May 2002 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

bino thoughts
by Chuck Hards 16 May '02

16 May '02

I delivered the Sportsman's Guide 10x50's to Bruce Grim today. He was very impressed with the imagery as well as construction, and is ordering a pair for himself. These will be part of the inventory of SPOC-2, so SLAS members and guests will have a chance to try them out. I dropped off 2 pair. He also told me of his own experience in a side-by-side comparison of the Bears with Fujinon 16x70mm. In his opinion, the Bears were a tad sharper (!) but the Fuji's had slightly better throughput (expected from the better coatings). I had a hard time with this, but I trust Bruce's judgement in telescope matters completely, he's been doing this a lot longer than I have, and I've been in the game about 34 years now! I would like to perform a comparison myself, though. There is a difference between general quality of a product line, and the quality of individual units. Maybe he got the best Bear ever made, and a worn-out Fuji. But, who knows? I told him about our plans for Binopalooza, and he wants to attend. I also got to examine his mini-parallelogram mount. I liked the way he didn't make the arms overly-long. Some of the parallelogram mounts I've seen have a height range of 2' up to 8', and I just can't see making arms that long unless you plan to have a group of toddlers and NBA stars at the same star-party. He also used square aluminum tubing from the home improvement center, making drilling a whole lot easier. His use of double-springs eliminated the counterweight, another nice feature, plus it mounts on a standard commercial camera tripod. I found an old wooden tripod off of a Japanese refractor in my basement, and will use that as a foundation for my own mount, borrowing some of Bruce's ideas...the short arms, namely...but I think I'll use round aluminum tubing just because I've got it on-hand already. I want to have this thing done before Binopalooza. I plan to size the arms for my own use rather than "one size fits all". Hopefully Bruce will bring his set-up so everyone can see it. Chuck __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com

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bino review
by Thomas Sevcik 15 May '02

15 May '02

Richard, I have Chuck's review saved onto disk...if you'd like I can forward it to you, just let me know the place you want it sent. (I have the original Chuck had on the site as well as the one that was included in the NOVA) Also, I have a few photos from the meeting, they're in black-and-white, but you're welcomed to view and use any of them. Tom Sevcik _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

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Big Binoculars - Lowest Prices in the Universe
by karen vanderhule 15 May '02

15 May '02

Hey, Chuck and gang of binosaurs, hang on to your fun money and check this out. Note; I will not be held responsible for marital trauma or any robbery attempts because of this post. Ron http://www.oberwerk.com/bigbinos/ziel.htm

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Planet viewing/Star Party
by David Dunn 13 May '02

13 May '02

The star party on Anelope Island Friday night was a lot of fun. We had a least 10 astromomers there. The clouds and rain cleared off at dark and it stayed clear until about 1:30. We were able to enjoy the view of the planets and a lot of galaxies. Dale and I spent a while looking at all the galaxies around Ursa Major, Leo and Virgo. We mainly spent our time on NGC galaxies and didn't spend much time in the heart of the Virgo Cluster. I thought that several of the galaxies were real pretty. It just goes to show that I shouldn't spend all my time of the Messier objects. How was the party Saturday night? Thanks. David Dunn 801-961-3253

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Fwd: [obsessionusers] Omega Centauri Observed!
by Richard Tenney 13 May '02

13 May '02

Go Debbie! Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com

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SPOC tonight w/ST-6
by Patrick Wiggins 08 May '02

08 May '02

If anyone is interested, Bruce Grim and I will be at SPOC tonight (Wednesday) starting about 9:00. We will be seeing if we can make the ST-6 CCD imager that was donated to SLAS last year work with the computers at SPOC. Come on out if you'd like to help out. Patrick

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Private SLAS Star Party
by McCarthy, Kathleen 08 May '02

08 May '02

Wedge Overlook is what I was given on the list of private star parties after the vote in January and is what is listed on the website calendar. -----Original Message----- From: David L Bennett [mailto:dlbennett@mac.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 15:45 To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Private SLAS Star Party Kim Hyatt, Don Colton and I are heading down to the Wedge Overlook this weekend...I thought this was SLAS's official site for this May. I May be wrong. Dave > The only star party I know of this weekend is one at Bryce Canyon > Saturday evening. > > See http://planet.state.ut.us/starparties.html for details. > > Patrick > > Richard Brady wrote: >> >> Is there going to be a private star party this weekend? Where? >> >> Sorry, I know this is a public forum, but I can't get into the >> official SLAS site and I didn't see a May private party mentioned in >> the SLAS newsletter for April on Patrick's unofficial site. > _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Private SLAS Star Party
by Richard Brady 07 May '02

07 May '02

Is there going to be a private star party this weekend? Where? Sorry, I know this is a public forum, but I can't get into the official SLAS site and I didn't see a May private party mentioned in the SLAS newsletter for April on Patrick's unofficial site. Thanks. Richard Brady

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Planet viewing/Star Party
by David Dunn 07 May '02

07 May '02

I tried to send this yesterday. Hopefully it will work today. > The star party on Anelope Island Friday night was a lot of fun. We had a > least 10 astromomers there. The clouds and rain cleared off at dark and it > stayed clear until about 1:30. We were able to enjoy the view of the > planets and a lot of galaxies. Dale and I spent a while looking at all the > galaxies around Ursa Major, Leo and Virgo. We mainly spent our time on NGC > galaxies and didn't spend much time in the heart of the Virgo Cluster. I > thought that several of the galaxies were real pretty. It just goes to > show that I shouldn't spend all my time of the Messier objects. > > How was the party Saturday night? > > Thanks. > David Dunn > 801-961-3253 >

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More Green Flash
by Chuck Hards 06 May '02

06 May '02

Hey, Brent, why do you suppose we never notice a green flash on the setting moon? Should be there, by my reckoning... Chuck __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com

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