Tag: Astronomy

Potluck Dinner Meeting 9 December 2023

Posted on By pocatelloastro
Meeting Minutes

This month’s meeting was a potluck dinner, the club discussed this year’s highlights of observing. This meeting members John Reed and Kasey Davis received the astronomical leagues outreach award certificate and pin. John and Kasey have spearheaded quite a bit of outreach projects for public star parties at Craters of the Moon the past few years. The club is always excited to introduce people to the wonders of space and it was a pleasure getting people to look up at the stars with us. Looking forward to more observations this year and hopefully we have lots of clear skies next year!

Meeting Minutes February 9th 2023

Posted on By pocatelloastro
Meeting Minutes

This months meeting started with discussion of last months observations by club members. Many in the club have been checking out Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), we all agreed this was a much better binocular target. We also discussed the observations from last star party.

After discussion of observations we viewed and discussed some of the photos taken by club members Jeff Reitzel and John Reed. Jeff shared his recent photo of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and shared how he would track background stars to photograph the comet. John Shared his photo of North American and Pelican Nebula in the Hubble pallet. John also shared an incredible photo the Triangulum galaxy M33 (see in club photos). Mike Beer Shared a very interesting GIF of a periodic comet named P96 Macholz as it orbited the sun.

After sharing of photos club member Kasey Davis received his award and pin from the Astronomical League lunar observing program. Kasey competed the telescopic and binocular observing programs. Kasey stated “It was a surprisingly difficult program.”

This months star party was planed for the 17th and 18th February and will take place again the 2nd gate of Mink Creek.

Clear skies and keep looking up!

Meeting Minutes 12 January 2023

Posted on By pocatelloastro
Meeting Minutes

Pocatello Astronomical Society met Thursday to vote on the new bylaw changes with the Astronomical League (AL) to change some wording on the main website for the AL. The yes vote was unanimous. John Reed club president will pass the yes vote along to the AL.

Club member Kasey Davis turned in his lunar observing program for the AL this meeting as well, he can look forward to receiving a pin and a certificate for his work last summer.

Not much observing got done in December and the first half of January due to persistent clouds, we just can’t seem to catch a break! The next star party was discussed and we plan on going on January 20th or 21st depending on weather.

Club member Mike Beer gave a very informative presentation on taking night sky photos with only a cell phone. Mike did a lot of experimenting on how to achieve the best quality photo using a phone. Mike recommends using nightscape settings on the the cellphones camera app and he stressed to just keep it simple. Mike recommended using a tripod to keep the camera still but he also showed that simply propping the cellphone on the hood of his truck yielded excellent results.

The presentation was excellent and Mike is a very engaging speaker, no doubt many in the club will try their hands at a few of Mikes techniques for cellphone sky photos.

Clear skies and keep looking up!

Annual Pot Luck December 10th 2022

Posted on By pocatelloastro
Meeting Minutes

The Pocatello Astronomical Society yearly pot luck was great this year. Everyone brought some great food and no one left with an empty belly. We mainly discussed this years observation highlights and plans for next years activities. The Moon occulting Mars was the main topic of conversation at the pot luck.

Next meeting will take place 2nd Thursday of the month in January 2023 at Marshall Public Library. Looking forward to some observing; if these clouds ever burn off…. The site will be updated if we make any plans to have a star party. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone this year!

Clear skies and keep looking up!