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

New Images Posted
by Edward Lunt 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Hi group; I have just posted three new images (M16, M8, and the Helix Nebula) that can be seen at http://utahastronomy.com/album24 These are all Narrowband images which gives the intense color. Hope you enjoy; Ed Lunt __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: aurora?
by Chuck Hards 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Not a chance at typical relative closing velocities. The idea is to generate the mother of all meteor storms! > From: "Dale Hooper" <Dale.Hooper(a)sdl.usu.edu> > Just make sure it's pretty well pulverized. > Otherwise, you might end up > with several mini-moons spaced around the moon's > orbit and end up with > something in the sky that is always around mag. -10 > or so. <g> __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] aurora?
by Dale Hooper 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Just make sure it's pretty well pulverized. Otherwise, you might end up with several mini-moons spaced around the moon's orbit and end up with something in the sky that is always around mag. -10 or so. <g> > -----Original Message----- > From: utah-astronomy-bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu(a)mailman.xmission.com > [mailto:utah-astronomy- > bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu(a)mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe > Bauman > Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 9:55 AM > To: Utah Astronomy > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] aurora? > > Or, we can use Chuck's asteroid-zapper to get rid of the pest once > and for all! -- Joe > > > > >I wonder if the IDA could help us. We at least need the moon turned down > >for certain events. It is far too bright. Of course I guess we would > >obuse the rule and keep the Moon turned down from first quarter until > >last quarter. > > > >Dave > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >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: Deep Impact revisited
by Chuck Hards 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

I noticed that in Patrick's News and at the S&T Website. They plan to return a sample! This could have an enormous effect on meterorite science. Hopefully we'll have a lot of stereo photos from this mission. > From: Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> > Timely, since the Hayabusa satellite is current > maneuvering 20km away from asteriod Itokawa - in > preparation of a November soft landing on the > asteriod. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Deep Impact revisited
by Chuck Hards 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

> From: "Jon Christensen" <coldari(a)msn.com> > How well would a conventional explosive work in the > vaccuum of space? Perfectly well. Newton's laws work just as well (even better, no air resistance) in a vacuum as in an atmosphere. We won't be using napalm. __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: aurora?
by Chuck Hards 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Yeah, the moonlight can be a pain for you deep-sky junkies, and I know that the talk is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but consider: With no moon, there would be no tides and a huge portion of the food chain would probably collapse. With no moon, would the manned space program have reached the heights it did? No Tranquility Base, no "Eagle has landed". No national goal speech by President Kennedy- "before this decade is out..." Engineers have speculated on using tidal energy in the future to generate electrical power. That's a huge potential resource and virtually unlimited for the lifespan of humanity. And completely "green" (no pollution). Moonlight has been instrumental in allowing extended daily harvests in pre-industrial times. Had there not been a big, bright moon, many of us might not be here, and present times would certainly be much different. The moon's albedo is already fairly low. I have heard it said that the moon's surface reflects about as much light as an asphalt parking lot. The brightness is mostly a contrast effect against the blackness of space and blinding glare of daylight. Notice how dim the moon appears when seen against a blue daytime sky. Many species depend on moonlight for various aspects of survival. Again, change the moon and risk a loss of a portion of environmental diversity and possibly the food chain. Practicalities of deep-sky and auroral observing aside, I find the moon a terrific astronomical object. It's a world unto itself, practically at arm's length, easily observed. There is enough detail to last a lifetime of searching-out. An alien landscape that many of us take for granted. I was recently called "jaded" for my lack of enthusiasm for less-than-spectacular aurorae, but how many of us scoff at the thought of setting-up the telescope "just" to look at the moon? Most of you only look at the moon when waiting for it to set, or as a "public" star-party object. Pity, it's a terrific object and one of the few extra-terrestrial targets that display a continuously changing aspect. Set up your main instrument and look at it in earnest this weekend. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] aurora?
by diveboss＠xmission.com 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

Regarding comets, asteroids and such, one of Michael's suggestions in dealing with these would be to perhaps "Boost up a few truckloads of soot and spread them over the thing." Maybe he's on to something, maybe we should start by practicing on the moon. Just how much soot would it take to knock down the glare just a bit? ;) Quoting Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper(a)sdl.usu.edu>: > Just make sure it's pretty well pulverized. Otherwise, you might end up > with several mini-moons spaced around the moon's orbit and end up with > something in the sky that is always around mag. -10 or so. <g> > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: > utah-astronomy-bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu(a)mailman.xmission.com >> [mailto:utah-astronomy- >> bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu(a)mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe >> Bauman >> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 9:55 AM >> To: Utah Astronomy >> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] aurora? >> >> Or, we can use Chuck's asteroid-zapper to get rid of the pest once >> and for all! -- Joe >> >> > >> >I wonder if the IDA could help us. We at least need the moon turned > down >> >for certain events. It is far too bright. Of course I guess we would >> >obuse the rule and keep the Moon turned down from first quarter until >> >last quarter. >> > >> >Dave >> > >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >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 > > _______________________________________________ > 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] RTMC not so big
by David Dunn 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

I have a friend that attended the Burning Man this year. He has been showing us pictures and talking about the setup for a couple of weeks now. He said that it looks like the picture was taken on Weds and that the "camps" appear to be only half full. It sounds like a real big event. He did mention that the art has a lot of embedded lights so that they can be seen so I guess it probably isn't a good astronomy outing. The pictures he showed us of the people showering behind the water trucks where especially interesting. 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 Patrick Wiggins Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:54 PM To: utah astronomy listserve Subject: [Utah-astronomy] RTMC not so big And I thought the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference was a big event. I was just sent this image of _part_ of last week's Burning Man. Or was it the Astronomical League conference? :-) http://www.aros.net/~jjm/bm05/slides/IMGP1804.html Patrick _______________________________________________ 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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RTMC not so big
by Patrick Wiggins 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

And I thought the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference was a big event. I was just sent this image of _part_ of last week's Burning Man. Or was it the Astronomical League conference? :-) http://www.aros.net/~jjm/bm05/slides/IMGP1804.html Patrick

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Deep Impact revisited
by Chuck Hards 15 Sep '05

15 Sep '05

One of Patrick's "News" stories got me thinking about asteroid and comet impacts again. Recall there was division on the "nuke 'em" strategy on this list. The other favorite strategy was re-direction although this seemed optional only with extremely advanced notice, decades and up. Rethinking it, a 1-kilometer object could be reduced to small rocks, rubble, and dust with repeated detonations of conventional explosives- no nukes needed. It might take dozens to hundreds of such "blockbuster" warheads, but the final result is more assured than resorting to a nuke, which some pointed out may leave several large, still dangerous-sized chunks. By whittling away with smaller explosions on the surface, this danger is eliminated. Think of it as "accellerated ablation". You can tailor the charges to fit the desired erosion rate/average debris size. A special missle-carrying spacecraft could be constructed. The warheads don't even need to be on rockets- they could be accellerated electromagnetically, or even just fired from a mechanical device- spring loaded, pneumatic, centrifugal, whatever. For that matter, they could be launched from earth or earth orbit, repeatedly- strung-out in a line all the way from launch site to target, in numbers calculated to do the job, plus a safety margin. Larger objects could be possibly be eroded similarly, up to a point, by adjusting the delivery schedule and warhead yields. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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