May 2022 Meeting Notes

Bartlesville Astronomical Society

Meeting Minutes May 5, 2022

• Opening and Welcome

• Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup

• 5 members in attendance this evening; 4 in person, 1 via Zoom; no guests

• Announcements

• Abby is a presenter at the ‘Women in Tech Summit’ in Paris May 31-June 1

• Gary Nealis is making presentations of his days at NASA mission control.

• Sundays at 10:00 at Bambino’s

• Tonight’s Program

• “Astrophotography using a Star Tracker” - Rick Buck-Rick was unable to make it this evening

• Observing and Imaging Reports

• Lunar eclipse - May 15. Will have a members-and-families star party at Our Savior Lutheran. Thanks to Bob Young for arranging this with Our Savior!

• On the night of May 30, there may be a first-time meteor shower resulting from Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, which, in 1995, broke into several fragments which orbit the Sun every 5.5 years. The comet has since continued to disintegrate into more fragments. It’s possible that on the night of May 30 into the morning of May 31, Earth may pass through a swarm of material from this comet. Time will tell!

• Woolaroc would like a star party—we didn’t discuss a date (likely in fall) since so few people were in attendance this evening.

• Astronomical News and Events

• John Blaesi and John Grismore—Neither were in attendance this evening

• Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

• “A New Surprise in the Accelerating Universe” - Dr. Alex Filippenko - UCal Berkeley, May 6 6:00 CDT

• Business

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

• Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn

• Ending balance March 31, 2022: $10,170.08.

• Received $200 total in dues payments

• $1 credit for test payment through PayPal

• Expense $5.97 to John Blaesi for flags at JAL park.

• Expense $27.75 to Pizza Hut for lunch for library display setup day

• Expense $3.15 for drinks for library display setup lunch

• Ending balance April 30, 2022: 10,334.21

• Committee Reports

• Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg

• MSRAL - June 3-5 - St. Louis, MO

• Craig sent some historical Club information to Peggy Walker

• No plans for streaming

• ALCon - July 28-30 - Albuquerque, NM

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

• Library Display: Check it out! We have received positive reports from people viewing the exhibit!

• FCC - Evan Zorn. Evan and Craig met with Mike Bailey on May 4 to get an update on this. The last FCC church service was in April. The city will enter into an agreement to assume responsibility for the church at the end of May. They will begin a month-to-month lease of the church building starting May 31. Mike expects that we would continue to have access to our two storage rooms at the church until early August-early November or possibly longer; things will be worked out over the summer, and we don’t know what will happen after that time. We can keep the key we have to the church at least for a while; if turns out that at some future date we won’t have access to the two rooms to store equipment, we will have plenty of notice.

• Sunfest June 3-5: Because so few attended this evening, Denise didn’t circulate sign-up sheets for setup, takedown and to man the booth. Denise will send a follow-up email to Club members on this.

• New Business

• Jo Allyn Lowe Park—We will discuss this at an upcoming Board meeting

• Mowing

• Insurance

• Government Tort Claim Compliance

• Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024: There were too few in attendance this evening to really gauge Club interest. Ron Carman in Texas is scouting possible eclipse viewing areas near him, such as Enchanted Rock State Park. Considering supply chain issues that are going on now, it would be advisable not to wait until the last minute to purchase solar eclipse viewing glasses and solar filters for equipment.

• Adjournment

• Next meeting - June 6 at library

• Ice cream at Braum’s!

• Motion to adjourn