Rochester Astronomy Club Meeting February 13, 2024 18:57 - I clarified that I don't have January 2023 minutes. - Randy has. I missed, as my sister passed away. - April? I was not sure. Cousin passed away. 14 present @ 18:58 Randy, ?, Micke C., Bob, Jay, self, Mike Currie, Julie G., Josef, ?, ?, Bill Davidson, Luka, Jeff N, John Martin. 4 participants on Zoom. 19:01 +1 = 15 present 19:05 - .../audio issues. 19:08 +1 - Mike Q. = 16 present. 19:08 - RH: Ready to roll. Weird meeting, due to blizzard last month. Oreo Space Dunk cookies, from Hy-Vee. Randy passed around. Take one, give shot of insulin. January '23 minutes, review in forum. Treasurers' Report November - nothing in our out. Balance: $8873.85. December • $8323.88 + 600.00 - less $123.50 for calendars, January. - 50.00 --------- $8873.88 balance. Bob - has a 30mm refractor. Julie said to send her the details. Bremer bank statements at the end of the report. January 2024 • Income $100.09 $255.00 $ 20.09 - Oops! Rochester, NY. Said to keep as donation. ------- $375.18 • Expenses: $123.50 • Balance(s): $8575.56 600.00 - 50.00 - Newsletter funds. -------- $9125.56 Randy had $8 in $1 bills to give to Julie as a donation that came from Mike's talk. Julie mentioned a mailing from the Gateway Science Fair. It was pushed out to April. Rochester Regional Science Fair. Typically we donate $100 to Regional and $50 to Gateway. Jay made a motion to keep the same donations. ? second. Voice vote, all ayes, no one opposed. Motion passed. Jay asked some questions about the science fairs. Julie indicated the $50 to the Gateway Science fair is a general donation. The Rochester Reginoal STEM Fair has $50 that goes to an astronomy/physics category. Julie also pointed out that they have reached out asking for judges and volunteers. 19:18 +1 = 17 present. Introductions. Randy noted some new faces and suggested some introductions. Gary Klein, from Rochester. Brian and him were in the Hiawatha Astronomical Society. Brian Cooper, Rochester since birth. He indicated they both retired, job change. Randy indicated were were doing a catch-up meeting. No December meeting and January blown out. Annual Elections. Current Officers (agenda list) Current Appointments. Outreach Coordinator - Josef sort of morphed into that. Luka ???. John Attewell is out of town. He indicated to Randy that he was okay with vice president role. Julie indicated she was fine with treasurer role. John Martin - fine as web master, co-leaders.... Bill Davdison - Newsletter. Josef pointed out that himself, Mike Carlin, and John Martin all have admin access to the website. Randy asked for a motion ... voice vote, all ayes, no one opposed. ALCor - Astronomical League Correspondent. John Attewell - Eagle Bluff. Night Sky Network - Kirk Severson. - emails when events. - online (Zoom) tonight. Bill Davdison - NCRAL Vice Chair. NCRAL Regional Rep - John Attewell. NCRAL ???. Randy asked if it was published. John Martin said no. Mini-newsletter, distributed to all in the region. Getting information out quickly, rather than annually. Speakers list. We can have them speak at our meetings. Link - ???on website. John Martin: Okay. U of M? Luther? Grad Students? Reach out. (RCTC?) - "My grad students would love to do ... put on their CV." Virtual Meeting. Should we continue? Features, no limited time. $140+tax = $171/year. Randy pointed out that officially we need a vote. Other options ... Teams, on Zoom for a while now. Jay asked if there was an idea regarding how many use the online option. Randy indicated a handful. John Martin said that 3 were on the meeting now (tonight). Mike Carlin, Luka, and Jay all agreed worth it. Jay made a motion to allocate funds to continue using Zoom. Luka second. Voice vote, all ayes, no one opposed. Motion passed. John Martin mentioned have recordings of the meeting in the cloud. That can be a topic for a future meeting. - Randy asked what the effort would be. John indicated it would be easy. - Luka pointed out that public meetings should not be a problem. - Josef had a comment about hybrid meetings. If someone didn't want to be in the recording(s), it could be edited out. - ??? mentioned that meeting minutes from AI might be possible. - Luka wondered if that meant Brandon would be out of a job. - Randy indicated pros and cons, discussions for later. Sky Quality Meter. Randy brought up the topic about having one for outreach events, not a cheap phone app. It could be used to gather useful data about sky conditions at Oxbow, the soccer field, etc. Anchor on observing site idea. Light pollution. Volunteers requested to research three or four of them. Luka mentioned Unihedron and some other model(s). Jay asked ???. Randy indicated mostly outreach coordinators. Bob and Luka volunteered to coordinate with each other and look into it. Bill mentioned Apple Apps, Dark Sky Meter he has used, response(s) good. Randy said those were okay for a ballpark, but not what science wants. Luka mentioned something about a 20 to 30 degree angle. Library Telescope. Julie said that Chris had ordered a few things, trying to get the third telescope back in working order. Some problem with the eye caps and the measurements not always being right. The library is not