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

beautiful meteor
by Thomas Sevcik 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

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Today's NASA Briefing
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '05

03 Feb '05

Two things of note out of today's briefing. 1) The briefer noted they have received 132 reports of found debris in CA, 130 in AZ and 9 in NM but that none had been confirmed. He made no mention of Utah. 2) The picture mentioned in the Aviation Week article was shown. Some of the media has been playing it up as being "hi resolution". Don't know that I'd call it hi-res but it does show the shape of the orbiter and maybe there's "something" with the left wing but the image is so pixcelated it's hard to say for sure. No doubt the picture will be all over the TV tonight.

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New Saturn Picture
by Siegfried Jachmann 27 Oct '04

27 Oct '04

Joe, I see it the same way and wondered the same thing even before reading your post. The ring is not parallel with the belts. I'm also wondering where the top of the planet disappeared to. Siegfried Jachmann Family History Network Comptroller 801-553-8881

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utahastronomy.com email?
by lucyblue＠xmission.com 20 Apr '04

20 Apr '04

Soo.. would anyone be interested in a whoever(a)utahastronomy.com email address? =D Would be accessable by web or by a POP3 client. I'm looking into the options. Cyn -- http://www.utahdogs.com http://www.cynthiablue.net

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amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages
by Chuck Hards 05 Jan '04

05 Jan '04

If anybody is checking their email on a cell phone or laptop, huddled in the cold & dark, just say the word and we'll get you some relief somehow. We lost power Friday morning at 9, didn't get it back until Saturday night at 7, 34 hours. House internal temp was about 48 degrees by then. Isn't it amazing how your spirits can soar just from the sight of a lightbulb lighting up? BTW, truss poles don't burn, and the shroud makes a lot of stinky smoke...same with laminated atlases. Only use the plain paper ones. ;) C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/

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Upcoming space events
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Jan '04

01 Jan '04

I'm putting together a list of things happening "up there" in 2004 and would appreciate y'all having a look see and letting me know of any omissions and/or errors. It's part of my "ambassador" doings so it's public domain and anyone can copy and use the data. Cheers! Patrick All time Mountain JANUARY 2004 02-Stardust encounter with comet Wilt-2 (12:40) 03-Spirit lands on Mars (21:35) 03-Quadrantids (23:00) 04-Perihelion (11:00) 24-Opportunity lands on Mars (22:05) FEBRUARY 2004 MARCH 2004 19-Equinox (23:49) APRIL 2004 MAY 2004 11-MESSENGER's 12 day launch window opens JUNE 2004 08-Transit of Venus (East Coast at sunrise) 11-Cassini encounters Phoebe (Saturnian satellite) 20-Solstice (18:57) 30-Cassini orbit insertion burn (19:12 to 21:13) JULY 2004 05-Aphelion (05:00) AUGUST 2004 12-Perseids (04:00) SEPTEMBER 2004 08-Genesis lands in Utah 22-Equinox (10:30) OCTOBER 2004 28-Total lunar eclipse (18:14 to 21:53) NOVEMBER 2004 02-MESSENGER Venus flyby #1 of 3 DECEMBER 2004 13-Geminids (15:00) 21-Solstice (05:42) 24-Huygens probe separates from Cassini orbiter (22:00) 30-Deep Impact launch JANUARY 2005 14-Huygens lands on Titan July 2005 04-Deep Impact impacts Comet Tempel 1 January 2006 15-Stardust lands in Utah (03:00)

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Awful science pun
by Patrick Wiggins 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

Awful science pun on the radio yesterday. So what do you do when you hear a really bad pun? You pass it on, of course: Two atoms are walking down the street. One stops and says to the other, "I've lost an electron". "You sure?" asked his friend. "I'm positive."

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Power outages, new year, etc.
by Kim Hyatt 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

I do feel sorry for y'all who have been without power. I live on the same block as (former) Governor Leavitt, and I figure that's why we've never had such problems. Our street was even plowed, but I did see Mike shoveling his own driveway the other day. I think there was a Secret Service dude helping him, though. While thinking about the coming year it dawned on me that some time during the last 20 years or so I past my prime (whatever that is). I'm only in my 50th year, and I can't remember how or when this happened, but it's OK. I also realized that for some things in life (e.g. astronomy) there really is no prime time. We can have fun and do good work until we're either dead or senile - I'm not sure which comes first. Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! See y'all under the stars...

