October 2004 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Follow-on to Wedge report
by Jim Gibson 18 Oct '04

18 Oct '04

Among the many other objects that I forgot to mention, one of the more notable ones was M33 the Pinwheel Galaxy in Triangulum. Besides be spectacularly beautiful to observe, my primary interest was to see if we could see the nebula NGC 604 and we could. Don Colton found it. The structure of the spiral arms is well defined in the 20 scope and at the bottom of the view at the extremity of one of the arms is a bright splotchy spot or knot that is NGC 604. We could see other knots as well. I wish I would have put more power on NGC 604, but we were looking at the entire galaxy with either the 31mm (85x) or the 22mm (120x). I wish I had gone to the 9mm (292x) to look at NGC 604. I am looking forward to another chance to obsurve this beauty. We also saw the dust lane through the galaxy NGC 891 near Almaak in Andromeda and the nebula M1 looked like a big thumbprint. JG --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.

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Tonight at the gravel pit
by Richard Tenney 17 Oct '04

17 Oct '04

For those of you who are not headed to the Wedge tonight that want to do some observing closer to home, a few of us will be at the Gravel Pit (East of Park City) tonight (Friday). I haven't decided if I'm going up early evening or late night, but I plan to be up there into the early morning hours hunting early winter objects along with Lowell Lyon and a few others, so if you come early and nobody is there yet stick around and you'll have company sometime after midnight at least. And if Lou Griffin shows up (hint, hint), there will be at least two 20-inch dobs there ;o) Rich PS, you can find directions on the UVAA website: http://www.uvaa.org/sitedirections/GravelPit.html _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com

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Wedge Friday Night
by Robert Taylor 17 Oct '04

17 Oct '04

A handful of "SLASers" made it down to the Wedge Friday night. Unfortunately clouds decided to visit Friday after a brilliantly clear week of skies. We watched the sky for signs of clearing but decided it wasn't going clear anytime soon so we drifted off to take a quick nap and check back in a few hours. Jim Gibson and I got up a little after mid-night to se how the skies were doing but the skies were still pretty bad. There were a few sucker holes but that was about it. After an hour of hoping and watching we gave up as we realized that even the sucker holes had disappeared behind cloud cover. Don Colton got up a few hours later (about 3am) to find the sky had finally cleared. Don rousted Jim and me and we had about 3 terrific hours with some winter constellations in relatively warm weather. We had 3 scopes going; Jim's 20" Dob, Don's 18" Robo Dob and and my "small" 16" Dob. Nebulas seemed to be the objects of choice: the Rosette, Eskimo, Crab, Horse Head (yes we actually saw it), the Orion (never saw it that bright, simply spectacular) and handful of other planetary and emission nebulas including an NGC right next to M81 and M82 that we'd not seem before, at least not me. Saturn was up high and bright, the Cassini division was popping in and out, seeing was not steady as you might expect after the clouds, but it still looked great after a summer's absence. The night ended with Leo high in the east and Venus shinning brightly enough to cast a shadow, Jupiter was up but too low to get a good view. Overall the tour of the winter constellations made it a worthwhile trip and a worthwhile wait. A handful of people stayed in bed that night despite a few attempts to wake them, not to fear, the winter constellations will be back, in the winter, wear your thermals. Bob Taylor

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Dawn Patrol: observing report from the gravel pit
by astrodeb＠charter.net 17 Oct '04

17 Oct '04

The California Nebula is large and faint but an easy starhop. I assume Robert had an h-beta filter to see it. Didn't the size of Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula) just blow you away? I found it last January with a 20" Starmaster and 31mm Nagler. The "horseshoe shape" was very apparent. Jim and I did some observing Thursday night because it was calm and clear. We looked at some planetaries in Cassiopea including Abell 6, Abell 82, Abell 84, IC 289, and IC 1747. Friday night was too windy for us so we decided to stay home and watch the baseball game, which was rained out. I finished off my roll of film Thursday night and am waiting for the results on Monday. I got a good view of the Pleaides and the Hyades before I packed in the 4" scope. Debbie > > From: Richard Tenney <retenney(a)yahoo.com> > Date: 2004/10/16 Sat PM 08:00:38 MDT > To: Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com>, > UVAA <uvaa(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Dawn Patrol: observing report from the gravel pit > > For those of you who were sitting at home, or surfing > the Wedge (and I don't mean Newport Beach CA) last > evening, early this morning I joined Tyler Allred > (Orem) at the gravel quarry about 1 a.m. (sorry I > missed the folks from BYU who were up earlier), and > was later joined by Joan, Lowell, and Robert Fisher > around 2 for some early winter fun. A nagging breeze > kicked up just before I arrived, but in spite of the > scope moving on its own a little too often, we managed > to find some pretty neat stuff. For one thing, a > welcome plethora of meteor activity (are we close to a > shower?) all night. In addition to adding a few new > H-400 objects to my log book (some open clusters in > Taurus, a few diffuse nebulae and a small Planetary > nebula in Orion), and Stephens Quintet, we were > treated to the California Nebula (huge!), Abell 21 > (the medusa nebula) and Hubble's variable Nebula (all > firsts for me) among other deep-sky gems, along with a > very cool "3-D" view of M42 in Robert's new AP > Traveler with the Denkmeier binoviewer fitted with > 24mm Panoptics -- an experienced not to be missed. > Half the fun up there was listening to Joan's frequent > ooohs and aaahs ;o) -- I love her enthusiasm. Aside > from an unfortunate mishap with my DSC's hitting the > pavement too hard (:o( it was a fun way to greet the > dawn... now if I can just get caught up on my rest... <yawn>. > > > > _______________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! > http://vote.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com >

