January 2005 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: Huygens audio files
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Patrick, the "guy" in charge of Pathfinder/Sojourner was Donna Shirley, not a guy at all (and now retired)...I'm assuming you mean in charge of the science team, once it was on the surface and taking data? Patrick wrote: > Well, I don't remember a microphone on that mission, > however I've been > exchanging emails with JPL about getting the guy > that was in charge of > the Pathfinder/Sojourner mission to come speak at a > SLAS meeting. If > that works out you could ask him. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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More Huygens coverage
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Astronomy has a shot I haven't seen yet: http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2776 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

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Huygens probe amateur mosaics
by Chris Russell 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

A bunch of "amateurs" have put together some mosaics from the raw data returned by the Huygens probe. It looks to me that these are of far better quality than the official mosaics that have been released so far: http://anthony.liekens.net/index.php/Main/Huygens This site also has some links to the raw data. Just a personal comment: these pictures seem to be of pretty poor quality, reminiscent of the Mariner 4 mission's "old technology" pictures of Mars. I know the Huygens probe only had 8 kbits per second transmission rate with Cassini, but still...less pictures of higher quality would be better than the low resolution ones we've seen so far, I would think. A $50 web cam from CompUSA could have done better (I know, I know, let's see a web cam function properly at -288 degrees F). Perhaps better pictures will be forth coming once they get all their data processed.

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Huygens probe amateur mosaics
by Chris Russell 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

A bunch of "amateurs" have put together some mosaics from the raw data returned by the Huygens probe. It looks to me that these are of far better quality than the official mosaics that have been released so far: http://anthony.liekens.net/index.php/Main/Huygens This site also has some links to the raw data. Just a personal comment: these pictures seem to be of pretty poor quailty, reminiscent of the Mariner 4 mission's "old technology" pictures of Mars. I know the Huygens probe only had 8 kbits per second transmission rate with Cassini, but still...less pictures of higher quality would be better than the low resolution ones we've seen so far, I would think. A $50 web cam from CompUSA could have done better (I know, I know, let's see a web cam function properly at -288 degrees F). Perhaps better pictures will be forth coming once they get all their data processed.

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Imaging platform
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Rich wrote: > Chuck, > > If you wanted to get back to imaging, what mount > would > you recommend? Rich, good question so lets leave this part out in the open. Funny you should ask. Just a couple of weeks ago I picked-up a slightly used 300mm telephoto lens on eBay, to shoot the comet/Pleiades encounter. Alas the weather gods had other plans :( But I do want to do some imaging when things warm-up, and still have the set-up I've been using for about eight or nine years. It's simply a small, no-name Japanese equatorial mount (purchased used) with clock drive and home-made electric declination. I added an aluminum plate in place of the stock tube-ring mount, with various holes drilled it to accommodate different camera/scope combinations. I use 2 Pentax 35mm camera bodies; one is ususally for wide-angle, the other telephoto or coupled to a small refractor for higher-powered views. The counterweight arrangement has some radial adjustment to allow more precise balancing and less strain on the motors. The whole thing is driven by a 30-year-old Astro-Physics drive corrector with an early autoguider option (though I never use the autoguider, too much fun guiding manually!). I currently use the Orion 5mm Plossl guiding eyepiece with a Rigel Systems Pulseguide; if you're guiding manually a pulsed reticle is the ONLY way to go. You can use much fainter guide stars and eye fatigue is considerably lessened. I have 2 complete sets of the Astro-Physics equipment since it's a dinosaur and no longer under warranty, though it's never given me a hint of trouble :) Many thanks to Roland Christen, a fabulous product for it's day, and I believe the very first commercial autoguider. This setup is good for imaging to about 500mm-700mm focal length, so it's not a planetary imaging platform, or much use for those tiny-blue-dot planetary nebulae. But for the average extended object it can do a good job, as well as solar and lunar photography. It is at it's best imaging comets and that was the primary reason I put it together in the first place. I set it up, cleaned, adjusted, & lubed it for the comet, it's still set up in the family room right now. Were I to re-enter the world of high-powered imaging, I'd use my old equatorial Astrola mount (1-1/2" shafts, electric drives) & either 6" or 10" Newtonian. As far as recommending a specific brand & model of a current commercial product...first determine what kind of imaging you want to do, since image scale can affect the required equipment, set a budget, then ask someone who does imaging similar to what you're interested in. Remember that something that does "everything" will do nothing well, you'll have to specialize a teeny bit if you want to do it right. The best "all-around" setup without breaking the bank is still probably the ubiquitous SCT, but go for a GEM instead of the compact fork, whick is more of a visual mount, too cantilevered and prone to vibration for my taste, and can have swing-through issues when used close to the pole. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: Huygens audio files
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

I've scanned the Sojourner Website, found no mention of a microphone anywhere, so Patrick is probably correct and I'm mistaken. There are some high-resolution photos that have been posted since the end of the mission, though, including a hi-res true stereo pair of Twin Peaks (not those terrible red/blue anaglyphs): http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/index1.html __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: Huygens audio files (Patrick Wiggins)
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Patrick wrote: > As far as I know the only other planetary probe to > carry an audio > microphone was Russia's Mars 98 Hmm, I remember reading that the lander for Sojourner (renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Weather Station, IIRC), had a microphone. On top of the "wind-sock" mast, I believe... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: Swap meet (William Biesele)
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Bill, I forgot you always read the business page before I can get to it. ;) > Speaking of selling astronomy stuff: > > http://www.imaginova.com/newsroom/release.php?id=050113 > > Orion Telescopes and Binoculars sold to Imaginova. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Huygens audio files
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

The sound of the wind on another world...wow. Which reminds me, were the Mars Sojourner audio files ever posted to a Web server? (Mr. Amabassador?) I hope they were recording audio data when Huygens actually touched-down. I'd love to hear it 'crunch' onto the surface. That would get my Grammy vote. Pretty darn clever, these earthlings. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Tim Geiseler retires
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

I hope that 100mmED doesn't go up in price before I get one... http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1440_1.asp __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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