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[Utah-astronomy] Re: Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 10, Issue 17 (RE: Power Outage)
by John R. Peterson 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

My power went out at 1 am on Friday morning and finally was restored Monday night at about 9. The fireplace in my Liberty Park area bungalow has a gas log, but at one time the fireplace insert (you know, those old ornate cast iron/brass devices from when they probably burned coal) was removed, so the setup is far from efficient. Two down comfortors with a living hot water bottle (my cat) inserted in-between, directly above my torso, made sleeping comfortable, and the water heater was fortunately NOT electronically controlled, but let me tell you, getting out of the shower was no fun. Camping out inside gets old fast, really fast. Doc utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com wrote: >Send Utah-Astronomy mailing list submissions to > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com > >You can reach the person managing the list at > utah-astronomy-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >than "Re: Contents of Utah-Astronomy digest..." > > >Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Lost Dog (Beagle 2) (Patrick Wiggins) > 2. Mars News (David Dunn) > 3. amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > 4. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Kim Hyatt) > 5. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > 6. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (UTAHDEB(a)aol.com) > 7. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (Patrick Wiggins) > 8. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (Chuck Hards) > 9. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (UTAHDEB(a)aol.com) > 10. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Gary Liptrot) > 11. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 21:30:38 -0700 >From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)trilobyte.net> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Lost Dog (Beagle 2) >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Message-ID: <3FEFADED.295FDFAF(a)trilobyte.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > >One ray of hope comes from the fact that Odyssey was not designed to detect >signals from Beagle. The Mars Express orbiter (the part of the mission that >continues to work fine and that the media continues to ignore) was designed for >that purpose. So hopefully, once it is in position early next month we'll >finally hear from Beagle. > >Patrick > >Chuck Hards wrote: > > >>Mars has a habit of eating space probes, there's no >>doubt about it. While there may still be slim hope >>for Beagle 2, it looks like the planetary equivalent >>of the "kite-eating tree" got the planetary scientists >>again. Taking Patrick's observations as a guide, I've >>tried to avoid getting my news from main-stream >>sources and stayed with those friendly to science. >>Less soap opera that way. >> >>The past few unsuccessful landers have just made that >>little Sojourner rover all the more remarkable, don't >>you think?... And those Viking landers still cast a >>long shadow, don't they? >> >>Keep your fingers crossed. There's an ID chip in this >>lost pup. >> >>C.o >> >> > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:36:05 -0700 >From: David Dunn <david.dunn(a)albertsons.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Mars News >To: "&Astro (utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com)" > <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Message-ID: > <99899D7E2E3BD411A9DB00508B665DF206ED6FE3(a)slcntdex01.albertsons.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >I happened across this article while browsing. This would be the kind of >luck I would have. > >http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html ><http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html> > >Thanks. >David Dunn > >

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages
by Josephine Grahn 30 Dec '03

30 Dec '03

Our power was off for 56 hours. We had a battery back up for our boiler pump, and keeping the house at about 60 carried us for more than 48 hours. The camping gear allowed us to cook and heat water. The real downside was that we had guests coming into town on Saturday, and the only bathroom in the house was all prepped for painting the night before the power went out. You just can't paint without good lighting, and I really could have used one of those old-fashioned hoovers that clean a carpet without electricity... :) Other than that, we had fun. In the 28 years that we have lived here, this is the first outage that lasted more than 8 hours. Jo Grahn At 04:52 PM 12/30/2003 -0700, you wrote: >I have a 8000 watt natural gas backup generator with a transfer switch so it >comes on automatically 30 seconds after the power goes off. It is also >relatively quiet, 70 decibels. It has come in handy many times but I only >needed it for a few hours during the current power problems. > >Clear Skies >Don Colton > >I hear ya C.H.. I installed a free standing wood stove in my old Condo. It >was great, I would build two fires a day and put a small lump of coal on >top. You had to open windows it was so hot in there. Today the coal idea >may not be too good considering the inversions etc but it sure worked good >back then. > >Generators, hummmm. We should have asked Santa for a 500 gal fixed propane >tank and a 10KW self start generator in a sound proof shed with auto-sensing >cut-over panel. Well, I guess we may have to settle for a 5KW and an >extension cord to just run the heater and one wall circuit eh? > >Or just wall paper the house with those little hand warmers, then when the >power goes out you can just bang on a bunch of them with a hammer to mix the >chemicals and warm the house. That would work for 4 or 5 storms... B) > >Tnx es 73 de n7zi >Gary > >"Why buy something for ten bucks when you can make it for a hundred.", J.R. > > >Hi Gary: > >I've already worked a generator and wood stove into >our '04 budget...never again! > >C. > >BTW, the new carbon-fiber tube Celestrons cannot be >used for deep-frying turkeys. Only use the older >models with aluminum tubes. ;) > >--- Gary Liptrot <n7zi(a)comcast.net> wrote: >> Saturday was our day for power fizzle. It went off >> at 04:30 and came back >> on at 21:30 that night. Yes the temp was getting >> low. I was shopping for a >> better heat source than my fireplace and found a >> thingy called DynaGlow at >> Walley World for about 80 bucks.

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