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

beautiful meteor
by Thomas Sevcik 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

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Comic Strip
by Ann House 10 Dec '05

10 Dec '05

Lynn Johnston's comic strip "For Better Or Worse" is in the middle of a cute series on star gazing and star parties. The family's 20ish daughter, Elizabeth, is a school teacher to Native Americans in upper Canada. She was teaching her students about the stars and now suddenly the whole community is interested in her scheduled star party. Stay tuned... -A

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Re: Flat Field Frames
by Chuck Hards 08 Dec '05

08 Dec '05

That site is just the first one I googled. There are other sellers I'm sure, with a better selection. Boxes, cardboard and incandescent lights are undoubtedly low-tech, in a "Fred Flintstone" sort of way, but I have a good feeling about the "dust cap" flat-field source using a low-voltage electroluminescent panel, and if executed properly will in practice be the epitome of simplicity. We're back to the "technology allowing greater efficiency" argument. It couldn't be any more compact than the form of a dust cap, lets face it. The material is amazing- completely uniform lumination. You'll soon see this stuff in the home, as standard lighting. Imagine the entire ceiling being the light source instead of a seperate fixture hanging there like a stalagtite. I'd like to try thermoforming some to custom shapes, if it doesn't negatively affect the properties. I'm also thinking up astro uses for the electroluminescent "wire" that's now available. I'm not into digital imaging at the moment, but I am possibly going to have more time for the hobby soon so I'd love to work with a local imager on this little flat-field item, which may have commercial possibilities. Any takers? ;) After over a year lapse in my magazine subscription I finally re-subscribed to S&T a couple of days ago. It will be good to "get back in the loop", so to speak, and up to speed on current events, trends, etc. There is ATMing in my future after a 5 year hiatus- life is good! > From: Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> > --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > http://www.electrolamp.com/elpanel.html > > Thanks for referral. I didn't see any prices on the > Epanel. > > On the other hand, Patrick's piece of white board > with > a low flux light seems pretty simple and low-tech. __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Flat Field Frames
by astrodeb＠charter.net 05 Dec '05

05 Dec '05

ditto for me. I was thinking yesterday driving around town that the twilight method wouldn't be very practical even if you get focused by twilight. I'd still have to take the camera off to do the polar alignment because this is done with an eyepiece. So I'm thinking about constructing a lightbox myself. Most of the people on Images Plus yahoo group went this route. Or I could get a doberman to guard my equipment till morning. The lightbox route would be cheaper and more practical. Debbie > > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Date: 2005/11/23 Wed AM 07:46:28 MST > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Flat Field Frames > > That is a really nice explanation and I appreciate your supplying it > -- thank you. When you have a nice workable flat-field box, can you > pass along the design and instructions for use? I have little skill > in carpentry but I know a place that will manufacture things like > that. Best wishes, Joe > > > >--- Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> wrote: > >> Wow, it's much more complicated than I thought. > >> Thanks, Deb. I guess you could take flat-field > >exposures at > >> dawn after a night of observing and before taking > >down your > >> gear. Or maybe a flat-field box is a good way to go, > >sticking > >> it on the telescope during your observing session > >and > >> making an exposure, then taking the box off and > >going on > >> with your project. > > > >The white flat-field picks up grains of defocused dust > >on all the mirror surfaces. You can easily see an > >example of these by taking a white flat field against > >a white wall using your 35mm digital camera and a zoom > >lens focused to infinity. > > > >If you are using filters, which also have color > >variations and dust on them, then I understand that > >you have to make beginning session white frames for > >each session. The reason for this is that each > >combination of filters will have a slightly different > >orientation and set of dust particles on them during > >each session. Thus, I understand that you put all the > >filters you want to use into your filter holder at the > >start of the session, lock your camera in position, > >and then take a series of white flats for each filter. > > > > > >During the session, you do not rotate the camera in or > >remove your camera from the eyepiece holder. Rotation > >or removing the camera will change the rotation > >orientation of the dust particles and dye variations > >in your white flats. > > > >I understand that this situation differs for dark > >flats, which measure variations in the CCD chip. > >Those can be taken across sessions, categorized by > >temperature, and then reused across sessions. > > > >- Canopus56 > > > > > > > > > > > > > >__________________________________ > >Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. > >http://farechase.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 > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Evolution Fight Flares At Berkeley
by astrodeb＠charter.net 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

They lawyers always win. Sigh Debbie > > From: Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes(a)earthlink.net> > Date: 2005/11/29 Tue PM 01:16:39 MST > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Evolution Fight Flares At Berkeley > > Sigh... > We may run out of clean air and water someday, but we'll always have plenty of idiots. > > > Found it: > http://www.twincities.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/13262018.htm?sou… > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Opening Photo Albums
by astrodeb＠charter.net 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

I tried Sunday with no luck. What's up? Debbie > > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Date: 2005/11/29 Tue PM 12:21:25 MST > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Opening Photo Albums > > Ed's right. Must be another attack of the computer system gremlins ... 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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Evolution Fight Flares At Berkeley
by Michael Carnes 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

Sigh... We may run out of clean air and water someday, but we'll always have plenty of idiots. Found it: http://www.twincities.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/13262018.htm?sou…

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Evolution Fight Flares At Berkeley
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

A civil lawsuit has been filed against operators of a University of California-Berkeley Web site that's designed to help instructors teach evolution. Patrick

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Opening Photo Albums
by Edward Lunt 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

Hi Cynthia; I have not been able to access any of the Photo Albums at: http://www.utahastronomy.com I have tried since Sunday and have tried on three different computers. Has anyone else had a similar problem or is it just me? Thanks for looking into it. Ed Lunt __________________________________________ Yahoo! DSL Â Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less. dsl.yahoo.com

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Meteorites on Salt Flats
by Chuck Hards 29 Nov '05

29 Nov '05

This story caught my attention: http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1629_1.asp It reminded me of Kim's (and others) Salt-Flats meteorite search project. Some of you may remember that it was suggested that a metal-detector coil be attached to the bumper of a pickup or SUV and a grid pattern be driven at a speed appropriate to the sensitivity of the detector, as an alternative/addendum to the original visual search for surface specimens only. Apparently that's exactly what the fellow in the article did, and he found a whopper. We should re-examine the meteorite search project once the weather warms/dries up next year. Kim, are you still up for it? Any engineers care to help design a metal detector, or at least a bigger coil for a commercial unit? We could also use more detectors with smaller swaths, and still cover a good amount of territory. Once we had the equipment, we could return every dry season and cover the entire Salt Flats over time. Even the kids could be involved, since we'd probably get massive false-alarms from bottle tops, cans, brass shell casings, etc., so we'd need an army of "diggers". __________________________________ Yahoo! Music Unlimited Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/

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