January 2021 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Minutes
January 4, 2021
• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup
• 12 people in attendance this evening, including Nancy Wolfson from the Washington, D.C. area.
• Announcements:
• Library still unavailable for meetings. We will continue to have meetings via Zoom, through February at least.
• Thanks to John Grismore, John Blaesi, Mike Woods, and others for the Shut-in Newsletter and our regular newsletter!
• Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg - Approved
• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn
• Ending balance November 30, 2020: $5038.92
• Payments to Denise for Club telescope supplies $21.98
• Received $25.00 in dues
• Ending balance Dec. 31, 2020: $5041.94.
• Dues due if you would like to pay for this year!
• If you work for a company that does volunteer grants, you may need to file applications for grants soon for hours volunteered in 2020
• If buying things from Amazon, don’t forget that if you buy through Amazon Smile, you can designate the Bartlesville Astronomical Society to receive a donation through the Amazon Smile program.
• Committee Reports:
• Astronomical League news and activities - Denise. Denise referred to email sent to members about a Special Observing Award for photographing or drawing the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction in December: https://www.astroleague.org/content/al-observing-challenge-special-observing-award
• To get the award, you have to send in an image or drawing of the event. You also have to do an outreach event. It says that post-event sharing of images or videos will count due to COVID so if we put something on our website, that should count. If anyone plans to get the award let Denise know so that we can be sure to have something on our website to qualify. Applications for the award must be sent to:
An Observing Challenge Special Award Coordinator:
Aaron Clevenson
19411 Cluster Oaks Drive
Humble, TX 77346-2918
Telephone: 281-852-4667
E-mail: aaron@clevenson.org
• Youth club (BYA) news - Rick Bryant—Rick Bryant was not in attendance. There were about 27 people at the Jupiter-Saturn observing session December 21!
• Library Display – Update: If you need anything from the storage room at First Christian Church, let Craig know. The library display has been rescheduled for April 2021.
• Dark Sky committee - John Blaesi:
• We made sky quality measurements at OHSP. 21.3 or better
• Need volunteers to take measurements.
• Ranger Nick has been promoted!
• Email bvilleastro+darksky@gmail.com if you would like to help!
• New Business
• Need Astronomical League coordinator to replace Kristi Herrman; Denise is filling in
• Need web wizard and social media wrangler to replace Derek Herrman; Denise is filling in
• Denise has written a manual/cookbook for web administration - Thanks!
• Need someone with Facebook and Twitter skills
• Website migration from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites will be uccoming soon—if you would like to help, contact Denise
• Dues for 2021:
• Extended memberships until 2021
• Adult $25
Student $10
Family $30 for 2, $40 for 3 or more
• Send checks to: Bartlesville Astronomical Society
PO Box 302
Bartlesville, OK 74005
• bvilleastro@yahoo.com email address - Used anywhere? No one mentioned any particular organizations that used it.
• Astronomy News and Events:
• Astronomy News - Abby Bollenbach: Abby was not in attendance this evening, but she is making presentations for Astronomy magazine. Latest three are on “The Science of Star Trek”, “Cosmic Distances”, and “Gravitational Waves” - View at http://astronomy.com select the Videos tab
• Astronomy Club of Tulsa - January 19 7:00
• Cosmosphere upcoming virtual presentation: Apollo 13: Saying “Yes, And” to collaboration - January 21
• Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Zoom meetings:
• Gaining Insight into the Planet Mars
• January 9, February 6 Virtual viewing sessions using their 20” PlaneWave telescope in Arizona
• Introduction to Astronomy - January 12 - 2 days a week for 12 weeks $150
• Introduction to Amateur Astronomy - January 23 - 5 sessions one every 2 weeks
• Need to register online!
• Geminids - December 13: One of the best meteor showers Craig has seen in a long time!
• Quadrantids: 120/hour Look toward Bootes - Chance for fireballs - Peak last night. Craig saw a great one Saturday night. Broke into 3 - 4 pieces
• Jupiter/Saturn conjunction - December 21: Youth group viewing session had 27+ attendees. AL certificate award for the conjunction - See email from club
• AlCor 2021 August 4 in Albuquerque
• Texas Star Party - May 2-9. Request to attend (there will be a drawing for who can attend) due by January 22.
• Asteroid near miss - Dec 28; 0.25 Lunar Distance
• Club Events
• Star parties: Rick Buck
• Star Party for Dewey School - TBA
• St. Lukes - TBA
• Wayside school - TBA
• John Blaesi - upcoming events:
• Jupiter Saturn Mercury - Jan 11; Moon joins them in a line on Jan 14
• Uranus ceases retrograde motion Jan 14 (retro since mid-August). Magnitude 5.7. Possible to see Uranus with binoculars at OHSP?? Moon-Mars-Uranus conjunction Jan 20.
• Tonight’s Program
• A Year’s Worth of Meteor Showers – Denise. This presentation reviewed major meteor showers during the year as well as the science behind meteor showers; colors of meteors; how meteor showers have been viewed through history; and a discussion of some meteorite events.
• Adjournment
• Next meeting - February 1: Upcoming program by Danny MacDonald - OKC astronomy club
• Volunteers needed for upcoming meetings - Bob Young
• Ice cream at virtual Braum’s!!!