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

RE: [Utah-astronomy] Joe's comet article
by Kurt Fisher 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

It's also worth noting that Joe's article made the front page of the DN. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Image for Wiki
by Kurt Fisher 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

Hi Cynthia. I suggest using the PayPal logo and link in the upper left-hand corner - as you currently do on the gallery. With the 3200 hits since the beginning of October, it may generate an income stream. I can be reached at fisherka(a)csolutions.net . I'm not really interested in being a wiki administrator and don't anticipate using it much past December. Thanks for running the gallery and setting up the wiki. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Image for Wiki
by Cynthia Blue 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

I'm thinking we need a nice small picture for the upper left of the main page... anyone have any suggestions or would like to recommend or donate one? Also... Fisherka send me an email and I'll make you an admin on the wiki. And if you wiki folk would like additions or changes to the left menu, let me know what you would like and we can do it or I can see about letting someone have the authority to do that too. Cyn -- http://www.collierescueut.org/ Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius ASCA-CD RA CGC CH Pembroke Faded Glory VC AXP AJP RE HT CGC Angel Pumpkin Spice Lady DPP CGC Spirit Chasers Spice NA NAJ WVN CGC http://www.tiptail.com

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Modest photos of Comet Holmes
by Kurt Fisher 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

Nicely done. http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/rkennard/ It is perfectly acceptable to use your photo software to blue shift your last two photos. http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/rkennard/Comet+17PHolmes+_3a_.JPG.html http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/rkennard/Comet+17PHolmes+_4a_.JPG.html The reddening is an ordinary result of the long exposure. Digital cameras are more sensitive to red and infra red light - hence the loss of color balance on the 30 sec exposures. I'd blue shift both of them and email them to Jodi Saeland at Channel 13. jsaeland(a)fox13.com She has put up a couple of images from Comet 17P a few nights ago. Cool lucky hit on capturing a meteor in your first pic. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet mosaics
by Kurt Fisher 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

For lurkers - Meade Drizzle Manual Parts 1 and 2 http://www.meade4m.com/downloads/download.html iMerge http://www.geocities.com/jgroveuk/iMerge.html EQMOD http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/mosaic/ M31 (2 deg dia) is directly overhead around 10pm. After the clouds clear out it is a good target to experiment on taking mosaic images, even from the light polluted city. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Joe's comet article
by Patrick Wiggins 10 Nov '07

10 Nov '07

Joe's piece on Comet Holmes is in today's D. News. First time I remember seeing the word "boing" in an astronomy related story. :) http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226410,00.html patrick

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Modest photos of Comet Holmes
by Raeburn Kennard 09 Nov '07

09 Nov '07

With the encouragement of Patrick Wiggins, I am submitting my pictures of Comet Holmes to the Utah-Astronomy Gallery. Check them out. No telescope or mosaic stuff, just time exposures with a 35mm digital camera. Still, my wife thinks I'm way clever. What more could I want? Thanks, Patrick and the rest of you, for making this forum available. Raeburn G. Kennard Kirton & McConkie 60 East South Temple, Suite 1800 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (801) 328-3600 (Main Switchboard) (801) 321-4867 (Direct Line) (801) 321-4893 (Facsimile) (801) 550-6143 (Cell phone) rkennard(a)kmclaw.com<mailto:rkennard@kmclaw.com>

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My Best Comet Image Yet!
by Tyler Allred 09 Nov '07

09 Nov '07

Hi all. I decided to try imaging the comet with a Micro Nikkor 200mm camera lens because I wanted a larger field of view than my Tak E160 provided. I am very pleased with the result. http://71.18.228.62/subpage57.html It is the top image on the page. I was able to capture the greenish halo and the blue tail as well as a nice star field. Comments are always welcome. If you haven't been out to look at this object, you really need to get your priorities straightened out! :-) Cheers, Tyler _____________________________________________

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Video capture?
by Kurt Fisher 09 Nov '07

09 Nov '07

Seth asked, > Have any of you folks any recommendations you'd care to share regarding > the best way to get a video feed (preferably color) off of a 1.25" eyepiece? As to video capture, Bruce Grimm is the person I have most noticed at SLAS star parties doing live video presentation. I have not used a true video camera with an image intensifier - which I understand can compensate for the inherently low quality of video capture. My own primitive experiments use: 1) A Celestron LPI Or subsitute a Meade DSI or an LPI and flip the Envisage Live preview window into "full-screen" mode. 2) Laptop 3) AVerMedia AVerKey iMicro PC/Mac-to-TV Converter http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=5018… The AverMedia convertor has zoom and pan adjustment on the top of the convertor box. This allows you to zoom and crop astronomical software screens seen on the laptop screen, so only the astronomical object projects on the TV. 4) Output via a presentation projector or portable TV using S-video In general, the live image results are not that good because video capture at 30 frames-per-second (fps) is inherently of a lower quality than stacking individual images captured with a CCD. Within the last month, lunar imagers - who use avi captures with Registax to create high-quality lunar images - have been raving about the new "The Imaging Source" second generation FireWire camera featured on the inside cover page of December's Sky & Telescope. I have not seen or used one of these units. The specs appear to be far superior to LPI or video cameras. The camera does not have some of the inherent limiting magnitude constraints in traditional video CMOS chips. It also pumps images at a very high 60 frames-per-second, reportedly with good image quality. Those specs should up the quality of the image considerably when used in a live mode. Lunar images typically take 1200-2400 frames and then stack the 30 or 40 captured when the air is still (e.g. lucky imaging). So, my only partially informed suggestion is to look at the Imaging Source camera as a possible evolutoinary technical improvement over video capture. I am assuming that your end-use intent is to capture live planetary video for presentation at school or planetarium star parties. If you are looking at (a) live web broadcasting or (b) still-image web broadcasting, but that's another topic separate from live portable TV projection. Regards - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Estimate of how long 17P will remain visible
by Kurt Fisher 09 Nov '07

09 Nov '07

Comet 17P is in its 16th day of outburst (11/9/07). Between the 20th and 31st day of the 1892 outburst, the comet declined in brightness from naked-eye to an averted object in a 150mm refractor. Continued amatuer photographic monitoring may capture additional unusual behavior of this comet during a possible "shut-down" over the next 14 days, e.g. rapid dimming, jet turn-off in the central condensation, tail disconnection. Background note and table of elapsed day of events during the 1892 outburst are posted at - http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Estimate_of_how_long_… - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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