May 2006 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ 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] Science Fair
by Michael Carnes 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

Don, you're cherry-picking your data. >I think there is still a controversy over how much economic development >contributes to global warming. While there is much yet to learn, the so-called controversy is largely clouding of the waters by those with an economic interest. Within the last month there's been renewed information of the rate of melting of the Greenland ice-sheet, in addition to melting in other zones, such as Mt. Kilimanjaro. Thousands of ice cores taken over the last century show that the ice goes back tens of thousands of years. If it had been as warm during the Roman era as your sources indicate, that ice would have melted then or would never have formed. Arctic permafrost that has been stable since the last ice age (as shown by the number of mammoths preserved in it) is rapidly turning to mush. Of course you can find a few scientists who disagree with this assessment, just like you can find a few scientists who don't like evolution. You can find a few scientists who believe in ghosts, in Sasquatch, in fairies, in alien abduction, and in all sorts of things. It is extremely rare in science that someone who goes against the grain is shown to be correct (Galileo, Kepler, etc). Most of them are just cranks.

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You could actually see the light bulb turn on...
by Chuck Hards 31 May '06

31 May '06

Patrick, as I was watching my old 8mm videos tonight, my eye kept wandering over the other video equipment under the TV...and something, a growing intuition, kept fermenting in the back of my mind- AHA! I have a DVD recorder that I have only ever used for playback! Is it just that simple- burn a DVD copy while the 8mm camcorder plays it back into the DVD deck? I'm sorry, I just don't spend much time playing with this stuff I guess...call me "video challenged". __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Unusual satellite tonight (Tuesday)
by Patrick Wiggins 30 May '06

30 May '06

Hi all, Siegfried (who lurks here but does not like to play) reminded me off list of a satellite I have not observed in some time called the Tether Physics and Survivability Experiment, or TiPS for short. It's basically two satellites (one named Ralph and the other Norton) connected by a 4 km long, 2 mm thick tether. Checking Heavens Above I see there are a number of nice passes coming up starting with one tonight. Here's the link to the passes as seen from SLC: http://www.heavens-above.com/passsummary.asp?lat=40.761&lng=-111.890&alt=0&… This is not a very bright bird. Binoculars are required. It looks like a skinny straw gliding across the sky. More info about TiPS: http://code8100.nrl.navy.mil/programs/tips.htm http://www.nrl.navy.mil/pao/pressRelease.php?Y=1996&R=68-96r Patrick

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How to make a light-tight red-light sign box for star parties
by Canopus56 30 May '06

30 May '06

http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/atm/sprlbx/MakeStarPartySi… This website contains construction plans for a light-tight box to display red-light signs at star parties. The signs are laser-printed transparencies. The box is designed to screw onto a standard camera tripod mount. Using such a sign, it is possible to set-up an informational sign in front of a telescope at a star party that displays the type of object currently in the telescope. The intent is to have several of these signs in a line of telescopes pointed at different types of objects. Using a handout describing the major celestial objects (e.g. - double stars, dark clouds, open clusters, globulars, planetary nebula, several types of galaxies), the public can browse a line of scopes for an orrey of objects. Attention was given to making the red-light box light-tight for white light. Generic transparencies are provided. This red-light box will be of interest to intermediate amateur astronomers and to astronomy clubs. - Canopus56 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Fw: astronomical observation tunnels
by Bill.Kennedy＠fiserv.com 30 May '06

30 May '06

Howdy, I received this query out of the blue and thought maybe there would be a knowledgeable soul here who may be able to help this gentleman out. This is something I've never heard of. Thanks, Bill ----- Forwarded by Bill Kennedy/CTI on 05/30/2006 03:24 PM ----- johnnybike2k(a)comcast.net 05/27/2006 05:00 PM To bkennedy(a)cusa.com, <bkennedy(a)cusa.com> cc Subject astronomical observation tunnels Bill Kennedy, My name is John McConnell, I?m a teacher here in the Salt Lake Valley. I?m finishing up my Master?s degree, I need to create a Geosciences study/field trip for part of the project and was trying to find some info on the astronomical observation tunnels out east of the Great Salt Lake, in Box Elder County. I was hoping some one from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society might have some info on who put them there, what the holes are for and anything else that might make interesting reading on the tunnels. Thanks for your help. John

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Four planets and the Moon tonight at sunset
by Canopus56 30 May '06

30 May '06

Tonight (5/30) and tomorrow night (5/31), four planetary bodies and the Moon will all be above the horizon just after around sunset for most north hemisphere observers. Mercury, Mars, Moon and Saturn will be grouped in western sky. Jupiter will be in the east. Tonight (05/30/2006), this will be followed at 4:30 to 6:40 UTC (10:30MDT-12:30AM MDT), with a single shadow transit by Io of Jupiter. - Canopus56 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Great Basin Friday Night
by Robert Taylor 30 May '06

