October 2007 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: ISS to cross Moon Tuesday morning
by Kurt Fisher 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Joe asked: > Does anyone have a good feel for what the weather > will be like Tuesday morning? Thanks, Joe See - http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sectors/conusLoop.php and use the drop-down under "Forecast Element" for "Sky cover". - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: Some thoughts on the SLAS schedule
by Kurt Fisher 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Patrick wrote: >I go to _public_ star parties >to help the public observe what they are excited >by and, as I said, the public likes the Moon >(and Saturn and Jupiter). Educating/serving the public does not exclusively mean just showing them wow factor objects that they most respond to guided by a least-common demoniator criteria. It can also mean stretching their mental celestial horizons by using two premium 16" and 32" telescopes under a dark sky to show them detailed views of DSOs. That is the unique performance characteristic of SPOC. Scheduling SPOC like it is an urban star party location feels at odds to the underlying goal. This is a policy choice. The club can be run as: 1) solely a public education tool. 2) a compromise between the needs and desires of the members and secondary club public education goals. 3) solely to serve the needs and goals of the membership. I feel that #2 - the golden mean option - is better. But a schedule that makes all weekly public parties urban and lunar overbalances towards a public service goal. Scheduling SPOC like an urban star party location also incurs a cost - as some members will vote with their feet and decide to not participate. Don wrote: > New moon weekends are generally reserved for members > only star parties. Don, I'm not that up on the private star schedule. I understand the 2008 private schedule has not been proposed yet. The 2007 schedule put those dates three or four days before the new Moon. Those windows are unaffected by the discussion alternative schedule. At over 200 members, the club is large enough to schedule dark sky initiative parties at SPOC and at the Wedge on the same weekend. Not everyone is going to drive to the Wedge or Wolf Creek. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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SPOC from above
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

On Topic Did a bit of fun flying today and got a few pictures of SPOC from above: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/SPOC01.JPG http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/SPOC02.JPG http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/SPOC03.JPG Off Topic Also got one of the mountains reflected in the lake and of a couple of intertwined boat wakes in the lake: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/OQUIRRH.JPG http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/WAKES.JPG But this old airplane jockey was most surprised by seeing this sitting on the ramp at Salt Lake International as I was taxing out to take off: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/B17GND.JPG http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/30sep2007/B17AIR.JPG (Here's the plane's home page: http://www.libertyfoundation.org ) I'm planning another flight for later this week. Anyone care to come along? patrick

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Re: Some thoughts on the SLAS schedule
by Kurt Fisher 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Patrick wrote: >Chances are, SLAS look kind of silly if the >schedule got changed now. The 2008 schedule has been voted on once and there is strong inertia to leave matters that have been decided alone. But after attending all but two of this season's star parties at SPOC, I was surprised to find the Moon either up or rising shortly after twilight at all but a couple of SPOC star parties. I thought this year was a scheduling fluke, but on looking at the 2008 schedule closer, it appears to be by design. That was something I had not realized when voting on the 2008 schedule and that was not disclosed the members. That an alternative schedule could be devised that better utilizes SPOC as a dark sky site seems sufficiently important to rethink the matter, particularly as the 2008 season has not started and things do are not yet cast in stone. I love lunar observing, but why drive to SPOC to look at the Moon when I can as easily do that from an urban sky in Salt Lake? Or is there some scheduling consideration that I am missing here? Clear Skies - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: Some thoughts on the SLAS schedule
by Kurt Fisher 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

By way of background on the prior post, a SLAS member asked what an alternative schedule for SPOC that emphasized dark sky dates would look like for 2008. The schedule adopted at the last meeting has the Moon either above the horizon or rising shortly after the astronomical twilight for 2 out of 11 dates. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2008SLASSchedDarkSkyS… An alternative schedule, which I have distributed here for discussion, biases the SPOC dates towards dark sky frames - that is - where the Moon is either setting at astronomical twilight or will not be above the horizon. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2008SLASSchedDarkSkyS… The intent is show that a reorganized SPOC schedule is technically feasible and to further discussion of the issue. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Some thoughts on the SLAS schedule
by Kurt Fisher 30 Sep '07

30 Sep '07

Daniel, Here is the core of an alternative SLAS schedule that biases SPOC dates towards dark frames and Saturdays. - Kurt http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2008SLASSchedDarkSkyS… _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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