May 2021 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society
Meeting Minutes May 3, 2021
• Opening and Welcome
• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup
• 11 in attendance including one former member
• Announcements
• Library still unavailable for meetings. We will continue to have meetings via Zoom, through June at least
• Thanks to John Grismore, John Blaesi, Mike Woods, and others for the Shut-in Newsletter and our regular newsletter
• Michael Collins - Apollo 11 Astronaut died April 28
• Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg - Approved
• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn
• Beginning balance April 1, 2021: $5000.83
• Check to Denise for supplies for library display $60.36
• Ending balance April 30, 2021: $4940.47
• Committee Reports
• Astronomical League news and activities – Denise: AlCor virtual convention will be August 19-21. We have received an email asking if we would be interested in donating a door prize for the event, something in the $150-200.00 price range. Denise will bring this up with the Board.
• Youth club (BYA) news - Rick Bryant—Rick was not in attendance this evening. Craig said that at the April meeting they had 4 youth and did some light crafts.
• Library Display - Update
• If you need anything from the storage room at First Christian Church, let Craig know.
• The library display is extended through May 25. Go see it if you haven’t already—it’s very impressive!
• Need 6-7 people to help transport and take down the display on May 26. Plan to pack up everything in the display and transport to the church for sorting. If you have items on display, plan to pick them up at the First Christian Church later. Denise will prepare an inventory of what is in the display.
• Will have Zoom meeting to coordinate the removal of the display.
• Craig is working with the Examiner-Enterprise on an article about the library display—Kim Archer is writing the article and she will talk to John Grismore about Club history
• Dark Sky committee - John Blaesi
• We made sky quality measurements at OHSP. 21.3 or better
• Need volunteers to take measurements
• bvilleastro+darksky@gmail.com
• Old Business
• Evan could use a letterhead for the Club. This has been discussed in the past but hasn’t been created yet.
• New Business
• We received a donation of telescope parts and a book from Malcolm Joyce. Is there interest in making a telescope? This could be a project for the youth group.
• We received a donation of a Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25” telescope from Mary Grove
• John Blaesi is evaluating it—he’s spent some hours working on it!
• Need to replace the star diagonal. Approval to buy? Will cost about $190.00
• Get an iPad to control it? Could also use 2 or 3 2-inch eyepieces
• Need to have a Board meeting
• Need Astronomical League coordinator - Kristi Herrman. Denise is filling in.
• Need web wizard and social media wrangler - Derek Herrman. Denise is filling in. Need someone with Facebook and Twitter skills
• Website migration from classic to new google sites is underway. John Grismore, Denise and Craig are working on this
• Our old bvilleastro@yahoo.com email address is not being used; John Grismore and Evan both agreed that we can get rid of it. Denise will work on this.
• Astronomy News and Events
• Astronomy News - Abby Bollenbach not here this evening; she is making presentations for Astronomy magazine.
• Latest are “What are Pulsars?” and “The Cosmic Microwave Background”
• View at http://astronomy.com select the Videos tab
• Perseverance on Mars
• See https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 for images and other information
• Astronomy Club of Tulsa - May 18, 7:00
• Topic to be determined
• https://astrotulsa.com
• OKC Astronomy Club May 14 at 7:00
• Flea Market - In Person at Science Museum Oklahoma
• Cosmosphere
• Liberty Bell heading to Sao Paulo, Brazil in June
• Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Zoom meetings - kasonline.org
• “When Worlds Collide - Galaxy Collisions and Their Aftermath” - Dr. Eric F. Bell
• May 7 - 7:00pm EST
• Meteor showers
• May 4-9 Peak of 40/hour May 7
• Eta Aquarids - Remnants of Halley’s Comet
• AlCor 2021 August 4 in Albuquerque
• Upcoming astronomical events
• ISS transits the moon - May 15 at appx. 22:49 p.m. but Tulsa is now on the centerline, not Bartlesville.
• Lunar eclipse - May 26 11:11 UTC but not total here.
• Club Events
• Sunfest - June 4-6
• Need to sign up - Denise has set up a Zoom meeting for May 22 at 10 a.m. to plan staffing
• Need members to help set up and man the booth
• Discuss COVID protocols—want all adults who volunteer to be fully vaccinated
• Star parties: Rick Buck
• Girl Scout Observing Event at Wah-Shah-She - May 15
• Maureen of the Tulsa GSA
• Meet at 6:30 for setup
• They will possibly have an eVscope
• Rick, Rick, and Craig will participate in this event; Rick Buck will bring a telescope or two.
• There will be 8-12 older Scouts who are working on a badge.
• Star Party for Dewey School - TBA
• St. Lukes - TBA
• Wayside school - TBA
• Osage Hills First Light - Next year!
• John Blaesi - upcoming events
• OHSP? Next week new moon, weather permitting.
• Observing reports
• OHSP - 21.5 on SQM means magnitude 6.5 to naked eye
• OHSP observing next week? Weather permitting.
• Member photos—none shown at this meeting, apart from our main presentation
• Examiner-Enterprise is doing a feature on BAS
• Kim Archer writing the article
• Met with photographer at Sooner Park on Friday, April 30
• Other club events? Save the date for August 9 and August 9 to observe Jupiter’s moons eclipsing each other.
• Tonight’s Program: Bob Young presented a PowerPoint of images taken by various Club members of astronomical events during our year of COVID isolation. These included images taken at the Osage Hills New Year’s Hike on January 1, 2020 before isolation began; images of Comet NEOWISE taken in July; images taken of the Milky Way, Venus, Leo Triplet, the Moon and Bode’s Galaxy taken at various times during the year; and images of the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in December.
• Adjournment
• Next meeting - June 7. Topic TBD
• Volunteers needed for upcoming meetings - Bob Young
• Ice cream at virtual Braum’s!!!