30 May '06

I made the trip down there Friday despite the marginal weather. I was as much interested in seeing the park as I was the sky. Great Basin was established as a National Park in 1986 so it is a very new park and does not have the history and facilities of some of the other parks like Bryce Canyon. For example there are no great lodges. It also doesn't have the attendance levels that many of the other National Parks have. Roberta Moore was the ranger heading up the program and I believe she was working with Kim Hyatt to set this up. Unfortunately Kim couldn't make it due to a family illness from what I understand. I caught up with Roberta and met her at the Visitor Center where the talk would be and where the scopes would be set up. I was the only member from SLAS at the presentation and aside from a few other Rangers lending moral support there was only one couple from Bountiful in attendance at the presentation. The scheduled speaker cancelled in the afternoon so Roberta stepped in and did the presentation for the night and covered what they were hoping the program would become as well as light pollution (a topic near and dear to most of us), the park's very dark skies and more. The sky at the time of the presentation was quite cloudy and I had serious doubts as to whether there would be any observing that night. Roberta said it was not uncommon for the clouds to dissipate after sunset; the park makes its own weather. A few other SLAS members showed up after the presentation, my scope was the only one set up on Friday night. The clouds starting breaking up after the presentation so we waited to see how far this would go. The clouds cleared to about 90% clear after an hour or so and by 10PM (Pacific) we had fairly clear skies with a steady strong wind that caused problems with my 16" Dob all night. We did manage to hit a few showpiece objects for the small crowd and other Park Rangers despite having to brace the scope against the wind. We had a few other park attendees show up after we started and we managed to do OK for the night all things considered. I spent Saturday in the park. The temperatures dropped dramatically on Saturday as winter returned to the park. It snowed down to the 6500' - 7000' level, rained at lower levels. I decided to head back on Saturday. A few (2) more SLAS members showed up on Saturday from what I could see and I left it to them to help with the presentation Saturday night. I hope we continue to support this burgeoning program. I'm sure the weather was a factor in the low turn-out of SLAS members and park visitors. The visitor center was not the best place to set up telescopes but with all the considerations you have to account for in a public star party it probably made sense as a starting point. I'd love to get a scope up to some of the overlooks in the park that have a much higher elevation and are farther away from the lights (including a brand new Budweiser Sign from a nearby pub) of the town of Baker which serves the park. We talked about this as a possibility for the future with Roberta. Parking at the overlook is limited but with the current small groups it might be possible, at least until their program catches on. It was hard to tell how dark the skies at the park could get but from what we saw Friday I think they should rival or maybe even surpass Bryce Canyon if we can get up to some of the higher elevations and away from the town. Robert Taylor

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Fw: astronomical observation tunnels
by Seth Jarvis 30 May '06

30 May '06

Here ya go! http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/UT3126/ Seth Jarvis, Director Clark Planetarium -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Bill.Kennedy(a)fiserv.com Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:28 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Fw: astronomical observation tunnels Howdy, I received this query out of the blue and thought maybe there would be a knowledgeable soul here who may be able to help this gentleman out. This is something I've never heard of. Thanks, Bill ----- Forwarded by Bill Kennedy/CTI on 05/30/2006 03:24 PM ----- johnnybike2k(a)comcast.net 05/27/2006 05:00 PM To bkennedy(a)cusa.com, <bkennedy(a)cusa.com> cc Subject astronomical observation tunnels Bill Kennedy, My name is John McConnell, I?m a teacher here in the Salt Lake Valley. I?m finishing up my Master?s degree, I need to create a Geosciences study/field trip for part of the project and was trying to find some info on the astronomical observation tunnels out east of the Great Salt Lake, in Box Elder County. I was hoping some one from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society might have some info on who put them there, what the holes are for and anything else that might make interesting reading on the tunnels. Thanks for your help. John _______________________________________________ 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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Excursion to Tooele County
by Joe Bauman 30 May '06

30 May '06

Hi all, I wanted to tell you about the trip I took to Tooele County for astronomy Thursday night-Friday morning. I went to the Pit 'N Pole first, but a couple of families were camping there in trailers with at least one ORV and kids. I thought it might be a little uncomfortable for them to have someone lurking around outside all night, and besides, their lights probably would bother me. So I took off, traveling back to the road toward Faust. When I reached Utah 36 I turned south and drove a few miles past Vernon. There I found a side road, went back half a mile to a fork in the route, and set up. This turned out to be a delightful spot, with a ridge between myself and the SLC metro lights. The sky was darker than I had expected, and the air was still and clear. However, it got pretty cold after sunset and my ears were freezing. I wished I'd brought a warmer hat. I also wished I'd remembered the connections I needed to power up my guider -- all my pictures were taken without guiding, with the telescope doing its normal tracking. First I had to get the 'scope colliminated, always a distasteful and difficult chore for me. But then I had a great time. I found my targets and enjoyed looking, then photographing. The results of the photo sessions are the last page of my UtahAstronomy gallery. I had never seen M31 before, and when I had the telescope "go to" that galaxy, I had my CCD camera attached. When I tried to see it through the finder 'scope I couldn't see a galaxy. Eventually I thought I might be seeing a dim something and I aimed the telescope toward it. Then I downloaded a one-minute photo and to my astonishment, this beautiful galaxy came up. The resultant photo is about half an hour, or more, taken in the form of four different views (three colors per view) and later stacked by use of Registax. Because I had some trouble with uploading because of network problems at this end, Cynthia kindly posted them for me. They are on the last page of my album. The URL is: http://www.utahastronomy.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=Joeb Best wishes, Joe

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