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

beautiful meteor
by Thomas Sevcik 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

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Incoming!
by diveboss＠xmission.com 27 Oct '05

27 Oct '05

NASA Science News for September 3, 2004 On September 8th, a daylight fireball will streak across the western United States. It's Genesis, returning samples of the Sun to Earth. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/03sep_genesisreentry.htm?list1153573

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Name the tenth planet
by Chuck Hards 01 Aug '05

01 Aug '05

Possible names for the new planet: Tombaugh (although not in character with the other names taken from classical Roman mythology) Goofy (well, we already have Pluto) Hillary (it's a cold, ice world) K-pax, K-mart, Kay-Bee, etc. Anyone else have suggestions for the name of the new planet before it's officially announced? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Shuttle
by Kim Hyatt 31 Jul '05

31 Jul '05

I listened to some of NPR's "Science Friday" yesterday afternoon. One of the topics was the Space Shuttle and the foam insulation. Sorry, but I don't recall who the interviewee was - someone from NASA. One caller asked the same thing that Guy suggested - well, sort of. The caller asked if a net of some kind could be placed over the external tank, but he didn't mention fishnet stockings. Anyway, the interviewee said that NASA had actually considered a similar scenario, but he didn't say why it was ruled out. Maybe designers got nervous about all those new up-skirt cameras that were recently installed on the shuttle? Kim

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Re: That debbil foam again
by James Cobb 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Ah, I found an oblique reference in the New York Times: "NASA engineers had already seen how fixes can break things. After they made a minor change in the foam application process in the late 1990's to comply with environmental rules, small divots of foam rained off of the tank during ascent. The phenomenon, called popcorning, was caused by trapped bubbles; NASA solved the problem by venting the foam with tiny holes, but it was a reminder, if any was needed, that seemingly small changes could have profound effects." This come from: http://nytimes.com/2005/07/31/science/space/31foam.html? hp&ex=1122782400&en=f35a8f54ae5625aa&ei=5094&partner=homepage (Access to this link may require you to register with NYTimes.com...) So it would appear that they did have a problem born of the CFC elimination, and subsequently solved. Still, I want to know more... Jim On Jul 29, 2005, at 7:43 PM, Jim Cobb: > I've been waiting for some mention of the possible role the CFC, > ozone hole, scare may have played in the destruction of Columbia and > NASA's subsequent problems.

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Right-angle drive
by Chuck Hards 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

I still have a few right-angle drives and torque-limiting clutches available, plus I now have pictures. Email me off-list if you want me to send you a couple of images of the hardware. The obvious uses for these would be in a dome or roof movement system on a small observatory, or perhaps a heavy-duty bino mount. ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Inanity
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Warning: The following could be considered pontificating (something that I very much favor on this forum, whether I agree with what is being pontificated or not.) I just watched another interview with William Parsons (no, not the 3rd Earl of Rose, rather the guy in charge of the shuttle program). It's a good thing I'm beyond the "throwing things" phase or I might have thrown my tea mug at the TV. Seldom have I heard such inanity coming from questioners. (I'd say "media" but I don't want Joe to think I lump him in with what I've been seeing today.) My biggest regret just now is that I can't be within earshot when the good Mr. Parsons is with family and friends and says what he really thinks of some of those questions and comments. It would have felt so good to hear him come back to one of those "Don't you think you were stupid to put all those live at risk?" questions with something refreshing like, "Look, no one ever said spaceflight is safe. Right or wrong the only way for the US to get people into space just now is with the shuttle. It's an old machine based on even older technology. But it's all we've got. We are humans so we sometimes make mistakes. But we do what we can (and have done some pretty wonderful things) with the meager resources alloted by a bunch of politicians that don't know their butt from a black hole and who can't see past the next election. So back off and let us try again to find and fix the problem."

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August SLAS meeting and fusing galaxies
by Canopus56 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

At last night's SLAS meeting we watched an animation of two galaxies colliding, resulting in a "tadpole" asterism. It looked like the animation was of Caldwell 60 and 61 (Arp 244) - Arp244 NGC 4038-4039 C60-61 J120152.48-185202.9 mag 10.3-10.5 Unfortunately C60-61 is between Corvus and Carter and is below the horizon. Checking Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies - << http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/frames.html >> for similar galaxies that are currently visible, Arp's numbers 233-256 concerns galaxies with the appearance of fission. For you light-bucket faint-fuzzy searchers, a few Arp galaxies that are above the horizon (albeit off-zenith in the west) and that are similar to the animation we viewed are: Arp240 NGC5257 http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp240.gif J133952.94+005024.4 mag V12.9 dia. 1.8' Arp238 UGC8335 http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp238.gif J131500.00+620600.0 mag 15 dia. 0.85' Arp241 UGC9425 http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp241.gif J143751.13+302847.0 mag B15 dia. 0.85' Arp242 NGC 4676 (The Mice Galaxies) http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp242.gif J124610.18+30 43 53.7 mag B14.1 dia. 1.37' I haven't personally observed these, so I can't express an opinion on the practicality of seeing them under current conditions. - Enjoy Canopus56(Kurt) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Master Blasters
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Those on the list that like to make things fly or go boom may want to know that the SciFi channel has a new show coming called Master Blasters. Part of the description on their web site (http://www.scifi.com/masterblasters) reads: Does your hobby require an FAA "launch window"? Imagination literally takes flight with Master Blasters, the new daredevil stepchild of the reality genre. A high-octane ride into the wild blue yonder, Master Blasters pits teams of amateur rocket scientists against each other in a race to design, build and launch some very bizarre things into the stratosphere. From rocket-bolstered La-Z-Boys to fuel-injected Mini Coopers, "one small step for man" becomes one giant leap for mad science! A healthy dose of teamwork, competition and creativity Â— mixed with jet fuel and a few end-runs around the laws of physics Â— make this television's most explosive weekly series. Patrick

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That devil foam again
by James Cobb 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

I've been waiting for some mention of the possible role the CFC, ozone hole, scare may have played in the destruction of Columbia and NASA's subsequent problems. What I've read is that NASA had an adequate foam system that used freon in its production. Though the amount of freon used by NASA had negligible environmental impact, they went to a new formulation. The first non-freon launch, STS 87, had unprecedented thermal tile damage from the foam. On the one hand, it makes no sense for NASA to have given up using freon because of the small amount. On the other hand, NASA has beat the scare drum (particularly ozone hole monitoring) as a budget boosting tool for years. Check out > http://www.insightmag.com/media/paper441/news/2003/08/19/National/ > Lost-In.Space-449260.shtml (yes, I noticed he confused hydrogen and > nitrogen) > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77832,00.html > http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_foam_ft_030506.html I realize that this is by no means settled. And I realize that flights subsequent to STS 87 had better foam behavior. What surprises me is that there is so little mention of the role freon replacement may have played in killing Columbia and, it now appears, the shuttle program itself. Jim > Kim wrote: > >> Sorry to point out the obvious, but NASA has had 2 1/2 years and a >> whole lot >> of money already to "try and fix the problem." If it can't be >> done, admit it >> and throw in the towel. Now.

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