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

2008 Julian date calendar added to Utah astro wiki
by Kurt Fisher 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

Added to Utah astro wiki resources page at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Observing_resources - a table of Julian Days for each day during 2008 at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Table_2008_Julian_Day_SLC_UT Each table cell contains the Gregorian Month-Day and the Julian date begining at either 00:00:00 MST or MDT. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Meade question
by Kurt Fisher 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

Chuck wrote: > [T]he electronic drive motor disconnected. . . . > I cleaned and re-aligned the optics, got the drive re-assembled > and the motor re-installed, but it runs backwards! . . . > I've thought about changing the polarity of the battery pack, > . . . The red LED pilot light wouldn't even work if it > was a case of reversed polarity. Open the case and reverse the power leads attached directly to the motor? - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Augh!
by Beverley B Getzen 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

That situation falled under the circumstances usually referred to as Occam's Razor! I fall prey to violating that rule all the time!!

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Augh!
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

I've been having some trouble with the software I use to scan for asteroids. No amount of fiddling with it's many setting helped so yesterday I decided to uninstall and start over. Alas, there have been so many updates over the years since I bought it it took most of the night to figure out how to get the software and it's many updates back in and to solve some .dll problems. By 8 this Sunday morning it was all back up and running. Well except for for focus control. But the Sun was already up so I turned in. Back up at 5 and back to work. No matter what I did the blankety-blank focuser would not respond. I tried running the focuser on battery power. Worked fine. So I knew the focuser and power corder were ok. So it must be the software, right? Uninstalled and reinstalled the software and all the updates 3 more times. Talk about being at wits end... And then I had an epiphany (wait for it...) I realized I had neglected to turn the power on to the mount which also supplies power to the focuser. So, the moral of the story is, if you want something electrical to work it's a good idea to try turning it on first... Patrick (err, I mean, Anonymous) Happy solstice!

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Setup to recorder lunar and asteriod occultations
by Kurt Fisher 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Added to Utah wiki astro page on Observing Resources at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Observing_resources#Observing_techniques_-_how… - a page demonstrating my setup to record lunar and asteriod occultations at: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Occultation_Recording_Setups There are many routes to go. This is one setup that may give those interested in this area some ideas. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Dec. 16 - notable birthdays
by Kurt Fisher 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Today, Dec. 16 is: Arthur C. Clarke's 90th Birthday (1917) E.E. Barnard's 150th Birthday (1857) First transitor was invented in 1947. Some web surfing for a cloudy night - Arthur Clarke's Oct. 1945 article in Wireless World first proposing geosynchronous "stations" - three manned stations that would act as repeaters for instaneous world communications. http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/ E.E. Barnards, Atlas of the Milky Way http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/ - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Geminids
by sjseebergp＠webtv.net 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

WR Does it take time to boot up? OjAN

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Geminids
by Kurt Fisher 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Chuck wrote: > Friday night/Saturday morning was pristine for the time I was watching, from > about 12:30 to 1:00 am. I was seeing shower members at approximately > 3 to 5 minute intervals, about the best Geminid show I've ever seen > in terms of numbers. Glad to see you caught the shower. Looked between 3:00-3:20am from my mag 2 urban avenues location. Saw nadda. Then the clouds moved in. See ya next shower. - Kurt P.S. - Since Mars is now near opposition, maybe one of you SLASers with home observatories might host a Mars party? _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Geminids
by Kurt Fisher 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Chuck wrote: > Friday night/Saturday morning was pristine for the > time I was watching, from about 12:30 to 1:00 am. Looks like you picked the best time for Utah. The peak was Fri-Sat night; not Thur-Fri night. IMO prelimin Gemind analysis. http://www.imo.net/live/geminids2007/ - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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SINGS Hubble tuning fork poster
by Kurt Fisher 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

A Spitzer telescope working group (SINGS) has issued an online chart-poster of the Hubble Tuning Fork diagram. It's a neat poster with high-quality images of 75 galaxies within 30Mpc (about 100Mlyrs) - around the working limit of typical amateur telescopes. Poster http://gallery.spitzer.caltech.edu/Imagegallery/image.php?image_name=sig07-… Utah astro wiki entry http://www.utahastronomy.com/Current_observing_events#Dec_All_New_online_jo… - Kurt P.S. - Why didn't they use the de Vaucouleurs extensions? The Hubble tuning fork has been outdated for years. _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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