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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Star Party at Jerry Foote's September 25,26, and 27
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

Don, I was planning on going to Jerry Foote's place but will there be a separate area for us visual observers so we keep our dark adaptation? Or is this just a star party for astro-imagers only? Debbie

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Mars comments
by Kim Hyatt 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

Ditto, Wayne. Hope we didn't "hog" the telescope and that you got to view as much as you wished. Sometime later I will share sketches of Mars I made on Sunday night with Dave from near Hanksville. -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Reese [mailto:waynereese@qwest.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:35 PM To: 'Visit http://www.utahastronomy.com for the photo gallery.' Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Mars comments I would like thank the group for the great trip to Lowell. Kim and David were very gracious and fun to view with. Seeing was great and I'm sure, but I think I just might have seen Patrick, or someone who looked just like him on Mars. Wayne -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Richard Tenney Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 4:46 PM To: Visit http://www.utahastronomy.com for the photo gallery. Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars comments Aw Brent, you're such a killjoy! Of course you are technically correct, but all the hype adds to the flavor of the moment, and it sure has kindled a lot of interest in the community like hyped events (e.g., comets Halley, Hale-Bopp, Hyakutake, Kohutek, etc.) often do. I've had more people sign up on the UVAA web page in the past couple of weeks than I typically get in a year. Granted, many of these are simply following the hype, and will likely "apostatize from the faith" before long, but also for many of them it's just the first step on the long journey towards true photon addiction! And to tell you the truth, I myself had never made a serious observation of mars prior to this year, out of sheer ignorance. Previously I had always only seen a featureless orange blob swimming in atmospheric soup, always with too low power, etc., not realizing what it takes to get a good image, never believing Mars would ever reveal much detail to amateur scopes. It wasn't until ALCON last summer in fact that I learned otherwise from some of the ALPO attendees that were eagerly and vocally anticipating this year's opposition. So, while true it's mostly all hype, hype can be a good thing! :-) -Rich --- Brent Watson <brentjwatson(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Are we not making more out of this than there really > is? Certainly, Mars is closer than it has been, but > only by a small amount. We have the chance to see > Mars at a somewhat similar distance roughly every > fifteen years. Of the perihelic oppositions of > Mars, > 23 August 1923, 10 September 1956, and 10 August > 1971 > have all been within 0.3 seconds of arc of this > latest > opposition. This is only 1.2% smaller than the > current opposition! Not much when you talk about > observing visually. The difference between this > opposition and the 1923 opposition requires at least > 4 > significant figures to differentiate. (That is less > than 0.1%, and more like 0.05%) > > The opposition in 2018 will be .386 a.u., and the > opposition in 2035 will be .382 a.u. as compared to > this one at .376 a.u. The angular size will be 24.1 > and 24.5 seconds of arc compared to our 25.1. You > won't see much difference there. > > I enjoy looking at Mars as well as the next guy, but > I > think the emphasis on this being the closest > oposition > in 60,000 years is at best overstatement, and at > worst misleading. http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ 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

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Gravel Pit Sunday Night
by Joe Borgione 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

A couple of us will be going to the Browns Canyon gravel pit tonight (Sunday Aug 31). I'll get there about sundown; weather permitting it should be good! Joe Borgione jborgion(a)yahoo.com --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software

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Re: A Question
by Richard Tenney 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

Rob, I've found that everyone has their favorites, and finding a consensus might be rather difficult! But I'll weigh in my 2 cents, and let others weigh in as well. On my old 6-inch Dynascope, my favorite and most used eyepiece is an old 20mm Erfle. On the 16-inch, the one that is in the focuser probably 90% of the time is my 22mm Nagler -- I LOVE that eyepiece; worth every penny my wife paid for it! ;-) I also use and enjoy (on the 16) a 35mm Panoptic for wide-field stuff (found a cheap used one), and for higher magnifications 13mm and 8mm TV ploessls, though if I could afford them I would like to own a few more Naglers and/or Radians (I've borrowed the 9mm and 13mm Naglers, old and new, and several of the Radians, and love the way they perform). At Wolf Creek Saturday, I had a chance to look through Lowell's 20-inch obsession, and he swears by his Pentax eyepieces. I confess the view of the Andromeda galaxy trio was most impressive in that 40mm Pentax. But I also remember directly comparing the 22 Panoptic with a 21mm Pentax one night in Hobble Creek with Debbie's 15-inch Obsession, and found the Panoptic view better, in my opinion. Lowell will argue otherwise, and said he sold all of his TV eyepieces when he discovered the Pentax line. Everyone's eyes and preferences are different... Chuck Hards, our resident ATM guru, doesn't favor these "glass sandwiches" so much (though he does like the TV Panoptics, just thinks all of them are way over-priced, which they are!), and has many of the University Optics eyepieces (the whole line of Koenigs for example), and prefers Orthoscopics for high power planetary work ("less glass is better"). (Chuck and Lowell, sorry if I misquoted you...) Don't know if that helps or not, -Rich --- Rob Ratkowski <ratkwski(a)maui.net> wrote: > Hi Rich > > > Has anyone ever asked what an ideal set (FL, brand, > type,??) of > eyepieces would be and why?? I guess I'm asking to > see what you all > use the most and why they are useful. I have TV's > of 55,40,26,21,17 > and 10.5mm, 2.5X Barlow, a Meade 32mm 2" and a > Celestron Ultima 30mm. > Still looking for a 5mm TV Radian ............. > Would this be > called a survey w/ comments?? > > > Aloha > Rob > > > PS What do you use?? Which is your most used EP?? > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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Interesting blackout photo
by Richard Tenney 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

Now if we could just figure out how to kill the rest of the grid sometime around the next new moon... ;o) http://www.utahastronomy.com/Richt/blackout -Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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Sunspotter scope
by Jim Cobb 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

Does anyone have any experience with StarLab's Sunspotter scope? Comments? http://starlab.com/ltiprod.html#Anchor-Sunspotter-49575 Thanks, Jim Cobb

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars comments
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

This is the first year I saw detail on Mars. I'm going to make sure I stay healthy for the 2018 and 2035 oppositions. Hopefully my eyes will still be good. Debbie

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[Fwd: [Utah-astronomy] Mars comments]
by karen vanderhule 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

I have been using Orions' Sky Glow filter for Mars and it is really impressive in the fact that it reveals the three distinct areas. The polar cap is white and prominent with the more rugged areas immediately above it in a distinct grayish green and the rest of the planet where the area is smoother has a crowd pleasing coral/orange tone. The effect is also quite 3-D. Astro Physics is also selling a Moon Glow filter that really works well on the planet. It is a little pinkish but great detail. Ron Vanderhule

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