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

Re: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OAS excursion to St. George
by astrodeb＠charter.net 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Joe, The OIII filter is one nebula filter. The other one I have is a UHC nebula filter. You definitely want the OIII for planetary nebulae. You saw how it picked up the faint nebulosity in Abell 21. If I would of had more time I could have showed you the faint Jones1 in Pegasus before it moved west into the light pollution. Debbie > > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Date: 2005/02/08 Tue PM 12:39:48 MST > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OAS excursion to St. George > > Hi Deb, it certainly was fascinating. You mentioned an OIII filter -- > is that the same as a nebula filter? I have a nebula filter and > probably should have used it! 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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Re: Question on focus (Joe Bauman)
by Canopus56 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Compare the smallest resolvable detail on the crater that occults Jupiter with the smallest resolvable detail on Jupiter itself - in the animated gif: http://skyandtelescope.com/largeimage.asp?img_url=/mm_images/7596.gif They are equally blurry or equally sharp. - Canopus56 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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Fwd: 3rd High Energy Astrophysics Workshop & Travel Grant Application
by Richard Tenney 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

--- aaronp(a)aavso.org wrote: > Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 14:49:24 -0500 > To: retenney(a)yahoo.com > From: aaronp(a)aavso.org > Subject: 3rd High Energy Astrophysics Workshop & > Travel Grant Application > > > Dear Club Leader, > > Would you mind sharing this information with your > astronomical club in a manner which is appropriate > (web > site, discussion list, newsletter, etc.)? Thank you > and > clear skies! > > You are all invited to the 3rd High Energy > Astrophysics > Workshop for Amateur Astronomers. > > When: March 21-23, 2005 > Where: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM > Who: Sponsored by the AAVSO, NMSU, NASA Marshall > Space Flight > Center, and Sonoma State University through > the NASA SWIFT > and GLAST missions. > What: > The goal of this meaning is to educate the > public on > topics in high energy astrophysics. The focus will > be on > GRBs, magnetars, magnetic cataclysmic variables > ("polars") > and blazars. This is a great meeting for amateur > astronomers, teachers, students and grad students. > A lineup of high energy all stars is speaking > such as > Jerry Fishman, Lynn Cominsky, Arne Henden and Phil > Plait > (author of www.badastronomy.com) > Workshops will be held on high precision CCD > photometry, education and public outreach and an > introduction to data analysis using free Windows > software > tools. > A day-long field trip to the VLA is also > planned > (with a special tour for us, not the regular public > tour!). > Travel grants of $450 and $800 are available > to > residents of the U.S. and an application form is > already > online. Recipients of the travel grants are expected > to > share what they've learned with their local > community upon > return. How this is done can be creative (including > online > methods). Information is here! If you have any > questions > feel free to contact meetings(a)aavso.org. > Clear skies! > > Aaron Price > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Question on focus
by David Dunn 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Joe, I have seen this just looking at the moon itself. If you are running much power, you will need to refocus just to adjust for the curvature of the moon. Now that I think about it, I have also seen it when viewing the Sun. Dave -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+david.dunn=albertsons.com(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+david.dunn=albertsons.com@mailman.xmissio n.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 9:38 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Question on focus Hi all, When I checked out the Sky & Telescope web site below (from Patrick's News), it had a great animation of the moon occulting Jupiter, on the third page. What I can't understand is why Jupiter is in sharp focus while the moonscape is slightly fuzzy. It isn't possible that there could be a real difference in focus between the two, I believe -- granted, Jupiter is thousands of times farther out, but for all practical purposes the focus for both should be at infinity. Or is it because the telescope was tracking on Jupiter, making it relatively stable, but the moon had some lateral motion for each exposure, causing blurring? Just curious. Also, if anyone has a minute, can you tell me why it's necessary to focus a telescope at all? You would think that, like an old Instamatic camera, everything beyond a few miles out would be at the "infinity" focal point. I know that's not true, but I do not understand why. Thanks, Joe

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OAS excursion to St. George
by David Dunn 08 Feb '05

08 Feb '05

I want to also thank Debbie for the fun evening of observing. I really enjoyed looking at all the nebulas and galaxies that she let us look at in her 15" Obsession. That is a fantastic telescope. The Eskimo Nebula was really neat. You could see lines of gas and dust inside the outer ring. I also appriciate the time Debbie took helping us find a good observing location. We are already planning to return there next year. Dave

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OAS excursion to St. George
by astrodeb＠charter.net 08 Feb '05

08 Feb '05

Joe, "Thor's Helmet" is actually an emission nebula. I've never seen it that good before. I saw it last spring through the light pollution of Hurricane. It is best viewed through an OIII filter. We saw several good planetaries including "The Eskimo", "Blue Snowball", NGC 2440 (Hubble imaged this one), Abell 21 (The Medusa Nebula), NGC 1535, and NGC 1360. NGC 1360 is a rather large planetary in Fornax. The OIII really brings out the oval shaped blue-grey nebula. I also cranked up the magnification on the "Eskimo Nebula" to about 350X. The central star was easily visable at this power. We also saw the little planetary nebula NGC 2438 in M46. Later in the evening we viewed the Owl Nebula and M108 in Ursa Major. I also found "Hubble's Variable Nebula" in Monoceros. It is an interesting nebula that looks like a comet. Debbie > > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Date: 2005/02/08 Tue AM 10:20:09 MST > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] OAS excursion to St. George > > Just a quick thank-you to Dave Dunn and his partners from OAS for the > open invitation to their St. George star party. I had a blast, up > until the time when I wused out because of the cold. At least I found > that Meade did repair my telescope, and I saw some interesting > things. It was the first time I was able to look at the comet through > my 'scope, and I found it to have a bright grainy center and a > diffuse blobby surrounding, but no definite tail from this angle. > Deb, who lives in the St. George vicinity, guided us to our site and > showed some exciting views in her 15" dob, including one planetary I > had never seen before, NGC2359, "Thor's Helmet." -- Thanks again, 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] Re: Name that telescope
by David Dunn 08 Feb '05

08 Feb '05

Call is the ULT, Utahs Largest Telescope. Of course, someday OAS may decide to build a bigger one just to make the name obsolete. Dave

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Name that telescope
by Steve Trottier 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

Have you considered calling it the Larry H. Miller telescope, and then asking him for a donation?

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Re: Name that telescope
by Chuck Hards 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

Yeah, the initials "B.S." could tend to raise eyebrows, although there is precedent; I believe the Russians called their 236-inch the "Big Telescope" for years. Bolshoi Teleskop, or something similar. SLAStroscan? Only if we paint it bright red and escrow legal funds for when Edmund sues. How about "Tooelescope" "Cyclops" comes to mind. "Swamp Thing" takes location into account. "Mosquito Telescope" for similar reasons. KECK-III (hows that for attitude?) Hubble-II But I keep coming back to: G.R.I.M. (Grantsville Reflective Imaging Monster, so Bruce can't squabble. Or maybe Giant Relfective Imaging Monster) Imaging can refer to both visual and captured images. Patrick wrote: > I'd also like to have a better name than "Big > Scope". I coined that > name long ago thinking it would only be a working > name, little realizing > that all this time later we'd still be using it. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Please check
by Patrick Wiggins 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

I've gone through the SPOC construction pages on my site and reduced the thumbnail images from 8-30+ k down to 2-4 k. This should make the pages open faster. I'd appreciate it if some of y'all would try the links at http://www.trilobyte.net/paw/slas/PW.HTML and see if the pages do open faster. Many thanks, Patrick

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