December 2022 Meeting Notes

Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Minutes

December 5, 2022

• Opening and Welcome

• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup

• Thirteen in attendance this evening, including three visitors, one online and two in person.

• Announcements

• Eric Brummel - Milky Way timelapse

• https://www.facebook.com/brummelphoto/videos/crater-lake-stabilized-sky-timelapse/629632234384510/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDUF9Qki-mE

• Star Party - Friday or Saturday? We decided to skip a star party this month, due to colder weather and holiday activities going on.

• Tonight’s Program

• Astrophotography at Okie-Tex - Rick Buck

• Rick showed images he took at Okie-Tex of the Dragonfly Cluster in Cassiopeia, the Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380), the Pacman Nebula (NGC 281) and the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). He also showed a beautiful image taken by his daughter Gianna of the Milky Way using an iPhone!

• SkySafari demonstration – Craig. Craig did a demonstration indoors of SkySafari, showing a wide range of its capabilities.

• Astronomical News and Events

• First Steps - Last Steps at the Cosmosphere: This took place December 2-3. In attendance were astronauts Fred Haise, Charlie Duke, Harrison Schmitt, Jeff Ashby, Steve Hawley and mission controllers Milt Windler, Jerry Bostick and Gerry Griffin, as well as family members of some of the astronauts.

• Virgil Reese Astronomical News:

• Launch of Artemis mission

• Launch - November 16

• Re-entry - December 11 11:40 a.m.

• Four of NASA’s 10 CubeSats likely failed

• Virgil showed an excellent series of images he put together contrasting views of the same astronomical objects from the Hubble Telescope and the new James Webb Telescope. These included the northern and southern auroras on Jupiter; Uranus; the Orion Nebula; the Southern Ring Nebula; the Pillars of Creation; and far-distant galaxies, including one galaxy that formed 400 million years after the Big Bang. He also discussed the LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) large radio telescope in the Netherlands. He also discussed NASA’s Mariner 10 mission (1973-1975), the first mission to study Mercury and the first mission to use gravity assist—using the gravity of one planet (Venus) to reach another (Mercury).

• Upcoming astronomical events, weather permitting:

• December 7—Mars behind the Moon

• Geminid meteor shower, peak early morning December 14

• Business

• Minutes of previous meeting are posted online by Denise Gregg - Approved

• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn

• Ending balance October 31, 2022: $11209.01.

• Received $105.00 in dues.

• Ending balance November 30, 2022: $11314.01

• Dues for 2023 are now due

• Elections

• Craig Brockmeier - President

• Rick Buck - Vice President

• Denise Gregg - Secretary

• Evan Zorn – Treasurer

• Duane Perkins – At Large

• John Blaesi – At Large

All members presented voted for the above slate of officers. In addition, Denise received votes in favor of the above slate of officers prior to the meeting from members Vicky Travalgini and Lynne Hunt.

• Committee Reports

• Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg

• MSRAL - Tulsa June 9-11, 2023

• Volunteers for this?

• Meetings with MSRAL for bylaws—Craig and Denise have been attending meetings with MSRAL members via Zoom, to update bylaws.

• Email will be sent for member comments and approval

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

• Library Display

• We are booked for May 2023 with the same theme as 2022. We can laminate new good pictures as we get them.

• FCC - Evan Zorn: The City is taking Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from any organizations that would like to use the building. We need to go through the equipment that we have in storage to see what we want to donate and look for alternate storage, as our time in the First Christian Church may be limited. We don’t have a final exit date at this point.

• New Business

• Volunteer grants - Due by year-end

• TASM Planetarium? January or February?

• Eclipse ambassador—if you are interested in working with a college student on this, contact Craig

• Adjournment

• Next meeting

• Thursday, January 5 at library (meeting room B, not A)

• Denise Gregg – A Year’s Worth of Meteor Showers

• Motion to adjourn