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

Solar Data Browser
by David L Bennett 09 Mar '04

09 Mar '04

Speaking of sunspots...if there are any other Mac users out there running OSX there is a great freeware program called Solscape available at: http://www.stimpsoft.com/products/solscape.html It offers the most recent solar images from SOHO (EIT, LASCO, MDI, etc.), current graphs/data, auroral activity and forecasts, satellite imagery from GOES, and solar activity alerts. It's also a nice little cheat to see if there are any worthwhile sunspots visible before setting up the gear. Regards, Dave Bennett P.S. I've included a shot from the program...it's a Michelson Doppler Imager image showing the sunspots Jim mentioned earlier. On Tuesday, March 9, 2004, at 11:21 AM, Jim Gibson wrote: > I just went outside (11:15 Tuesday) and looked at the sun with my > Galileos + filters. There is a pair of huge sunspots just left > (observers left) of the center. One is very black and the other is > much less so. > > Jim

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] second thoughts
by Kim Hyatt 09 Mar '04

09 Mar '04

Has NASA offered any theories yet? I haven't followed all of the info that has been released. I'm sticking with the oolitic limestone model for now. However, on earth doesn't the carbonate precipitate that accumulates on a grain of sand or shell fragment (see http://www.science.ubc.ca/~geol202/sed/sili/oolites.html) to form the oolite ultimatley come from sea organisms? If so, then there's always the possibility that such action took place on Mars to form these spherules. Since I don't have time to follow all of NASA's press conferences, etc., y'all just let me know if I'm up in the night... -----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman [mailto:bau@desnews.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 11:08 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] second thoughts Hi Chuck, The Moqui marbles do have some amazing similarities to the Mars thingies. What bothers me is that I collected some myself many years ago down around Coral Pink Sand Dunes. I'm not quite surrendering, but it looks grim for the blueberries as life argument. What got me is that the marbles seem to be connected to groundwater and iron. We all know about iron and Mars. What if the groundwater is percolating upward, connecting with iron and silica, and forming these things? They would tend to project out, like these seem to, and might even have "rootlets" that are tubes in the soil where the groundwater traveled. It seem reasonable. Best wishes, Joe _______________________________________________ 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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Geo flasher
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

Right now (8:30 pm) about 6 degrees above (in altitude) Procyon is a geosynch satellite called Apple (12545U). It's rotating and about every 28 seconds it flashes. Easy to see from my backyard here in Stansbury with just 7x35 binoculars. Not bad considering it's about 40,000 km out there. Fun. Patrick

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] NASA deluged by civilians' Mars "discoveries "
by Kim Hyatt 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

Interesting article - thanks, Dale. -----Original Message----- From: Dale Hooper [mailto:Dale.Hooper@sdl.usu.edu] Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 5:38 PM To: Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] NASA deluged by civilians' Mars "discoveries" http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/8124461.htm _______________________________________________ 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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NASA deluged by civilians' Mars "discoveries"
by Dale Hooper 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/8124461.htm

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Re: V838 Mon
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

Hi, It does not get very high here in Utah but given a good southern horizon it should be doable. Details here: http://www.aavso.org/vstar/vsots/1202.shtml Patrick Jim Gibson wrote: > > Patrick > I know you study variable stars. Can a person see V838 Mon with a medium sized > scope? > > http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040305.html > > Jima

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[Utah-astronomy] OT: Frontiers of Science Lecture Wednesday evening at U of U
by Richard Tenney 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

The following is from the U's website. The lecture is at 7:30 pm in the Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Auditorium. Every one of these lectures so far has been outstanding, IMHO. See you there, -Rich --------------- The fifth Frontiers of Science lecture, on Weds, March 10th features University of Utah Distinguished Professor Christopher R. Johnson, director of the University of Utah Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute. He will discuss "Computing the Future of Biomedicine." As always, this lecture is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Computers have changed the way we live, work, and play. Now, they are transforming how we think about and treat human disease. In particular, advanced techniques in biomedical computing, imaging, and visualization are changing the face of biology and medicine in both research and clinical practice. As a result of these advances and of research conducted at the University of Utah, biomedical computing and visualization are contributing to important medical discoveries and clinical treatments. In this talk, Professor Johnson will discuss the state of the art in biomedical computing, medical imaging, and visualization research and present stunning examples of their roles in cardiology, neuroscience, neurosurgery, and radiology. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Clear Skies
by Joe Bauman 08 Mar '04

08 Mar '04

I agree. Maybe storms flush the pollution out of the air. I too was awestruck by the sky after the storm. Last night I stood outside the house loving every second. If it hadn't been so cold I would have dragged out my telescope. Venus and Jupiter were especially gorgous, and for once the full moon just seemed a nice addition. It was lovely to see the moon so close to Jupiter. -- Joe

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Clear Skies
by Gary Liptrot 07 Mar '04

07 Mar '04

Jim, One of the best combinations of transparency and seeing that I witnessed was one night right after a storm when I was at Camp Atoka, South Fork. Dean Williams and I were trying to show a church group the wonders of the heavens when a line of thunderstorms swept over the whole area. Normally we would pack it in and go home, but that night we just covered up the scope, hung out in my car and waited out the storm. We were rewarded with a clear steady sky that was hard to beat. The storm system was not one of those that took two days to get here and another day to leave. Some of those wide area systems have a long wedge of cirrus, then alto-cumulus (mackeral sky) etc. until the big ones move in. The good ones seem to be fast in and fast out. My feeling is that some of the best viewing is in the winter where the sky is cold and stable. We seem to wait until the heat convection columns of summer boil to great heights. When I was flying a lot in the 70's and 80's I noticed that the most stable air was winter. Summertime was hang on to your hat time, especially in the mid-west where the humidity would add to the unstable skies. Note: I'm envious of your spear fishing adventures as a kid. Beats all my skin diving adventures to pieces... B) Tnx es 73 de n7zi Gary "Why buy something for ten bucks when you can make it for a hundred.", J.R. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+n7zi=comcast.net(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+n7zi=comcast.net@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Jim Gibson Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 5:23 PM To: List; UVAA List Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Clear Skies Saturday night after the storm I step outside for a few minutes to look at the sky and the it was magnificent. I am wondering, in your collective experience does the sky usually get really steady and transparent after a storm? Jim

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Oops pix
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Mar '04

07 Mar '04

Sometimes I get some pretty good astro shots. But then there are the other times... These are shots I took in the mid 70s out at Little Stonehenge near Grantsville. Does anyone remember Little Stonehenge? Care to guess what the problems were? http://planet.state.ut.us/temp/OOPS1.JPG http://planet.state.ut.us/temp/OOPS2.JPG Ok, now that I've fessed up, is anyone else willing to share some of their Oops Pix? Enjoy, Patrick :-)

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