October 2003 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Monster sunspot
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 20 Oct '03

20 Oct '03

Chuck, Check out this image. <A HREF="http://velatron.com/dca/ginger/flare0484b_101903.jpg">http://velatron.com/dca/ginger/flare0484b_101903.jpg</A> Is this the sunspot you are talking about? Debbie

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Monster sunspot
by Chuck Hards 20 Oct '03

20 Oct '03

Looking at the sun today through my 12x25mm "POS", there is a huge sunspot group about halfway between the eastern limb and center of the disk. This group rivals the big spot of a year-and-a-half ago, that caused the "aurora of the century". We just might get some auroral activity from this one in coming days. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Report on Gravel Pit Friday Night
by Joe Bauman 19 Oct '03

19 Oct '03

I'm wondering where Jim went Friday night. I was at Harper's quarry -- I thought it was the gravel pit. But I guess not! The only other folks I saw out there were a couple of young deer hunters who were checking out places for the upcoming hunt. Do I have the directions wrong? Have I been going to the wrong place? I turn off at the farthest road back where there's a little speed hump and a stop sign facing toward the work area, then follow the paved road all the way to the gate. That's where I set up. I had a terrible night, by the way, as far as some of my equipment went. I had decided that maybe I could get my Meade LX200 (12") onto the Superwedge if I used a longer bolt that I could lift with one hand while I used the mount's handle with another hand. I bought a long 3/8" bolt with a ring at the end large enough for three fingers, which I figured I could hold onto. When I got to the quarry I set up the tripod, leveled and aligned it, and put on the Superwedge. But as hard as I tried, I could not get the bolt into the cut on the Superwedge. I managed to lift the telescope up high enough so it should have gone in, but it would not. Incidentally, I found I could not manage it while holding onto the bolt. It was a difficult struggle, and when I finished and was talking to our son on the cell phone, I alarmed him with my coughing -- that kind of stress on the lungs is equivalent to a runner panting and gasping and coughing after a race, I guess. I wanted to take some photos anyway, even without the Superwedge, and put the telescope on the tripod. Then I tried to get my Pictor 201XT going for the first time. It would not recognize any light from a star, or even from Mars. I am convinced I didn't have my off-axis guider set to properly focus on the Pictor's CCD chip. I know it was working because, when I shone my red flashlight at it, the reading went off the scale. I just need to get the bugs out of this and set it up right. Pooped, sore and discouraged, I decided to take pictures even without the not-so-super wedge and without the Pictor. I made a couple of views of the great galaxy in Andromeda and a couple of the Orion nebula. Both attempts were unguided, other than the telescope's tracking. Then I used up the film with six quick snapshots of the last-quarter moon. This was Fujicolor 800 film and the exposures were 1/250, 1/500 and 1/1000 of a second. I used my focal reducer for all of the views. What really struck me was the chain of mountains, part of the rim of Mare Imbrium, seeming to stick up out of Eratosthenes. The mountains were right at the terminator, so high that they caught the sunlight and formed a bright flag above the darkness. I had never seen such a dramatic view of the moon before. By the time I went home I was half frozen and my upper lip almost felt frost-bitten. But the photos encouraged me enough to try again next week, during the new moon. Maybe I'll go to the Wedge. When I had my pictures developed on Saturday, I was surprised to find they weren't bad, given the breeze and the lack of a good tracker. Andromeda shows two major dust lanes and I can see the hint of another lane on the far side; the Orion nebula shows its shape and some color. These are marred by imperfect tracking, as I expected, but they're not so bad. The moon photos are delightful. I had not used a cable release nor did I flip up the mirror, as I was basically using up film. Best wishes, Joe

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Report on Gravel Pit Friday Night
by Josephine Grahn 19 Oct '03

19 Oct '03

Joe, I think it's possible that you are going to far down the road, but I'm not sure. As you turn off the Peoa Oakley rd, where the Harper Quarry sign is, you immediately hit a speed bump, about 15 feet from the main road. From there you go approximately 1.5 miles, where you see what looks like a raised mobile home perpendicular to the road, and within 20 feet of the road. That Mobile Home is the weighing officee for trucks leaving the quarry. (It is a ways before you hit the actual quarry.) In daylight, you would see that immediately on the other side of the mobile home is a parking area. There are a few of those big concrete road dividers near the mobile home. It is in this parking lot that we set up. Usually we park to the North and West, so that we can set scopes up to the South and East. Check your odometer as you leave the Peoa Oakley Rd., to see how far you have gone. It's been a while since I measured that distance, but I'm pretty sure it was close to 1.5 miles. You may want to follow someone else up there next time people are going. Or someone could arrange to throw a large light colored cloth over the boulder between the parking area and the road, so it would catch your eye when you arrived. Try not to get there first :). Jo Grahn >I'm wondering where Jim went Friday night. I was at Harper's quarry >-- I thought it was the gravel pit. But I guess not! > >The only other folks I saw out there were a couple of young deer >hunters who were checking out places for the upcoming hunt. Do I have >the directions wrong? Have I been going to the wrong place? I turn >off at the farthest road back where there's a little speed hump and a >stop sign facing toward the work area, then follow the paved road all >the way to the gate. That's where I set up.

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Photo of the Day!
by David L Bennett 19 Oct '03

19 Oct '03

Well, Sky and Telescope wouldn't publish it but my Binopalooza shot finally got a little attention! Anacortes currently has it up on the Astromart site as the photo of the day: http://www.astromart.com/categories.asp Yippee! Dave Bennett I hope this won't eat any time from my 15 minutes...

