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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Leonids
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Brent, I asked Harlan about the old airport since he is a member of that radio airplane club. He said since they have had some vandalism out there, they didn't want people out there at night. I haven't been to the old fort since last Nov but I will try to make it out there sometime with my Jeep. It takes me about 40 minutes to get out there so I'd like to go out there around new moon. I also know of a club member that goes out to Cane Beds near Colorado City. According the the Clear Sky Clock, it is very dark out there. I'd like to try some astro-photography out there in the future but not in the summer. I like the Mountain Meadows site off of 18 in the summer. Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Leonids
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Joe, The weather doesn't look good for this weekend. I know a more secluded place at the old Fort Pierce in Warner Valley. I didn't go there last night because i though the dirt roads would be muddy. It is darker there and you don't have to deal with car lights passing by. Snow Canyon also has pretty good observing but there is some light pollution to the south. I've never had any problems with drunks but some of the guys carry guns with them when they go out there to observe. The problem Harlan and I have is getting our same observing spot because of people already camping there. Like I said before, I've seen several patrol cars checking on that area. In fact a few weeks ago, we showed a highway patrolman a few showpiece objects in our telescopes. We showed him the Hercules cluster, the Andromeda galaxy, and the Ring nebula. Debbie

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Question about dew.
by Paul C Johnson 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

I am kind of new to the list so I should introduce myself. I live in Tooele and have been into astronomy for years. I have been reading posts in the list for a while and enjoying all the great info. But now I have been bothered with a question that I can't really find the answer to. I hope someone can help me answer it. I bought a Nexstar 8" SCT about 9 months ago. I think it is a great scope but it is the first SCT that I have owned and I wonder about dew forming on/in it after I bring it inside after an observing session. I always put the lens caps on and store it inside my house when I am done with it. Now that we are getting into the cold weather season, I wonder if there might be a danger of dew forming on/in it because of the sudden change of temp and such. Does anybody have experience on this? Pau.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Leonids
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Joe, I drove on I-15 into Arizona and took the first exit, Black Rock Rd. It is about 15 minutes from my house. There was no wind last night the winter milky way was beautiful. I would of stayed longer but I could tell Harlan wanted to leave and go warm up. I don't like to go out there alone because there have been problems with drunks and drugs addicts. The police do patrol the area which makes me feel a little safer but I always make sure someone from our club is there. We left around 11 pm after I got my fill of Saturn. The peak was supposed to be at 12:30 am so maybe there were more after midnight. I just didn't feel like staying that late. Debbie

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Dew
by Wade Starks 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Dew is probably a much bigger issue in the East and South of the country where relative humidity is typically in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Here in Utah, we are much dryer than much of the rest of the country, so condensation is not nearly so much of an issue as elsewhere. I have noticed that any condisation that does collect initially, usually dissipates very quickly. Wade Starks Wade C Starks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This message may contain confidential information, and is intended only for the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed. ==============================================================================

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Leonids
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

I went out observing last night but only saw a couple of Leonids. The real show for me was Saturn. You could drive a truck through the Cassini Division last night. The Orion Nebula looked nice too. Iota Cassiopeia, Gamma Arieis, Alpha Piscium, Gamma Ceti, Zeta Orionis, Sigma Orionis, Theta Auriga, Castor, and Rigel were all split nicely in my 4" refractor. It is nice to have good seeing for a change. Did anybody else seen any Leonids last night? Debbie

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Question about dew.
by Dale Hooper 18 Nov '03

18 Nov '03

I leave my LX-200 in my observatory all winter long. Up here in Cache Valley it will get as low as about -25F. In the winter I do leave my desert storm bag covering the scope and I have a 40 watt bulb inside the bag to help keep it dry. Concerning Paul's original questions, if you do opt for a dew shield, I've had great success with the "insulated dew shields". You can find them at www.dewshields.com As Brent alluded dew is very bad for your scope. If you bring your scope inside after observing in the cold you should leave the cap off until everything has evaporated. Otherwise you might get mold and other bad stuff forming on your corrector plate and other parts of the scope. Clear skies, Dale. > -----Original Message----- > From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] > Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 7:53 AM > To: Utah Astronomy > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Question about dew. > > > Brent, I have been thinking about doing that. I have an LX200, and my > concern is that the intense cold of winter might damage the computer > or somehow freeze up the gears, if it's left at subfreezing > temperatures for weeks. But I don't know. Any thoughts on that? > Thanks, 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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Santa Claus and the Martians
by Chuck Hards 16 Nov '03

16 Nov '03

As I ventured forth this past weekend upon yet another Christmas shopping quest, I had visions of TV commercials still fresh in my head. Amazing toys, remote-controlled buggies that sailed over any and every terrain, amphibious robots that feared no geology. And I began to think. Some years ago, I read "Managing Martians", I believe by Donna Shirley (it's been a while, and I loaned the book to a former coworker who has since retired, taking my book to Bora-Bora with her!), a fascinating read about the Sojourner Martian rover mission, the people who built it and the day to day challenges Shirley faced as program manager. These bright engineers, while facing a mandate to use off-the-shelf technology whenever possible, still designed much of the vehicle and it's various mechanisms from scratch. And I don't recall reading that any of the team members ever contacted Tyco R/C division. Could it be that much of the required engineering of remotely-operated, all-terrain vehicles has already been done- by the toy manufacturers? Or is it the other way 'round? Ho Ho Ho! ;) C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree

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Sale of Meade LX200GPS 7" MCT
by Naz & David 15 Nov '03

15 Nov '03

I am finally well enough to put together details for the sale of this scope. I posted to the group a short while back seeking advice on how to advertise locally and the suggestion was to try the SLAS web site which I will. Anyway, I received a few requests for more detail from some of this lists members but at the time I was just too ill to provide them. Well, I'm ready now so if your interested email me back. Cheers David

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Saturn occults mag 8.5 star
by Kim Hyatt 14 Nov '03

14 Nov '03

Too bad the weather isn't promising - a similar occultation in 1989(?) was one of the observing highlights of my astronomy life. If the weather cooperates, I HIGHLY recommend that y'all try to observe this event. -----Original Message----- From: James Cobb [mailto:james@cobb.name] Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 8:00 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Fwd: Saturn occults mag 8.5 star If there is interest (and possibly a clear sky), I thought I'd send around xephem predictions of the occultation for Salt Lake City. The first is just before the rings encounter the star, the second is just as the disk encounters the star. In a separate message I'll send the other two contacts (to keep message size to approx 16 kB). For reference, here is Patrick's dispatch on the subject > Saturn To Cover A Star > > Late Friday night (November 14-15) Saturn and its ring system glide > right in > front of an 8.4-magnitude star in Gemini, and observers in North and > South > America will have a ringside seat. > > http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/occultations > http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/occultations/ > article_1102_1.asp

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