March 2022 Meeting Notes

Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Minutes

March 7, 2022

• Opening and Welcome

• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup

• 13 people in attendance including four visitors (two of them recurring visitors). Three people attended via Zoom and the rest were in-person at the library.

• Tonight’s Program

• James Webb Space Telescope Community Initiative - John Blaesi

• The James Webb Telescope is an infrared observatory with the largest and most powerful and complex space telescope ever!

• NASA is helping schools, colleges, libraries, and astronomy clubs like ours to try to bring the James Webb Telescope’s discoveries into communities, either virtually or in person (or both). NASA wants to bring science to the people, and to reach underserved audiences.

• John Blaesi submitted an application on behalf of the Club for us to be involved in this initiative as a host. We will be matched with a subject matter expert so that we can engage with the public.

• As part of this initiative, we can work with schools. We can also partner with existing events, to incorporate information about the James Webb Telescope into scheduled events. We can also do our own events.

• Events will be supported by—

• Training session for hosts and speakers

• Virtual subject matter expert panels

• Event and media support, with prepared materials

• STEM activities and resources

• Event timeline—primarily between July (after images start to be published) and October

• Observing and Imaging Reports

• Bob Young showed interesting images taken on a cruise of the sunset with optical effect of an inverted mirage.

• Astronomical News and Events

• John Blaesi and John Grismore

• First quadruple asteroid system has been discovered, asteroid Elektra with three moons. The asteroid was originally discovered in 1873. It was initially thought to have two moons, but recent analysis has shown that it has three moons!

• A giant solar eruption was seen by the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter. It’s not coming here, but this is the largest prominence ever discovered in a single image of the full solar disk.

• James Webb Telescope update: Mirror alignment is currently going on and should be complete by the end of summer.

• Asteroid 2022 AE1 was thought to be a possible risk for Earth on July 4, 2023, but further studies have shown that this is not the case. No risk for us now, at least for the foreseeable future

• Events coming up:

• March 7—lunar occultation of Uranus

• March 30—Mars, Jupiter and Saturn close together. The last two weeks of March, Saturn and Venus will be close to each other before sunrise.

• April 30—partial solar eclipse (not here)

• May 16—total lunar eclipse

• June 24—view six planets

• Constellation of the month: Cancer

• If you wish to know when solar and lunar ISS transits are coming, look at https://transit-finder.com

• Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

• Introduction to Amateur Astronomy - January 15 - March 12 12:00-2:00 CST

• Great class - Register now!

• https://www.kasonline.org/amastro.html

• Business

• Minutes of previous meeting posted online by Denise Gregg were approved

• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn

• Ending balance January 31, 2022: $8917.98

• Received COP volunteer grant for $1000.00 for volunteer hours Craig put in—thanks Craig!

• Ending balance Feb. 28, 2022: $9917.98

• Dues are due now. The second quarter Astronomical League report goes in first week of April. This sets our Astronomical League dues for 2022, and Reflector subscriptions for Club members.

• Committee Reports

• Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg. No news this month, other than the April AlCor report determines Reflector subscriptions for members for the coming year.

• Youth club (BYA) news - Rick Bryant—Rick was not in attendance this evening.

• Library Display

• Zoom meeting on Saturday, March 23 at 10:30 a.m. Work is ongoing to prepare the exhibit.

• New Business

• FCC may be donating the building to the city

• Need a committee to track this and explore other storage options. Rick Buck and Evan have agreed to work on this.

• We are discussing having star parties the second Friday of each month, with an alternate date the second Saturday of each month. For April, this would be Friday, April 8, or alternate date Saturday, April 9. The idea is to schedule a star party once a month on a given “the 2nd second Friday or Saturday” so that people can plan and put it on their calendars. If the weather is not conducive either date, then we won’t have a star party that month.

• Adjournment

• Next meeting - April 4 at library

• Ice cream at Braum’s!!!

• Motion to adjourn