Monday, March 2

Bartlesville Public Library

6:45 p.m. Setup and Discussion

7:00 p.m. Club Business

7:15 p.m. Current Astronomy News

7:30 p.m.

Introduction to Basic Astrophysics

by Jennifer Walker

Hello BAS Members --

With so many people interested in AstroPhotography in the group, we have thought of having a "Astro Picture of the Month" competition each month at our meetings.

Entry Rules:

Send one picture of the night sky/ object of the current month with a description of the picture and the equipment used to take this.

Mail it to bvilleastro@gmail.com.

Best picture is chosen in the next meeting and uploaded to our Facebook/Twitter pages with your mention!

So let the entries pouring in for our next meeting on the Feb 2, 2015.

Thanks

The Winter sky has 8 of the 20 brightest stars and lots of hidden treasures to observe.

Download a PodCast Tour of the Winter Sky at

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/january-2015-stargazing-podcast-12302014/

Take a Crash Course in Astronomy!

The Bad Astronomer, aka Phil Plait (who is actually a Good Astronomer) invites you to check out his new series about astronomy. You may be an astronomer and not know it! Check it out on Youtube here: http://1.usa.gov/1zcL04v

Universe Discovery Guide for February

Share the Uni verse with your family and friends!

Theme: Orion Nebula, Nursery of Newborn Stars

Sky Feature: Orion Nebula

Try This: Imagine being inside the Orion Nebula Find the Guide here, in full-color and red light versions: http://bit.ly/UDG-Orion

Hello to all from your New BAS President.

I have noticed that our membership has fallen off and participation in club meeting has also fallen off. I realize that we all have other obligations. I would like to help restore some participation and interest in our meeting and events. Your thoughts and interest about club meetings and events would be very helpful. Please e-mail me at bvillepiper@sbcglobal.net with your thoughts on how you would like to improve our club meetings and events. Hope to see all of you at our December meeting.

Steve Plank

BAS President .The great tradition of dark sky observing continues with the 37th Annual

TEXAS STAR PARTY, May 10-17, 2015!

Staying on the Ranch in housing, RV, or camping? Staying off-site in other accommodations? Everyone needs to enter the TSP drawing, held in late January.

You should submit a Registration/Reservation Request Form to ENTER THE TSP DRAWING before January 21, 2015. This will provide you the highest possible chance of being selected as one of the 500 people who will be able to attend TSP this year.

Follow this link to get started!

https://texasstarparty.org/get-started/

SIGN UP NOW!

You can find out the status of your TSP Registration at any time by visiting

https://texasstarparty.org/account/

Get info on our new AstroLearn Workshop at

https://texasstarparty.org/astrolearn/

Need funds to help pay for your trip to TSP? You can find out about getting paid while at TSP at:

https://texasstarparty.org/paid-workers-needed/

Check out the latest news at:

https://texasstarparty.org/news/

Questions? Visit our web site for the latest and complete details!

https://texasstarparty.org/ or email TSPRooms@TexasStarParty.org

We look forward to seeing you next May!

Sincerely,

the volunteers for Texas Star Party

Take the Future of Amateur Astronomers Survey

The Night Sky Network is doing a new survey of amateur astronomers located in the United States. We are attempting to understand the landscape of educational outreach performed by astronomy clubs and assess the needs of the amateur astronomy community for the next 5 years. We want to hear your voice.

Please let us know what your needs are and how we can better help you and your clubs by taking our survey, located here: http://bit.ly/2014astrosurvey

Pass this announcement along to any other persons or organizations that would have an interest in this survey as well. Thank you all!

You can see daily images of the Sun on www.Spaceweather.com

See a Fantastic image comparing sunspot to size of earth

http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=18&month=10&year=2014

Sky and Telescope News http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news

Explaining the Mysterious Martian Plumes

By: Sean Walker | February 24, 2015 | Comments 0

An anomalous “cloud” imaged by amateurs in 2012 has puzzled astronomers, spurring some to suggest it was at inexplicably high altitudes above Mars’s surface.

A Star’s Closest Flyby to the Sun

By: Shannon Hall | February 23, 2015 | Comments 3

A red dwarf and its brown dwarf companion buzzed through the outer Oort Cloud some 70,000 years ago, around the time when modern humans began migrating from Africa into Eurasia. -

Cepheids Map Milky Way – and Beyond

By: Monica Young | February 20, 2015 | Comments 0

Cepheid variable stars are helping astronomers see what our galaxy looks like from within.

Introducing Sky & Telescope‘s Earth Globe

By: The Editors of Sky Telescope | February 20, 2015 | Comments 0

Satellite imagery and other datasets come together to show our home planet from mountaintop to ocean bottom.

Comet Lovejoy Shines On

By: Alan MacRobert | February 19, 2015 | Comments 1

Follow Comet Lovejoy high overhead while you still can. Use our February finder chart below. The comet is fading more slowly than expected.

