Copy August 2021 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society
August 2, 2021
Opening and Welcome
Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup
11 people in attendance including charter member Ronald and recent visitor Sreeram
Announcements
90mm telescope donation from Joe Kelton
Jo Allyn Lowe Park Star Garden
Front page of Examiner-Enterprise - July 18
Thanks to John Blaesi and John Grismore for working with Lisa Beeman and the Park Board to set this up!
Library is available for meetings! We decided to hold the September meeting via Zoom as we will have an outside guest speaker from Owasso.
They are currently allowing meetings of 10 or fewer people without masks or social distancing; if more than 10, need to have masks or social distancing.
Thanks to John Grismore, John Blaesi, Mike Woods, and others for the Shut-in Newsletter and our regular newsletter
The Shut-in Supplement had its last edition come out August 1, after being published for a year and four months!
Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg were approved
Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn
Ending balance June 30, 2021: $4607.60
Check to Rick Bryant for BYA craft supplies $19.06
Check to Denise Gregg for Sunfest supplies $20.43
Paid $215.00 in annual Astronomical League dues
Received $3000.00 in ConocoPhillips volunteer grants
Ending balance July 31, 2021: $7353.11
Dues
Committee Reports
Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg
Peggy Walker is looking for photos for MSRAL website. You can email her at basidewalkastro@yahoo.com
ALCon - August 19-21 (see below)
Youth club (BYA) news - Rick Bryant—Rick was not in attendance this evening
Library Display - Update
If you have items on display, plan to pick them up at the First Christian Church later
There are 2 levels in storage - Who is the owner?
Denise has submitted request for library display for 2022. Indicated first choice month April, second choice March
Dark Sky committee - John Blaesi
We made sky quality measurements at OHSP. 21.6 or better
Need volunteers to take measurements
bvilleastro+darksky@gmail.com
Old Business
Would like to resume work on letterhead and name badges
New Business
Tulsa Girl Scouts trying to get an observatory to house a NASA donated telescope plus other several other telescopes they have at Camp Wah-Shah-She.
Fund raiser on September 10 at Timber Oaks- West of airport. The bulk of the proceeds from this fundraiser will be used to build an observatory at Camp Wah-Shah-She.
The fund-raiser is an all-adult event; expect 60-75 adults in attendance
Do we want to participate? The evening would end at approximately 10:30-11 p.m.
Girl Scout contact is Cassie Janssen
We are getting an iPad to control new Club telescope
Need Astronomical League coordinator - Kristi Herrman
Denise Gregg is filling in
Need web wizard and social media wrangler - Derek Herrman
Denise Gregg is filling in
Need someone with Facebook and Twitter skills
Website migration from classic to new google sites is underway
John Grismore, Denise Gregg, and myself
Our old bvilleastro@yahoo.com email address - Used anywhere?
The Sunfest organizers are planning a one-day BOOfest on a Saturday in October. We would need to provide thousands of giveaway “treats” if we participated in the event. We decided not to participate, and Denise will let the Sunfest organizers know.
Astronomy News and Events
Neil DeGrasse Tyson in Tulsa October 4 at Cox Business Center
Tickets are somewhat pricey
Change our meeting date???
Interested in a group???
Astronomy News - Abby Bollenbach
Abby is making presentations for Astronomy magazine.
Latest are “The Voyager Missions” and “What are Quasars?”
View at http://astronomy.com select the Videos tab
ALCON 2021 - August 19-21
Virtual event - enroll at https://www.alconvirtual.org - Free
David Levy, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, David Eicher, and others will present
IDA - Capture the Dark contest
John Blaesi entered one image
Astronomy Club of Tulsa - August
August 6 - Members only observing event at ACT observatory
Also August 27
https://astrotulsa.com
John Land said they weren’t going to have a regular club meeting in August
OKC Astronomy Club August 13 - in person meetings now
Okie-Tex October 1-9 - registration now open at http://www.okie-tex.com
Cosmosphere
July 15 9:00am - Coffee at the Cosmo
The Peril and Promise of Space Exploration: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Liberty Bell 7
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Liberty Bell 7
Special Liberty Bell exhibit
Free admission for current military members until Labor Day
Museum Day September 18
https://cosmo.org
Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Zoom meetings - kasonline.org
Meeting is August 14 - Potluck dinner - in-person event
September 10 - The History and Formation of PlaneWave
Astrophotography Special Interest group forming in September?
Meteor showers
Delta Aquarids - July 27-30
Perseids - August 11-13 - 50/hour
Upcoming astronomical events
Saturn at opposition - August 1
Jupiter at opposition - August 19
Pluto at opposition - July 19 - Anyone try to photograph/observe it?
VOYAGE - 1/10 billionth scale Solar System coming to Broken Arrow
Not sure just when
2000-foot path, with the Sun located at Creekwood Elementary 1301 E Albany and Pluto at Broken Arrow High School
Jupiter moon eclipses
August 15 - Triple transit 15:17UTC - Asia
Club Events
Star parties: Rick Buck
Girl Scout Observing Event at Wah-Shah-She - May 15 Rained out
Tried for June 5 - Clouded out
Star Party for Dewey School - TBA
St. Lukes - TBA
Wayside school - TBA
Osage Hills First Light - Next year!
John Blaesi - upcoming events
Possible Perseids evening at Osage Hills August 11, weather permitting
Do we want to have a Jupiter’s lunar eclipses star party on August 9 and 19? Will depend on weather.
Observing reports
OHSP - 21.5 on SQM means magnitude 6.5 to naked eye
Member photos
Peggy Walker is looking for photos for MSRAL website.
Tonight’s Program—John Blaesi on our Jo Allyn Lowe Star Garden and other dark-sky work he is doing on behalf of our Club, and a general discussion on DSLR cameras and image processing software that Club members use for astrophotography
Jo Allyn Lowe park is getting some new lights that John B. will see next week
John Blaesi is arranging for a dark-sky-lighting presenter for our September Club meeting
Bartlesville has 4500 street lights!
LED street lights can cost anywhere from $150-350 or more.
In September there will be a soft opening of Jo Allyn Lowe Star Garden, when the skies start to get darker at night. A date has not been set yet.
Camera discussions:
John Grismore and John Blaesi discussed the types of cameras they have
Use tripods and simple equatorial mounts with cameras
Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack Sky Watcher mount was suggested
Image processing software:
DSS
Sequator
PixInsight
Vespera is being developed; can pre-order
Adjournment
Next meeting on September 9 (Thursday). Speaker will be Buddy Stefanoff with Crossroads LED
Betty Keim interested in another meeting (in person or via Zoom this fall)
Volunteers needed for upcoming meetings - Bob Young
Ice cream at virtual Braum’s!!!
Motion to adjourn