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

Scopes for sale
by Patrick Wiggins 04 Feb '07

04 Feb '07

This will be in News Tuesday but thought some here might like a head start. pw For Sale 1) Cast Iron telescope equatorial mount with 1 1/2" axis. with aluminum tripod with leveling screws. All professionally made. 2) Two 6" Newtoninan telescopes ( f/5.3 and f/10), cast iron equatorial mount with 1 1/2" axis, brass setting circles, clock drive RA and Dec. Tripod has caster wheels and leveling screws. All professionally made. Misc. eyepieces. I will NOT ship. Make Offer David Eshelman Payson, Utah 801.465.4797, ninja007driver(a)yahoo.com

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Minor planet occultation Tuesday evening
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

In addition to the lunar occultation for Utah on Wednesday morning I mentioned before: http://www.fingerlakessynthetics.com/occultations/GrazeMaps.html There will also be an occultation caused by a minor planet passing in front of a star as seen from much of northern Utah Tuesday evening: http://occult.tungstentech.com/ShowMap.aspx?occ_id=453 Please let me know if you have questions about either event. Patrick paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com 435.882.1209

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Should have read "Tuesday night/Wednesday morning"
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

Apologies but the subject of that last should have read "Seeking Help with Tuesday night/Wednesday morning graze" pw

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Seeking help with Tuesday lunar graze
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

As can be seen here, http://www.fingerlakessynthetics.com/ occultations/GrazeMaps.html , there will be a lunar grazing occultation next Wednesday morning. I plan on recording the event from where the path crosses I-80 out west of SLC and would like to have another observer or two out that way so we can increase the chances of having good data to report. Please let me know if you're able to help out. Thanks, Patrick paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com 435.882.1209

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Latest Grim scope
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

Here's the latest in a long line of scopes built by Bruce Grim. I love the way Bruce uses unusual materials to build telescopes. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/GARBAGESCOPE.PDF http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/GARBAGESCOPE.JPG Let's just hope he does not leave it too near the curb on trash collection day... Patrick p.s. No surprise here (especially if you know Bruce) but the cover that goes over the front of the OTA is a garbage can lid.

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Conquest of Space
by Chuck Hards 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

Tonight at FYE I picked-up a DVD of George Pal's "Conquest of Space", the 1955 Sci-Fi movie based on the book by Chesley Bonestell and Willy Ley. I remember seeing this movie as a kid on late-night TV, hope to watch it again this weekend. It was one of those flicks that was responsible for lighting this space fire in my brain all those years ago. I was sure surprised to see this movie released on DVD! Widescreen format, 80 min. My copy of Bonestell & Ley's book was formerly owned by Tom Cave. I purchased it from him some years before his passing. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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17.5" scope update
by Chuck Hards 02 Feb '07

02 Feb '07

I have made the master pattern for my tube clamp rings and will begin laying-up the mold on Monday. It will take about a week to finish the mold, after which I will let it cure for another few days before separating the pattern and mold. A couple days of post-forming cure, and it will be prepped for production of the 4 assemblies I need for the scope. Each half-circle ring piece will then need the hinge knuckles relieved and 2 holes drilled, one on each end. See 2 new photos on my Gallery page, numbers 44 & 45: http://www.utahastronomy.com/Chuck?page=5 Clicking on the photos will give you an enlargement and expanded descriptions. This is the same cradle design as my smaller "Woodshop" scopes, but scaled-up. See the photos of Roger's 8", and my 6". Besides balance and ergonomics, another advantage of a tube cradle like this is mount interchangability. I will have this telescope on a Dob-style mount this year, and hope to have it on a true equatorial by next year. The cradle gives me a lot of flexibility in declination/altitude bearing design. Comments welcome, as always. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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First results of the occultation of 32 Lyncis by (372) Palma
by Patrick Wiggins 02 Feb '07

02 Feb '07

First results of the occultation of 32 Lyncis by (372) Palma http://iota.jhuapl.edu/mp372.htm pw

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Green Laser Sale is on again
by Michael Carnes 02 Feb '07

02 Feb '07

>Is the Ducky laser button soft rubber, or hard >plastic? Hard. Momentary contact.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Green Laser Sale is on again
by Michael Carnes 02 Feb '07

02 Feb '07

I did misunderstand. I thought you were talking about it in the context of the laser pointer shootout. For your application, you're just looking for mechanical decoupling. For the pointer in question, the button mounts from the inside, so you'd probably have to go in, remove the button, and then thread a wire out of the button hole. MC >I think you may misunderstand the purpose of a remote >switch in this instance.

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