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

Summer observing ideas
by Warner, Kathleen 27 Aug '02

27 Aug '02

Hello all: Would you give me some summer observing ideas to post on the website besides the perseids in August? Thanks much all Kathleen McCarthy Warner SLAS webmaster

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FW: American Physical Society meeting
by David Dunn 22 Aug '02

22 Aug '02

This sounds like it might be interesting. -----Original Message----- Hi Dave and Patrick, The message below was sent to me by Colin Inglefield. Note the rapidly approaching deadline! Can you please forward this to the OAS list and the Utah amateur astronomy club News list? As a point of information, the American Physical Society (APS) is an international organization of physicists and associated fields such as astronomy. There are national meetings (international really) and regional meetings. There are also numerous meetings of specialty groups (condensed matter, spectroscopy, etc.). The Four Corners states have formed a regional group and the meeting rotates between the four states. This year it is being co-hosted by U of U and WSU. Thanks. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - Astronomical Society Members: The annual meeting of the four-corners section of the American Physical Society will take place October 4th and 5th at the University of Utah. All interested parties are invited to come and participate. Advanced registration (deadline Sep. 6th) is $35 for APS members, $45 for nonmembers, and free for students. The conference program will include various topics of current interest including astronomy/astrophysics and gravitation. A star party will be held at the University of Utah physics department observatory on Friday night following the conference banquet (weather permitting). Further information can be found at the conference website: http://www.physics.utah.edu/~4c2002/. If a sufficient number of abstracts are received, we can arrange a special amateur astronomy session. Locally, feel free to contact Colin Inglefield in the physics department at WSU (cinglefield(a)weber.edu, (801) 626-6127) with any questions.

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KSL Editorial
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Aug '02

22 Aug '02

KSL (not exactly a bastion of liberal tree huggers) did a very nice editorial on light pollution today. Find it at ksl.com. Patrick :-)

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Fwd: latest from Mark Dakins
by Richard Tenney 19 Aug '02

19 Aug '02

For any of you that know Mark and might be interested in how he's faring these days... -Rich Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Perseid colors
by David Dunn 19 Aug '02

19 Aug '02

>From SLC head north on I-15. Get off at exit 335 and head west. You are on Antelope Drive. When you get to the other side of the causeway go left. You will see a sign for White rock bay trailhead and park headquarters. Turn left (the only way you can go) and then turn right onto the dirt road. When you get near the bottom of the road dirt road goes of to the left. Turn onto it and it will take you to the parking lot for Whiterock Bay Trailhead. I expect to get out there by 6pm so I should be there with my White Expedition. -----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 7:04 AM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Perseid colors Dave, can you send us directions on where? Cory and I might try to go. Best wishes, Joe _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: 2002 NY40 pictures
by David Dunn 19 Aug '02

19 Aug '02

Dale Hooper tracked it down for us out at the Antelope Island Star Party. We didn't get any pictures either. We watched it for several hours. The color and size looked a lot like Neptune. The motion was like a slow satellite. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Patrick Wiggins [mailto:paw@trilobyte.net] Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 6:22 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: 2002 NY40 pictures Hi, No pictures this time. Was having too much fun just watching it and showing it to others. It really was neat to actually SEE it moving. I've never seen an asteroid move before. However, during a close pass of another asteroid last year I took bunches of images on three consecutive nights and had them spliced together into a "movie" that shows how the apparent motion increases as distance decreases. See it at the bottom of http://planet.state.ut.us/slas/patrickw/patrickw02.html . Cheers! Patrick Jim Stitley wrote: > > Any pictures to post??? > Jim _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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2002 NY40 seen from SPOC
by Patrick Wiggins 19 Aug '02

19 Aug '02

Very nice view for a dozen or so of us of 2002 NY40 tonight using the Ealing at SPOC. First time I've ever detected movement in an asteroid. Fun show. Patrick

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: CCD focusing
by Dale Hooper 16 Aug '02

16 Aug '02

I'm not sure what focuser you received with the paramount, but, with some focusers the autofocus routines in CCD Soft or Maxim DL can be used (i.e. robofocus or Optec TCF). In addition, there is some freeware software called FocusMax that will work for the above focusers and will soon support the Meade electronic focuser. I believe it can be customized (it's ASCOM compliant) so it may be able to work for you. There is also a knife edge focusing aid from Stellar Technologies called the Stilleto IV that could help you if you can't use the autofocus software. There is also the route of making one of your eyepieces parfocal with your particular CCD camera. I hope this helps. Dale. > -----Original Message----- > From: Patrick Wiggins [mailto:paw@trilobyte.net] > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 4:01 AM > To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: CCD focusing > > > Looks like I'm not the only night owl on the list. > > Paul Witte wrote: > > > > I don't have any experience with it, but I do know after shopping > > for a new focuser that Jim's Mobile (JMI) sells digital read-outs > > that can be installed on a focuser. This presumably allows you to > > set/keep the focuser to a setting accuracy down to 0.01mm. > I tried it for a while but when I got the Paramount Bisque > sold me a motorized > focuser which is very accurate. So, it's not the focuser I'm > having trouble > with, rather it's being able to tell when the focuser is set > just right. > > Patrick > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Perseid colors
by David Dunn 16 Aug '02

16 Aug '02

They are the directions to the Antelope Island Star Party. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Stitley [mailto:sitf2000@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 7:59 AM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Perseid colors These are directions to where? Thanks --- David Dunn <david.dunn(a)albertsons.com> wrote: > From SLC head north on I-15. Get off at exit 335 and head > west. You are on > Antelope Drive. When you get to the other side of the > causeway go left. You > will see a sign for White rock bay trailhead and park > headquarters. Turn > left (the only way you can go) and then turn right onto > the dirt road. When > you get near the bottom of the road dirt road goes of to > the left. Turn onto > it and it will take you to the parking lot for Whiterock > Bay Trailhead. I > expect to get out there by 6pm so I should be there with > my White > Expedition. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 7:04 AM > To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Perseid colors > > > Dave, can you send us directions on where? Cory and I > might try to go. Best > wishes, Joe > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Perseid colors
by David Dunn 16 Aug '02

16 Aug '02

I think it was Joe that was asking about his purple meteor last week. In APOD today they have a rainbow colored perseid. They claim that the eye doesn't pick the colors up very well and that film will show the colors. Also, a reminder that the Powder Mountain star party will be held at Antelope Island on Saturday night. Everyone is welcome to come out. People bringing telescopes to help with the star party are admitted to the island for free. See you there. Dave

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