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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Comet NEAT now (21:25)
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 08 May '04

08 May '04

I got a little carried away in my enthusiasm in viewing the comet last night. It isn't as bright as Hale-Bopp but it is the brightest comet I've seen in two years. It was naked eye from my dark site but you had to know where to look for it. The 15 X 70s binoculars showed a tail of about 4-5 degrees. I'm going to view it in my scope tonight out at my dark sky location west of Snow Canyon. The comet should be in Monoceros heading towards Procyon. Debbie

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Comet NEAT now (21:25)
by Patrick Wiggins 08 May '04

08 May '04

Comet NEAT is now easily visible with 7x35 binos from here at Stansbury Park. About 15 degrees to the lower left of Procyon and 15 degrees to the upper right of Sirius. Patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: [UVAA] Question on GO-TO scopes
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 07 May '04

07 May '04

Here is what "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" has to say on it. Do You Need a "Go To" Telescope? For the $300-to-$500 cost of a good beginner's scope, should you buy one with the "Go To" capability, such as a Meade ETX-AT or DS-2000 model? They are seductive. Just press a button, and away they go. They make it fun to explore the sky with kids. In the low-cost "Go To" scopes, what you sacrifice is image quality for any object you do find. For the same $300 to $400 that a small 70mm-to-80mm "Go To" telescope costs, you could have any of the following: a larger 90mm-to-105mm Maksutov, a 90mm long-focus refractor, a 130mm Newtonian reflector or a 6-inch (150mm) reflector on a Dobsonian mount. All will shoe brighter, sharper images, provided you do the work to find objects. Star-hopping guides and charts are the low-cost alternative to "Go To" computers. Using them to star-hop across the sky requires that you learn the sky, essential knowledge for cultivatin a long-term love affair with the stars. Debbie

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Re: [UVAA] Question on GO-TO scopes
by Richard Tenney 07 May '04

07 May '04

David, One option is to make or purchase an equatorial platform for your dob(s). If you size it for your upcoming 12-inch, you'll have both the aperture and the ability to keep high-power views centered in the eyepiece. If I were you I wouldn't waste my money on a goto 80mm scope. There are probably kits out there, or discussions on some of the newsgroups or lists on the 'web that describe how to make these. I'm told that you can get the parts you need for under $100. Perhaps someone on the list can give you that info. I know there are some nice though rather pricey commercial units available for big dobs, that run anywhere from about $500 to about $2K or more. -Rich --- David Trevino <dotrevino(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I would like to ask those that have GO-TO scopes > their > opinion on them. Looks too me that one could spend > more time observing that trying to find objects. > (although some argue that finding them is half the > fun). > > Anyway, here is my train of thought: Last year I > bought a 4.5" dobsonian. It is not the greatest, > but > some nights the viewing is good from my driveway, > enough to keep me interested (and better eyepieces > helped tremendously). But my greatest frustration > is > trying to keep it pointing in the right direction. > I > can find planets and other objects just fine at > low/medium power, but when I get to high power, it > is > really hard to keep them in view. (the mount may not > be as good as it could be since a little bump or > push > when trying to focus is enough to move it off > target). > > > Anyway, I see that Walmart has the Meade DS-80AT for > under $250. I know it is smaller aperture than my > current scope, but I am atracted by its computer > controls. If it indeed can find and track objects > as > described, then I can spend my time learning how > they > actually look (most photographs are taken with > larger > scopes so they don't look the same). I am not > worried > about the aperture since I am in John and Lisa's > telescope class, so later this summer I'll have a > 12" > scope. In this case the Meade would aid in pointing > me in the right direction, so I can recognize my > target in the finder for the larger scope. > > Any comments or ideas on this or other affordable > computerized mounts will be greatly appreciated. > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs > http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover > > _______________________________________________ > UVAA mailing list > UVAA(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uvaa __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover

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Scouter needs star party help this summer
by Richard Tenney 07 May '04

07 May '04

If any of you are available and of the mindset to do some good public service, your help is needed on select Wednesday evenings this summer starting in June. At least 2 people (and scopes if you have them) are needed to assist at Camp Maple Dell near Payson Lakes for the following Wednesday nights: June 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. July 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th. August 4th. Mr. Rasmussen, the scouter that's hosting these writes: "If your members could choose just one or two dates that they'd like to volunteer to bring up their scopes, that would mean we'd have 4 scopes for the scouts to see with (including my 2 scopes). I average 60-70 boys taking the Astronomy merit badge per week, but have about 100-150 people show up to just enjoy the night classes that start at 10:00pm each night. With that many people, viewing through one scope at a time creates extremely long waits. If someone doesn't have a scope, I have two scopes myself (10" LX200 and 6" dobsonian). Camp Maple Dell is located about 15 minutes up Payson Canyon, just below Payson Lakes (Utah County). We have a large viewing area (called the "Bowl") that has no lights around and vehicles with the scopes will be allowed to drive (5 mph) up to the area. If the volunteers' phone numbers are given to me, I can remind each of them before the came how to get there. Thanks, Mr. R. (a.k.a. Kerry Rasmussen) Ogden, UT (801) 393-9306 thedane(a)relia.net rasmussenk(a)m.ogden.k12.ut.us Please RSVP directly to him if you are available any of these nights. Please CC me when you email him so I have an idea how many respond. -Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover

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Bradfield from Utah?
by Patrick Wiggins 05 May '04