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Orion 80mm ED APO
by Chuck Hards 18 Oct '03

18 Oct '03

Orion 80mm ED Apochromatic Refractor Stock #9895 $429 Focal length 600mm f/7.5 2" Crayford focuser & 1.25" adapter. 5.7 lbs. It arrived Friday, so the initial stated backorder date on-line of 2 months was completely inaccurate. Only about a week and a half. Despite stubborn high cirrus, this thing impressed me. Mars held up well all the way to 188x, using a 9mm UO ortho & 2.8x Klee Barlow. I tried using a 2" Barlow, but couldn't coax it into balance. Orion needs to move the tripod mounting block about 3" closer to the focuser in order to make balance easier. Right now it's positioned for no added weight at the focuser end at all, and a fully racked-in focuser. Small scopes are traditionally hard to keep balanced anyway, due to the accessories being a larger percentage of total weight than with big scopes, and the poorly positioned tripod block doesn't help. I got by with the old standard, velcro-strap ankle weights around the top end of the tube. The astronomer's equivalent of bailing wire and chewing gum. Even the best doublet refractors will show a bright colored rim, or a thicker haze at high powers on Mars, yet the residual color with this telescope was so minimal, unobtrusive, that it wasn't consciously noticed unless looking for it. Through the sucker holes, the polar cap and dark albedo features were clearly seen. The limb was sharp & crisp, the planet in crystal clear focus. Alberio showed a beautiful blue and gold pair, and I didn't even notice a color fringe at 50x. Too tired to stay up for the last-quarter moon, gotta work tomorrow. While it will really take a cloudless night to fully appreciate this scope, for now I can say that I'm pleased with my purchase. This is definitely the highest-quality refractor I've ever owned. The more I look at it, though, the less I'd recommend it as a travel scope. The barrel and cell are oversized; would easily accommodate a 100mm objective (maybe things to come???), this is the most massive 80mm scope I've ever used, length aside. There must be more compact, premium 80mm class scopes that would travel much better. Another nit to pick is that while the Crayford style focuser is very smooth, the lock/drag knob hasn't sufficient force to completely immobilize the drawtube under a heavy load such as a camera body and guider, or wide-angle 2" eyepiece & diagonal, but maybe I can improve on this a tad. Also my usual gripe about the Vixen finderscope dovetail system, which, unlike the Meade system, slides-in from the "bottom" end, so a loose setscrew means your finder falls off. This scope comes with no accessories or eyepieces at all, so it's necessary to buy a finderscope or red-dot sight, star diagonal (2" recommended by me) and eyepieces of course, if you don't already have them. What was included was a copy of TheSky which my computer doesn't seem to want to install completely. I used the Weightless mount for this test, which has been waiting for this refractor now that I have mounted it on there and used it. But the mass of this scope made itself apparent in a real way; the friction on the altitude bearings was insufficient. Way too slippery. The older scope, a 70mm f/10, weighs perhaps half of what this one does, and so of course the "feel" is different. Might have to install a drag or lock-knob. This BLOWS AWAY my 80mm f/5 doublet, visually, also sold by Orion about 10 years ago. Photographic tests will be fun and interesting, but alas, unless a big comet suddenly appears, will have to wait. Anyway, for a lousy night, I got a few grins at the eyepiece. This is one nifty refractor, sharp as a tack and almost as free of spurios color as possible. The price just makes it more sweet. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com

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Summit County light pollution petition notice
by Josephine Grahn 17 Oct '03

17 Oct '03

This is an excerpt from an e-mail from Anthony Arrigo, of interest to any Summit county residents. I thought I would post it here, just in case he has missed anyone. First up... we continue to ask that all Summit County Residents...please sign our light pollution petition. We've received an incredible amount of support throughout the community... racking up almost 300 on-line signatures, but... we need each and every one of you to show your support. Then... please tell your family and friend throughout Summit County to do the same. It's easy... it only takes a minute, but... the results will last a lifetime. Just visit (http://www.petitiononline.com/uskies01/petition.html) then pass it on! Here is the text of the petition: To: Summit County and the Boyer Company The Boyer Company is installing streetlights in the Kimball Junction Redstone commercial development that, if allowed to remain, will move Park City one step closer to being just another urban glow along Interstate 80. These "acorn" lights are notorious for glare and up-lighting, qualities that fly in the face of every intention of the County Development Code. The precedent that could be set by this lighting installation would be disastrous to the rural mountain environment of the Snyderville Basin and Summit County, and the local aesthetic we hold so dear. We, the citizens of Summit County, are against this inappropriate and damaging installation, and insist that the acorn lights of Boyers Redstone Development be replaced with appropriate, full-cutoff fixtures. Sincerely,

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Anyone up for the gravel quarry Saturday night?
by Richard Tenney 17 Oct '03

17 Oct '03

I'm hoping to get enough of my honey-do list done Saturday to get away guilt-free while the weather's good and get some Fall observing in. Anyone else that wants to join me just East of Park City? Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] pronunciation guide
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 17 Oct '03

17 Oct '03

Jim, Try this link. <A HREF="http://www.astroleague.org/al/astrnote/astnot07.html">Astro Note 7: Astronomical Pronunciation Guide - I.</A> I think you will find it helpful. Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Photo of the Day!
by Josephine Grahn 16 Oct '03

16 Oct '03

Dave, Congratulations!! It was a beautiful shot, well composed, and worth publishing. I'm glad someone finally recognized that fact... (By the way you have now exceeded your 15 minutes by approximately 250%. A bill will follow.) Jo At 05:53 PM 10/16/2003 -0600, you wrote: >Well, Sky and Telescope wouldn't publish it but my Binopalooza shot >finally got a little attention! Anacortes currently has it up on the >Astromart site as the photo of the day: > >http://www.astromart.com/categories.asp > >Yippee! > >Dave Bennett > >I hope this won't eat any time from my 15 minutes...

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