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New TeleKit
by Jim Gibson 15 Oct '04

15 Oct '04

A little about my new TeleKit that I don't think I have mentioned. The Primary is 20" and the focal length is 107.6"; that makes an f/5.375. Brent Watson bred into me the idea and advantages of long focal ratios and I really thought I would go with a f/6. When I climbed my ladder and dropped the tape measure to get an idea of where I would be I decided to go with an f/5 instead. So I think the f/5.375 is a good compromise. I had a special ladder built. It is an 8' orchard style ladder with the rungs only 8" apart. The wide base makes it really solid and with the short spaced rungs it makes it nice for those in-between situations. Who knows, I might even get Debbie Whitaker (the Ground Queen) to go up a few rungs (she doesnt like heights or ladders). When the Dob is placed vertical and while peering through the eyepiece the top of the ladder is about chest high; just right for holding onto. My lowest power, the 31mm Nagler, gives me 85x with a 0.97 degree FOV. My highest power is a University Optic Ortho at 4mm which gives me 685x with 0.07 degree FOV; things move fast through there. A 41mm Televue Panoptic would give me 64x with 1.06 degree FOV - I feel the tug of a purchase coming on, but I am not sure it would give me that much more. I will have to see if I can barrow Richs sometime for a peek. I can't see all of the Andromeda galaxy with the 31mm but it is still a good view and I cant see all of NGC 7000 (North American Nebula) but who can? I can see most everything else that I am interested in like Planetaries and such and a good bit more detail than my 12.5 f/7. The TeleKit weights a lot, I cant remember exactly, but with the wheel barrow style handles and wheels, I can get it around just fine. I need to get a good ramp to get it in and out of my van. It will be at the Wedge Overlook this Friday night so come by and have a look. JG --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today!

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OAS Public Star Party for October.
by David Dunn 15 Oct '04

15 Oct '04

I noticed that an email posted an incorrect location for the OAS star party this Saturday. We had tentitively thought we would try to hold it at the Ogden Nature Center. There is a lot of light polution out there now so we decided not to request them to host his party. The star party will be at the park in Eden. This is our public party for October. Everyone is welcome to come. The Eden Park is located at 2200 North & 5600 East in Eden. Mapquest will give driving directions if you need them Thanks. Dave

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Aliens
by Chuck Hards 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

I added a photo to my Gallery page, clearly and irrevocably documenting my meeting alien space travellers, right here in Utah. I am telling the absolute truth. And no probing of any kind was involved. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Steven's Quintet
by astrodeb＠charter.net 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

Jim, It's NGC 7320. You will want to use high power on this one. More than 200X. Debbie > > From: Jim Gibson <jimgibson00(a)yahoo.com> > Date: 2004/10/12 Tue PM 09:39:25 GMT > To: List <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Steven's Quintet > > Last year I was looking at or for Steven's Qeintet. It seems to me that it is near the northern edge of Pegasus somewhere. Anybody have the NGC for the any one in the group? I would like to check it out this weekend. > > JG > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today! > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com >

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Wedge map?
by Chuck Hards 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

Someone posted an address for a map to the Wedge site in the last few days, and I seem to have lost it. Could whomever posted it please re-post? Thanks _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Steven's Quintet
by astrodeb＠charter.net 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

Jim and all, Here is a fun project I've been working on. It's eyecandy for your 20" scope. http://www.angelfire.com/id/jsredshift/autumn.htm Debbie > From: Jim Gibson <jimgibson00(a)yahoo.com> > Date: 2004/10/13 Wed PM 03:23:19 GMT > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Steven's Quintet > > Jim > I liked that link so well, I down loaded the picture and made it a wall paper. > > I didn't realize that the Quintet are so close to M31. Cool. > > Jim > > Jim Cobb <james(a)cobb.name> wrote: > Here is a picture with caption: "NGC 7331 and Stephen's Quintet." That > should at least get you in the neighborhood. > > http://www.ccdargo.com/n7331sq_tak5_lrgb.htm > > Using this as a starting point in xephem I found these NGC objects: > > 7333, 7335, 7336, 7337, and 7340. > > According to xephem's database, NGC 7337 has RA 22:37:26.6 and > declination 34:22:26. It is in Pegasus, next to Lacerta. > > I have a screen capture, but it was much larger than the 40K limit of > this mailing list... > > Jim > ---- > Jim Cobb > james(a)cobb.name > On Oct 12, 2004, at 3:39 PM, Jim Gibson wrote: > > > Last year I was looking at or for Steven's Qeintet. It seems to me > > that it is near the northern edge of Pegasus somewhere. Anybody have > > the NGC for the any one in the group? I would like to check it out > > this weekend. > > > > JG > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today! > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com >

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