05 May '04

I went out this morning (Tuesday) at 4:45 am near SPOC. The sky was starting to lighten (Sun was 16 degrees below the horizon), plus I was looking over the lights of SLC. At that time comet Bradfield should have been about 15 degrees elevation in the NE and about 5 degrees below M-31. M-31 was plainly visible in 7x35 binos but no sign of the comet. Has anyone seen Bradfield from along the Wasatch front? Patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] "Oh wow" Martian pics
by Michael Carnes 03 May '04

03 May '04

Thanks for the links Joe. Those are indeed fascinating shots. Michael -----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> Sent: May 3, 2004 2:01 PM To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] "Oh wow" Martian pics Some fascinating landscape views have come from Opportunity the past couple of days. Check out: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/n/094/1N136544076EFF1900P2860L… http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/n/095/1N136619354EFF2000P1985L… -- 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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Wrokshop/Moon Watch Report
by Jim Gibson 03 May '04

03 May '04

A little report on our Workshop/Moon Watch get-together last night. I got to the park a little early and set up my binoculars on a Chuck Hards parallelogram. Daniel Turner came early also and we had a chance to talk over several interesting topics before things really got rolling. Daniel is a do-it-yourselfer and quite knowledgeable in astronomy. He is an avid galaxy hunter. People starting showing up at 7:30 and Paul Witte and his young son Brandon came with their 10 Meade. We put the Meade to work on the moon and we could see Aristarchus and Herodotus really well out on the terminator. We could also see the lava tubes coming out of Herodotus very clearly in Pauls scope among many other moon features. We had several walk-ins that enjoyed looking at things as well. Before things got started a young gal (UVSC student) named Kammie (sp?), a fellow by the name of Dave Jenkins, another fellow who I am embarrassed to say I forgot his name, and a fellow named Don also were there. John and Lisa Zeigler came and with only about 9 or 10 people there we started your eyepiece workshop. John presented an interesting discussion on how eyepieces work. I had the enjoyment of taking a few minutes and talking a little bit about the moon. Then we broke up and started looking at sky objects with the 5 or 6 scopes that were set up there. At that point there were so many little interesting side events/ discussions going on, it was just fun to roam around at try and get in on each one. I was able to get with John Zeigler for a while and we did some eyepiece comparisons. John has some eyepieces that are very well made, light and inexpensive compared to some of the well-known brands. The eyepieces compared favorably with the Naglers and are go alternative for less than ½ the price. John will get the URL to the wegbsite for those who may be interested. This was the first time I had met Dave Jenkins and he is an avid double start enthusiast. Dave and I got on my little Orion 8mmED and went to some doubles that Dave is familiar with. Surprisingly to both of us, with a 9mm University Optic eyepiece at 97x we were able to split the double star Castor (Alpha Gemini) which constituents are only about 2 arcseconds apart. We also took a look at Izar (Epsilon Bootes [pronounced Boe-OH-teez]) which is a 3 arcsecond split and whos constituents are yellow and bluish-green. We cranked the power up to 250x by using a 6mm University Optic and a 2.5 Powermate. Dave was able to fine tune the focus until we could see the diffraction rings and a airy disc. Double star splitting is still great on a moonlit night. Daniel Turner found several deep sky objects including M3, which is a beautiful globular cluster. But, with the moon so bright it was hard to resoulve any of the individual stars. I love Star Parties. I learn so much from the people there. Jim Gibson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs

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ISS transit / Comet Bradfield
by Patrick Wiggins 02 May '04

02 May '04

ISS just made a very nice transit of the Sun as seen from the Lakepoint area. As per usual I had to forget something and this time it was the solar filter. So I ended up using eyepiece projection onto the back of an envelope (added a whole new meaning to "back of the envelope" calculations). ISS was plainly visible as it spent all of a second zipping across the disk. The next transit will be of the Moon Tuesday morning at 1:43 am, also very near SPOC. Considering the hour, I doubt any of y'all will want to participate but if you do, let me know and I'll supply details. On another matter I see that Rob just posted a shot of comet Bradfield to the gallery ( http://www.utahastronomy.com/rob ). Very nice! Patrick

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Questions sturred by Dr. Bromley
by Jim Gibson 02 May '04

02 May '04

I was intrigued by Dr. Ben Bromleys presentation on planet building at SLAS the other night. My mind moves slowly these days so I didnt think of a coupe of questions until it was too late to ask him. I was also pleasantly suppressed at the number of intelligent questions put forth by the SLAS members and I could see that there are a good number of folks that can answer my basic questions. In Trapezium (Orion Nebula) there is one large star in the group that is surrounded by a half dozen proto-planetary discs. From what Dr. Bromley said those discs usually disappear after about 1 million years. So, Can I assume that that star is less than a million years old and it is the youngest of the group because the others don't have disc about them? A gravitational force is computed by gf = ((6.67) * m1 * m2) / (d**) m meaning mass and d meaning distance). If I have some forming planet (m1) and there are two objects (m2) & (m3) in space above the planet, m2 is 1000 times bigger than m3, and both have centers of gravity at exactly the same distance from the planet but for purposes of simplicity they are on opposites sides of the planet or otherwise situated so m2 & m3 dont attract each other, then my understanding is that m1 and m2 will have the greater gravitational force. I dont know what angular momentum or inertia might play here, but would not the bigger object hit the planet first? Like when the moon was formed, in general wouldnt the larger objects tend to coalesce out of the debris and impact the moon first? Jim Gibson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs

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