Tempest in the Teacup Galaxy

By: Monica Young | February 17, 2015 | Comments 0

New observations of the Teacup Galaxy show that even black holes with wimpy radio jets can quench a galaxy's star formation. An unassuming nearby galaxy nicknamed The Teacup (more formally known as J1430+1339) hides a tempest inside. The supermassive black hole at this galaxy's center is chowing down furiously on gas — seen from... - See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/#sthash.YXaTJ13n.dpuf

Deep Fried Comet Ice

By: Camille M. Carlisle | February 16, 2015 | Comments 0

Scientists studying ice here on Earth think they’ve confirmed why comets have hard crusts covered in hydrocarbon gunk.

Pluto and Charon’s Gravitational Dance

By: Camille M. Carlisle | February 13, 2015 | Comments 3

This image series, taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in late January 2015, reveals the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, orbiting their common center of mass.

Venus and Mars Pair Tightly at Dusk

By: Kelly Beatty | February 13, 2015 | Comments 1

Earth's two closest planetary neighbors draw strikingly close together this week.

Before They Were (Binary) Stars

By: Monica Young | February 12, 2015 | Comments 0

Astronomers have taken a behind-the-scenes look at a set of dense gas clumps, catching a quadruple star system in the fleeting act of formation.

Planck Upholds Standard Cosmology

By: Camille M. Carlisle | February 10, 2015 | Comments 2

The Planck team has finally released its full-mission data, revealing a remarkably detailed view of our universe and our galaxy.

The King Holds Court — Jupiter at Opposition

By: JR | February 5, 2015 | Comments 0

Jupiter reaches opposition on February 6, 2015. Find out how to see the planet king at its best.

Gap Reveals Potential Exomoon

By: John Bochanski | February 4, 2015 | Comments 3

Astronomers have confirmed that the star J1407 seems to have a companion with a gigantic, gap-ridden ring, inside which an “exomoon” might be forming.

Cosmic Inflation Signal Just Dust

By: Camille M. Carlisle | February 3, 2015 | Comments 2

The long-awaited analysis of spiraling polarization patterns called B-modes affirms that these signals, purportedly from the universe’s post-birth inflation, are probably from dust in our galaxy instead.

Yellowballs: A New View of Star Formation

By: Monica Young | February 2, 2015 | Comments 2

Thanks to the help of the general public, astronomers have discovered a new signature marking a hidden phase of star formation.

BICEP’s Big Bang Finding Reduced to Dust

By: Alan MacRobert | January 30, 2015 | Comments 2

Yes, it was too good to be true. The cosmic "discovery of the century" last March has officially blown up. Or will blow up next week when a new analysis of polarization in the cosmic microwave background is officially released. The excitement burst onto the world 10 months ago when the BICEP microwave background...

Tour February’s Sky: Two Conjunctions

By: Kelly Beatty | January 30, 2015 | Comments 0

Some of the prettiest nighttime sights involve the close pairing of two solar-system bodies, and February features events with the Moon and Jupiter, then Venus and Mars.- See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/#sthash.NHwVxi65.dpuf

Skyweek from Sky and Telescope Magazine also presents a variety of astronomical events for the naked eye as well as telescope viewing.http://www.skyandtelescope.com/videos/skyweek

• • February 24 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. The planet Mercury reaches greatest western elongation of 26.7 degrees from the Sun at 19:00 UT. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky.

  • March 5 - Full Moon. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 18:06 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Worm Moon because this was the time of year when the ground would begin to soften and the earthworms would reappear. This moon has also been known as the Full Crow Moon, the Full Crust Moon, the Full Sap Moon, and the Lenten Moon.

  • March 6 - Dawn at Ceres. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will encounter the dwarf planet known as Ceres on March 6. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Because of its size and shape, it has officially been classified as a dwarf planet, which puts it in the same category as Pluto. Ceres is 590 miles (950 kilometers) in diameter and is large enough to have a round shape. Dawn will spend several months studying Ceres and will send back the first close-up images of a dwarf planet in our Solar System.

  • March 20 - New Moon. The Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 09:36 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

  • March 20 - Total Solar Eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the Sun, revealing the Sun's beautiful outer atmosphere known as the corona. The path of totality for this eclipse will be limited to the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans between Greenland and norhtern Russia.

  • (NASA Map and Eclipse Information) (NASA Interactive Google Map)

  • March 20 - March Equinox. The March equinox occurs at 22:45 UTC. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere.

  • April 4 - Full Moon. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 12:05 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Pink Moon because it marked the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first spring flowers. This moon has also been known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Growing Moon, and the Egg Moon. Many coastal tribes called it the Full Fish Moon because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

  • April 4 - Total Lunar Eclipse. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes completely through the Earth's dark shadow, or umbra. During this type of eclipse, the Moon will gradually get darker and then take on a rusty or blood red color. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America, South America, eastern Asia, and Australia. (NASA Map and Eclipse Information)

  • (Source: http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2015.html)

2015 BAS Programs

Next Meeting

April 4, Monday. Bartlesville Public Library Meeting Room (tentative)

Newsletter Contributions Needed

Our club newsletter is reaching more people each month, and member contributions in the form of short articles, interesting news items, alerts of upcoming astronomical events or activities, descriptions of personal observations or useful equipment, and observing tips, are encouraged. Recurring columns or multipart articles are also welcome. Please submit your contributions to Mike Woods or to bvilleastro@gmail.com .

Bartlesville Astronomical Society - Membership

B.A.S. is an organization of people interested in Astronomy and related fields of science.