willing to spend money on it. Luka asked if there were two in circulation. Julie indicated "yeah". Outreach Calendar. Josef said that the next event is February 16th at Oxbow. Luka will be doing a presentation. There are two more outreach events at Oxbow, one will be Josef, the other one is unassigned. "2024 Public Sky Observing Plan" Josef sends an email to previous presters. Connie & Clarissa - Josef sent email. The attendance at the previous outreach was not great. Utilizing them to reach out to potential attendees. Josef also sends an email to all RAC members. John Martin asked about Oxbow internet. Josef said yes. Randy mentioned team-ups, three even. Use our forum and meeting(s) for practice/training. Some basics, some want more. Help each other. Probably underuse Night Sky Network. Randy mentioned that he and John Martin are going to be NASA ambassadors. Randy also mentioned that he and John Attewell put together something for a presentation in two days. ? asked about the age column on the website. Luka indicated it was the moon age in days. Josef asid that one audience that we are missing is the high school(s). We should send them ... at least one contact at each high school. Randy said that we need to get in contact with Ben Joslin (Mayo planetarium). Josef talked a bit about Night Sky Network and the coordinators. There are the monthly online presentations. January email ... clubs to repost events. Dad that - not sure - January 31 - Zoom Talk. Very good. One button. Approve. Did not do. Approve self. Also supposd to report canceled events. Also report public meetings. ?? is 5/events/year. It would be nice ta have all coordinators attend such a Zoom call to learn about it. Josef talked with Kirk yesterday. Committed self to report events as happen this year. Randy said that he had his to report from December. ??? kits, build own instructions. Josef indicated ... reason for office hour. John Martin pointed out that JPL had layoffs recently. Josef, John, Kirk, and Randy to talk after the meeting. Jeff Newland mentioned having telescopes outside after the Mayo planetarium events. Randy pointed out that Community Ed has a list. Brian said that he and his daughter are going to the Mayo planetarium event next week. John ... coordinators need to approve. Greg Warren LaCore? Phone...Randy's. John thinks an email address listed is bouncing, not active: contact@rochesterskies.org. Member Observing Notes. ? was a Whitewater a week and a half ago. Pictures with some streaks. 7:30 to 8 p.m. eminating from Rochester. Jay thinks they are contrails. West ... Cassiopia. Stellar Blast Furnace, 3 generations of stars. HO -> Hubble Fallon(?). 2.5 hours. Skywatcher 100... NE Rochester back yard. Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen-3 filter. Jay - asked how many arc seconds. Focal length... 2°x1.6° FOV. Bob Fealey. Supernova NS2023ixf follow-up. https://www.aavso.org/sn-2023ixf-m101-mag-rapidly-dropping http://www.aavso.org/sn-2023ixf-m101-mag-rapidly-dropping http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2024/01/aa48183-23/aa48183-23.html (?) "The progenitor of SN 2023ixf from hydrodynamical modeling" Kirk, Barbara Hanning. 10-11 May down to Mag 16. 80mm F6 ... Luka said can do Mag. 16. Troubleshooting Horsehead Nebula Pics. SWO...camera cold, 20°F. Next night. Lower humidity. Suspect problem was condensation on camera optical window. Lower belt star...bright one in image. Mike Carliin. Collectible Things. Stamps. 1981. Space Themed. Shuttle, Hubble. Bill Davidson into stamps...got it. Star Parties. (in agenda). St. Louis, then south - Luka. Dallas. Randy ... Bill - Poplar Bluff (Missourian) Jeff Newland - Texas...tool around in hill country. ? - Mother-in-law ... Cleaveland, public park nearby. RH - I would go to city website...manage traffic plans, etc. Eclipse Glasses. No shartage. More manufactured this time. Letting have pair. Name stars at library presentation, got a pair. 78-80% ccoverage in Rochester area. John Martin - Randy. Mike Q. - How many have? RH - Let go of 100...have about 1000. $3@Hy-Vee, Jay - free will donation coffee can... Josef - Who is going to stay...? April 8th. Bill - Newsletter. Color edition. Physical copy? Outreach? Black and white. Randy says yes. John thinking outreach. RH-stay under ...$149 or less. Randy - December 3, 2023. Girl Scouts outreach. Pine Island troop, contacted last October. 1st - 2nd graders, about a dozen 5th graders. Classic NSN kit...styrafoam ball painting. Hobby Lobby - foam can paint. Maps to parents, mark distances on the drive home. Telescope outside. TONS of energy for two and a half hours. "The Starry Winter Sky & April Solar Eclipse" - Recording from NPR. 2017 Eclipse. Homestead Monument, Nebraska. Mike C. - this year 4 minutes plus. RH - 4m8s out of 4m20s max. Cleveland area dramatic shift... John M - wil be in Buffalo, NY. Mike Carlin - Star Talk. Try white blanket ... way effect.... B...? - Minot ND, Cludy. ??? 70s. West, looked west. Blue line. Got in car and drove west. Williston - February. Blanket of white snow... RH - Blill pointed good resources in last newsletter. 21:01 - RH - That will be it for tonight. No April meeting, recovering from April 8th. 21:02 - Adjourned.