small course corrections, but so far the work that has been put into it has really paid off! The James Webb is now in the process of calibrating its 18 large hexagon mirrors and turning on its scientific instruments. The 18 hexagonal mirrors are precisely aligned to within a width of 1/5000 of a human hair!
In other astronomical news:
Icy cliffs have been discovered on Mars
20% of twilight observations from Earth have satellite passes. It is important for us to continue our search for near-Earth asteroids.
SpaceX Falcon to hit the Moon March 4
February 16—Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun in the morning—26 degrees from the Sun
Wednesday morning, February 9 predawn, Venus will be the brightest it will be this year
Constellation of the month: Gemini
In Gemini are these deep sky objects—M35, NGC 2244, NGC 2264, NGC 2392, IC 443…plus the stars Pollux and Castor!
If you would like to view ISS transits, check this website—
The grass has recently been mowed at Jo Allyn Lowe Park.
Kalamazoo Astronomical Society
• Introduction to Amateur Astronomy - January 15 through March 12, 12:00-2:00 CST
• Great class - Register now!
• https://www.kasonline.org/amastro.html
• Business
• Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg - Approved
• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn
• Ending balance December 31, 2021: $7465.68.
• Received P66 volunteer grant that John Blaesi earned--$1262.30
• Received $190.00 in dues
• No expenses this past month
• Ending balance January 31, 2022 $8917.98
• Committee Reports
• Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg
• Dues due before the end of March. The April AlCor report determines who gets the Reflector for the coming year. Denise will work with Evan to send an email to members about renewing, and the broader newsletter group, in case anyone would like to join.
• Denise mentioned that she forwarded an email to members about the MSRAL conference for this year; it will be held June 3-5 at Washington University in St. Louis.
• Denise also mentioned that she sent to members an email about volunteering for the science fair later this month. They are looking for volunteer judges. The email has all the details.
• Youth club (BYA) news - Rick Bryant—Rick was not in attendance
• Library Display
• Zoom meeting on Saturday at 10:30
• New Business
• FCC may be donating the building to the city
• Need a committee to track this and explore other storage options—need volunteers. So far Evan and Rick Buck have volunteered to work on this.
• Need speakers and topics for future meetings. Ideas:
• Betty Keim has volunteered to present something, later in year
• Do a presentation on the Hertzspuing-Russell Diagram?
• Do a presentation on the AAS Worldwide Telescope.org site? http://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/
• Adjournment
• Next meeting - March 7 at library
• Ice cream at virtual Braum’s!!!
• Motion to adjourn