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

RE: [Utah-astronomy] science and religion
by Joan Carman 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

Thanks for the link Michael. An excellent editorial - and that's saying a lot for the SL Tribune. It is my guess that Buttars didn't receive a warm welcome when he proposed ID in schools in June and now with the help of Bush, who has let his deeply religious beliefs spill over in to secular/science based matters before, he thinks he will get a warmer reception in the DN (sorry Joe - it is owned by the LDS Church). Too bad the DN doesn't have a Letters to the Editor forum.

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"ID" in the D News
by Patrick Wiggins 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

'Intelligent design' in school is a no-win move http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C600154412%2C00.html Patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] The Pits
by Olhomorto＠aol.com 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

As a matter of fact I did see a "strange" guy. I left the site about 2:30-3:00 and about 1/2 mile from the site a middle-to-old-aged-looking guy was walking along. I wondered who would be out walking at that spot at that time of the night. I wondered whether he reached Roger and Daniel. Didn't see any girlfriends. Mike

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Eyepieces
by Michael Carnes 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

Hi Steve, I haven't spent but a few minutes with any Lanthanum eyepiece, so I can't really comment about the overall quality. But I think their main claim to fame is long eye-relief. This is a tremendous benefit to folks who must wear eyeglasses when they observe. But it seems that of the people who observe without glasses, very few choose the Lanthanums. If you were willing to spend $245 on an eyepiece, you've got a lot of options. The Celestron Axioms aren't bad. They're not up there with Panoptics, but they're half the price and are very good except at the edges. The Harry Siebert's aren't bad in that price range, although they're sort of crude looking. And you might want to wait a couple of months to see if Televue does another holiday special. I picked up a 13mm Nagler last year for $250 (about $50 off), so perhaps they'll do something like that again. F/8 is a real nice place for a 12.5" scope. and you should be able to use just about any eyepiece you like in it. Michael -----Original Message----- From: steve.nielsen(a)comcast.net Sent: Aug 8, 2005 11:54 PM To: Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Eyepieces I have a dilema. I have a 12.5" f 8 I made in one of Brent Watson's workshops. You know, the one where 8 or 9 people in trench coats wait for the sun to go down and then they all drive seperately to an airplane hanger to grind mirrors. Sounds like something from a Dick Tracy cartoon. Oops, I'm off topic. The mirror and the scope turned out really well. I'm pleased. My dilema is with the eyepieces. I can't find the next eyepiece to fit in to what I already have and I don't understand why. I have my starter scope, a 6" reflector from Orion and 3 eyepieces. The eyepieces are 1.25", 25mm, 17mm and a 10mm Explorer II's from Orion. They cost $28 a piece. My 12.5" scope has a 2" focuser. I bought a 50mm and a 32mm eyepiece from Orion. Optiluxe, $139 and $149. They both work great. The lagoon and swan nebula's looked great, but I wanted more power. Something in the 15 to 20mm range. I looked around and couldn't find that many that are reasonably priced, so I bought a 17mm Lanthanum from Orion. $245. It's a 1.25" that fits a 2" focuser. I tried the new 17mm and compared it to the old and inexpensive 17mm a saw no noticeable difference. I looked at the moon, nebulas, clusters and M31. Not in that order of course. So I'm sending back the new 17mm. I'm within the 30 day period for a refund. Why was there no noticeable difference? Does a 2" eyepiece give you better views and clarity than a 1.25" of equal size? It seems like it should to me. More glass surface in the lens. Please explain this to my tiny little brain. If a 2" eyepiece in the 15-20mm range is where I should go, please give me suggestions on which one to get. Do I need to spend more money for a good lens? I've thought about this and just can't reason it out. Any help would be most appreciated. PS. Thanks for helping me with the mirror Brent. _______________________________________________ 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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Article from deseretnews.com
by Joe Bauman 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

Joe Bauman (bau(a)desnews.com) thought you might be interested in reading the following story, which appeared on deseretnews.com on Tuesday, August 9, 2005. Do not reply to this messsage. To send a message to the sender, use the address here: bau(a)desnews.com. NOTE FROM SENDER: Hi All, I thought you would enjoy a column by one of my friends, Marjorie Cortez. Best wishes, Joe 'INTELLIGENT DESIGN' IN SCHOOL IS A NO-WIN MOVE My neighbors just returned from a year in France. Their daughter, who will enter 8th grade in the fall, had a very un-Utah-like school experience. For starters, there were seven kids in her class. The school schedule resembled a college routine, early classes one day, a late start the next. Sometimes lunch was about 45 minutes, other times it lasted three hours. FULL STORY: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C600154412%2C00.html

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Orion OIII filter
by Michael Carnes 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

Haven't tried it, but I can pass along this tidbit. Until a couple of years ago, the Orion filters were manufactured in Japan. I have one of the older Ultrablocks, and it's an excellent filter. Then Orion changed to a Korean manufacturer. There's no reason to expect that quality would go down, but it's reasonable to expect there might be some differences. I haven't seen any comparative reviews of the older vs. newer filters. Michael -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Aug 8, 2005 4:40 PM To: Utah-Astro <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Orion OIII filter Has anyone tried the Orion OIII filter? The price for the 2" is particularly attractive. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.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

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(no subject)
by Tyler Allred 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Hello everyone, I made the trip to Wolf Creek last Friday night, and like others, I fought the clouds all night. However, I did manage to get a couple of decent images. Here is a link to one that I really like. In fact, I think this is the best image I have ever captured. It is a luminance only image of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M33). Here is the link to the thumbnail. Click on the thumbnail for the larger version. http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/M33_L_2x20_min_avg_NI I hope someone out there enjoys this image. I will try to get color data sometime soon. Cheers, Tyler

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] The Pits
by Olhomorto＠aol.com 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Saturday night Daniel, Roger, and I showed up at the gravel pit, and the sky was pretty darn good. The clouds to the southwest reflected a lot of glare from the cities, but the view to the east was good. We also had some pleasant company from a local farm dog who made friends with us, and spend the entire evening. Mike Bailey

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New photos posted
by astrodeb＠charter.net 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

I posted two new photos. I redid the processing on M35 back in July when the fires were raging and the power was out in St. George. The second one is a 50mm film shot of the Milky Way. I forgot to use the polar scope so the stars are just a bit trailed. http://www.utahastronomy.com/view_album.php?page=3 Enjoy! Debbie

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Benefits of NASA (con)
by Canopus56 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

To follow-up on a conversation we were having here a couple of weeks ago, here is some more on the earthly benefits of NASA programs - NASA Spin-Offs homepage http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/spinoffs_index.html NASA Spins-Offs 2004 edition http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/103475main_spinoff_04.pdf (10 megabytes) NASA Spins-Offs 2002 edition http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/spin02.pdf (2.5 megabytes) Too bad none of the NASA Technology Transfer Centers are located in Utah. It would make for a good SLAS presentation. - Canopus56(Kurt) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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