March 2024 Meeting Notes
Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Notes
March 4, 2024
Attendance: 24 people in attendance, in person and via Zoom. We had 17 members in attendance and 7 guests.
Main program: A series of short astronomical and solar eclipse-related videos presented by John Blaesi
John presented videos on a number of topics! These included videos presented by Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson; an eclipse video prepared by National Geographic; and others.
Astronomy News - Virgil Reese:
Virgil was not in attendance this evening.
Astronomical events/reports:
Denise showed pictures she took of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. [Note: it was determined later that these pictures were actually of the Andromeda Galaxy, which was not far from the comet when she took the pictures.]
Club Business:
Treasurer’s Report – Evan:
o Opening balance January 31, 2024: $14036.67
o Received $115.00 in dues payments
o Received donation from Benevity Causes: $24.28
o Reimbursement to John Blaesi for Starry Night app: $23.98
o Ending balance February 29, 2024: $14151.97.
Dewey Grade School science fair and book fair on February 20, 6-7:30 p.m., setup at 5:30 p.m.:
There were probably close to 150 people in attendance at this event! Most of the attendees visited our Club booth. They looked at the vinyl moon inside across the gym through a telescope, and at the real moon outside through a telescope. At one time there were 20 people lined up waiting to look through one of the telescopes! You could tell by their expressions and the look on their faces that this may have been the first time they had seen the moon through a telescope or even looked through a telescope.
All of the Club volunteers who participated were busy throughout the event talking with families, showing pictures, and helping the visitors view through the telescopes. Many thanks go to the BAS members that helped with this event--Luann W, Gil, Evan and John B helped with our Club booth and astronomical viewing and Brian T manned the OWU science corner.
Night Sky Network Eclipse Kit:
Evan brought the Night Sky Network Eclipse Kit that we received, due to our being an active club! This kit contained 100 pairs of solar glasses in addition to various charts and other eclipse viewing aids and other NASA-supplied materials. Some of the supplies were taken home from the meeting by those who attended; we will bring the kit to the April meeting and what is not taken by then we will donate to Dewey Schools and/or the Boy Scouts (Gil can help with the Boy Scouts).
Upcoming star parties:
· 2nd Saturday of the month star party at Jo Allyn Lowe March 9, weather permitting
Star parties further out:
· We are working on doing something at Woolaroc in fall or late summer.
· Tulsa Air and Space Museum: Denise has contacted them about doing a planetarium show for us, but she has not heard back yet.
Astronomical League update:
· MSRAL is June 7-9 at the Mahoney State Park Lodge in Nebraska. The conference dates are the same dates as the OKM Music Festival here. You can register at www.msral.org. Early Bird registration ends April 30.
· AlCon will be in Overland Park, Kansas, July 16-20, and one of the speakers will be David Levy. Registration is now open at https://www.astroleague.org/
Sunfest:
Denise will submit the application for Sunfest. We decided to do as we did last year and pay the $50.00 Sunfest application fee, as opposed to us donating volunteer time to Sunfest.
Night Sky Network speaker:
We were to have heard today about our speaker but so far haven’t. Denise has contacted them to see about our speaker.
Mall display:
Support the Washington Park Mall! We are working on a display to put up on a kiosk near the movie theater. It is possible that we could get more storefront windows if we could use them.
Club Volunteers needed for:
Program director
Observing program coordinator
Outreach coordinator (including text blasting)
BAS Newsletter editor
BAS meeting Zoom host
BAS meeting chat moderator
Website coordinator
Upcoming BAS programs:
April—Brian Turner will present on a total solar eclipse that validated Einstein’s theory of relativity
May—Solar eclipse pictures
June—Planetarium apps
July—New telescope technology
August—Scale of solar system/universe
September—Night sky photography
October—Club elections
November—Do you want a telescope for Christmas?
December—Denise’s presentation on meteor showers
January—What did you get for Christmas?
Next club meeting: April 1 at the library