April 2023 Meeting Notes

Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Minutes

April 3, 2023

• Opening and Welcome

•     Thank you to Denise Gregg for Zoom setup

• 20 in attendance, including 6 visitors and one membership renewal!

• Announcements

•    Sirius B - Farthest from Sirius A in 50 years 11.3”

•    Girl Scouts - April 22 at Camp Wah-Shah-She - Roberta Allen

•    She would like people to help point out constellations, setup and use telescopes, and answer questions.

•    An introduction to astronomy

•    Meet about an hour before sunset?

•    Who wants to help?

•    Sunfest – June—save the date, June 2-4.  Will do signups for shifts, setup and takedown at May meeting.

•    Library display – May. Dress rehearsal April 22 at Our Savior Lutheran.  Library display setup day will depend on when the current group takes down.  Anticipate setup date would be April 29, May 1 or May 2.

•    Anyone planning to go somewhere for the solar eclipse?

•    Braum’s after the meeting

• Observing and Imaging Reports

•    “Tales and Tails for Star Clusters” - Dr. Kyle Cudworth - April 14 - 6:00pm

• Astronomical News and Events - Virgil Reese’s news highlights:

• An asteroid the size of 33 armadillos passed by Earth April 1.

• On October 8, 2022, Voyager 1 picked up the biggest gamma ray burst--the most energetic form of light-- ever captured.  It lasted seven minutes. 

• Hubble has taken an image of an object about 390 million light years away.  It is suggestive of a galaxy or quasar. 

•     Astronomers have reclassified a galaxy PBC J2333.9-2343 after the black hole at its center turned 90 degrees directing high energy jet directly at Earth.  It has been reclassified from a quasar to a blazar. 

•     Astronomers are studying a new James Webb Telescope image of a red dwarf star about 40 light years away, 7.6 billon years old, that has seven planets.  The telescope is taking a closer look at the closest of the planets, identified as 1B, which has no atmosphere and estimated daytime temperature of about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. 

• Business

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

•    Treasurer’s Report - Evan Zorn

•     Dues for 2023 due now if not already paid—AlCon report deadline was April 1 for determining subscription to Reflector magazine for 2023

•     Ending balance Feb. 28, 2023:  $13164.46

•     $46.33 to Denise for library display supplies

•     Received $80.00 in dues

•     Ending balance March 31, 2023:  $13198.13

•     We voted to give a gift certificate to the MSRAL convention in Tulsa (clubs often contribute such items).  We decided on a gift certificate of $100.00 and John Blaesi will decide which vendor to get it from.

•    Committee Reports

•    Astronomical League news and activities - Denise Gregg

•    MSRAL - Tulsa June 9-11, 2023

•    Register at https://www.msral2023.org

•    Volunteers?

•    We approved the National Astronomy League bylaws.

•    Meetings with MSRAL for regional bylaws

•    25 presidents and others worked on this

•    The proposed by-laws will be voted on at the MSRAL meeting in June

•    Email has been sent for member comments and approval

•    ALCon - July 28-30 Albuquerque, NM

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

•    FCC - Evan Zorn:  No update from the City at this point on renting a storage room.

• Tonight’s Program

• “A Spectroscopic Tour of the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram” - Lauren Herrington

•    Looking at the spectrum of a star is like looking at a star’s rainbow. 

•    She showed spectra in graph format

•    She showed examples of the Harvard spectrum type, with spectral classes O, B, A, F, G, K, and M.  The various spectral classes depict helium, hydrogen and sodium and range from hotter to cooler temperatures.  Sodium displays as strongest in the colder stars.

•    She showed us the main sequence of the life cycle of stars, with star temperature displayed according to the spectral type.

•    She showed us some examples of stars as they move through their life cycles, including T Lyrae, Polaris, Spica, Betelgeuse and P Cygni. 

• Adjournment

•    Next meeting:  May 1 at library

•    ACEAP and Professional Astronomy in Chile - Byron Labadie

•    Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassadors Program

• Motion to adjourn