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

ISS overpasses Tues night and through Fri
by Kurt Fisher 23 Oct '07

23 Oct '07

Oct 23 to Oct 26 ISS overpasses with Shuttle Tues. Oct 23 18h54m -4.5v May be too close to sunset but magnitude is -4.5. Has a good track for imaging. Appears az 307 NW. Culmination: az 35 alt 67 NE v -4.5. Disappears: az 122 ESE. Wed. Oct. 24. 19h17m -2.2v Fri. Oct. 26. 18h28m -1.8v During the last shuttle mission and after the shuttle docked, NASA TV broadcast live pictures of the Earth as the station orbited. During this shuttle mission, it may be possible to watch the ISS and shuttle overpass from the ground, while at the same time having an image from a camera on the ISS looking down on you from above displaying on a laptop. Last time, the orbit broadcast began after the shuttle was docked. Details at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Oct_23_to_Oct_26_ISS_… - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Part of Vanguard 2 "coming home"
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

Vanguard 2 (launched in 1959) is still on orbit and will probably be up there for a long time (estimated orbital lifetime is ~300 years). However, a part of the debris associated with V2's launch (possibly part of the launch vehicle) is predicted to reenter Wednesday morning. From SPOC it'll only be just over 2 degrees above the horizon but for those down south (Jerry? Debbie?) it will be a bit higher. Moving from SSW to SE between 04:29 and 04:33. patrick p.s. V2 is old but not the oldest artificial satellite. Vanguard 1 went up on 17 March 1958 and is still up there. Though only the size of a grapefruit it is visible with mid-sized amateur scopes.

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Experiment adapting camera lenses to a DSI Pro and DSI-C
by Kurt Fisher 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

Images are at: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/Meade+DSI+Studies/ This a part of an experiment to adapt a DSI coupled to a fisheye lens as 12 deg TFOV meteor camera. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Shuttle launch tomorrow 9:38 MDT 10-23
by Kurt Fisher 22 Oct '07

22 Oct '07

Details and links to NASA-TV schedule at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Oct_23_8:38am_MDT_Shu… - K _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Orionid meteor image by Rob R
by Kurt Fisher 21 Oct '07

21 Oct '07

Club member Rob Ratkowski has an orionid meteor image on today's spaceweather.com http://spaceweather.com/meteors/orionids/images2007/21oct07/Rob-Ratkowski1.… or just go to www.spaceweather.com and scroll down for a link. - K _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Space Elevator Games Sun Oct 21
by Kurt Fisher 21 Oct '07

21 Oct '07

Today, I attended the Space Elevator Games at the Davis County Fairgrounds. Between 11 and 2, reasonable weather permitted some racers to climb. The 400 foot tool crane was erected. The Univ. of British Columbia racer started first, running almost to the top of the 120 meter ribbon at about 1-1.5 meters per second. Then a California high-school team, using flexible solar panels, ran to the top of the crane at slow speed of around 1 meter sec. Wind and intermitent clouds continued to present problems. At one point, the 400 foot climbing ribbon oscillated violently in a perfect one-quarter harmonic (you could actually see the perfect four divisions of the ribbon's length) - making a low sound - and the largest jazz bass that I've ever seen. Next, the favorites Kansas City Pirates tried to climb in a rising wind. They were favored to win this game's $500,000 climbing pursue that requires a mininum speed of 2 meters/second. This private group, that showed up with a crew of over ten members was impressive with a large array of solar mirrors. Two-thirds up the ribbon tether, a wind rose and literally blew about a 1/5 the solar collectors off their climber. The games took a break for an hour to let the wind die down. Other competitors where stating that they would not climb considering some of their collector solar cells cost several hundred thousand dollars per climber. The event holder stated they would try to run more crews this afternoon and again on Monday. Some teams had to leave today and were leaving with hard feelings towards the Utah weather that prevented them from competing this year. I took about 50 digital pictures which were all lost in an SD disk media failure. Urgh! Fortunately, there is an official Space Elevator Games blog site with lots of pictures. http://www.spaceelevatorblog.com/ The climbers will continue this afternoon and again on Monday. It is possible that this year's $500,000 climbing purse will go unclaimed. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Picture for Nova
by Kurt Fisher 21 Oct '07

21 Oct '07

My submission for the Nova cover. - Kurt http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/seg2007/006.jpg.html _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Space Elevator Games Saturday Oct 20 photos
by Kurt Fisher 21 Oct '07

21 Oct '07

My photos from Saturday's space elevator games. See Utah astro wiki - http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Oct_19-21.2C2007_Spac… and/or the Gallery - http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/seg2007/ The games continue on Sunday. If weather does not permit erecting the 120 meter crane on Sunday, they will continue on Monday to allow the entrants to climb the ribbon. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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ISS track moved a bit again
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Oct '07

20 Oct '07

CalSky reports a slight change in the ground track for tomorrow's ISS solar transit. http://www.calsky.com/? Transitline=&obs=79303019710733&tdt=2454395.30648690&sat=25544&interval= 0.00011574&step=0.00000231&mainbody=0 If SPOC's Clear Sky Clock is accurate we may get to see the transit after all as it's currently showing overcast up until 1300 and then clear for several hours after that. We'll see. patrick

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Sunday ISS transit update
by Kurt Fisher 20 Oct '07

20 Oct '07

Per Patrick W's Oct 20 update check of Calsky - the ground track has moved to the West. Practical public spaces appearing on the track are now: SPOC and the Salt Lake Marina and Great Salt Lake Parks along I-80. The time has changed by 30 secs to Oct 21 13h20m15s ISS crosses the Sun. http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Oct_21_13h20m15s_ISS_… Consistent with inclement weather this time of the year. A cloud-out is probable. NOAA Sky Cover predictions show cloud cover until a high pressure zone moves in on Monday. Then a few days of clear weather. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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