February 26 Meeting Notes

Bartlesville Astronomical Society Meeting Notes

February 2, 2026

Attendance: 

We had 15 members and 2 visitors in attendance (our special guest speaker and his wife), in person and on Zoom.

Recent Club Events:

The Club didn’t have any events this last month, because of the colder weather!

Upcoming Club events:

·       Planetary alignment February 28—Luann is planning an event at the Bolingers’ for this.  We will have the event even if it is cloudy, and the Club will get pizza for dinner.

·       Science Fair—we decided not to do anything as a group for judging, but individual members might be able to view exhibits, with an idea to doing something as a group in future years.  Normally they don’t permit outsiders to be present in the judging rooms while judging is going on.  Evan will work on this.

Other events:

·       The Tulsa Air and Space Museum is planning “Astronomica” programs on February 14 and March 21.

·       The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society is having an online remote observing session via Zoom on February 14.

Ten-minute Astronomy—John B—Celestial Challenge:

John’s presentation was focused on planetary alignments that will be coming up soon, including the one on February 28.  He discussed who discovered what planets, if this is known.  Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781.  Johann Galle discovered Neptune in 1846.  Clyde Tombaugh discovered the then-planet Pluto in 1930.  We’re not sure who discovered Saturn.

Treasurer’s Report – Luann:

Please pay your annual dues if you have not yet paid!

Ending balance December 31, 2025:  $17708.87

Expenses:

Rice Creek Storage $86.00

Microsoft 365 renewal $19.99

Reimbursement to Luann for holder for library display posters $101.99

Income:

Dues $100.00

Blackbaud donation $80.00

Truity interest $48.91

Ending balance January 31, 2026: $17730.70

Club observing sites—John G:

·       John discussed the possibility of developing a three-tiered set of Club observing sites.

o   First tier—sites in town, moderately dark but convenient. Jo Allyn Lowe Park could be one of these.

o   Second tier—sites near town but not too far away, darker but still easily accessible.  Osage Hills State Park would fit this category.

o   Third tier—very dark sites out in the country.  A longer drive would be needed.  The Tallgrass Prairie could be in this category.

·       For any sites we select, if permission is needed to be there, we would need to get permission, or set up an agreement to use a site on relatively short notice, such as for Northern Lights viewing.

·       John G suggested that we form a committee to work on this.  Craig, Denise, Evan and Gil volunteered to be on it.

·       The committee would:

o   Create a list of sites in the various categories and evaluate them for suitability 

o   Establish agreements with the parties needed

o   Plan for at least one viewing site per tier 

o   Determine what each selected site would be best for, in terms of viewing

o   Measure the quality of night sky at each site

Program for March meeting:

Denise will present on Atmospheric and Optical Phenomena (with pictures). 

Future programs:

We need presenters at future meetings, both main programs, and if you would like to do something on 10-minute astronomy!

Main presentation:  “Sketching the NGC Catalog”, by Brad Young

·       Brad is from the Astronomical Society of Tulsa, for which he is the Observing Director.

·       Brad has been an amateur astronomer for 46 years, and is a Platinum-level Observer with the Astronomical League!  He has written four books.

·       There are currently 7840 deep-sky objects in the NGC (New General Catalog).  There were initially more objects listed.  Over the years 1560 additional objects were found to be non-existent or duplicates, so they were removed from the NGC catalog.

·       Brad has done all his work visually. 

·       If you are going to plan an NGC outing, timing is important—you need to plan ahead, both for weather and the equipment you will need.

·       Things to consider when planning:

o   Make a list of what you would like to see, considering that some NGC objects further south may not be in your intended viewing area.

o   Have good records of NGC objects you have previously seen!

o   If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, it is suggested that you select a viewing site toward the southwest, to capture more NGC objects.

o   Try to go to the darkest sites that you can.

o   Spread out your work in multi-day sessions.

o   You will need years, if you want to sketch all of the NGC objects!

o   When you do your sketching, sketch not only the object, but also the field around it, such as nearby stars, to document just where you are looking.

o   Decide on the quantity of sketching that you want to do for an individual NGC object, and how much content level you want to put into it.

o   Work you will do outside:  finding, observing, sketching and recording

o   Followup work you will do inside:  verifying your observations and maintaining records

·       You can do Astronomical League observing programs.