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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Spot the typo...
by Chuck Hards 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

Uh, Joe, my ancestors were in red coats. Great-great-great grandad didn't get here until 1868; by a stroke of luck the boat to Australia was full that day... On 7/9/07, Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> wrote: > > Where would we be if our ancestors hadn't been able to grab a gun and > chase the British back to Boston? -- Joe B., who is writing a book > about some Revolutionary War vets. >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Spot the typo...
by Chuck Hards 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

Ha! One never knows what skeletons are lurking in the closets of time, does one? In fact I had ancestors on both sides of the Revolutionary War. Our family couldn't lose! ;o) On 7/9/07, Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> wrote: > > Good point, Chuck. My wife Cory's ancestors were NY militiamen in the > Revolution. Our son Sky doesn't seem impressed with it; he simply > takes that for granted. But I have been trying hard to trace back > ancestors of my own hoping to prove descent from one of the > Revolutionary heroes. I did come across one ancestor of the right > age, who had a distinctive name. When I searched for him in records > of the section of New Jersey he came from I discovered he was on a > list of Tories whose land was confiscated because he took up arms for > the king!!! > > > Still, I have so many ancestors that far back that I haven't given > up, and in fact I found someone in the Continental service who had > the same name as one of my ancestors. But it's not an unusual name > and I haven't been able to make the connection. Yet. -- Joe > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: SPOC sprinkler note
by Kurt Fisher 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

Patrick, The image you linked is in a protected directory, so I could not see. The following diagram shows what I saw. It was too dark to see anything but the closest sprinkler head. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/SPOCWatering7_08_… And just to be clear, I'm not complaining about it. The park service district will work through their internal problems and get it straightened out. I'm just trying to be helpful by passing on a sprinkler on and off time when I see'm. If it's not needed or wanted info, just say so. Clear Skies - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Hawaii Observatories Expedition
by Ann House 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

All, As you have become aware, Rob Ratkowski and I are planning a trip to the Hawaiian Islands to visit the *Haleakala Observatories* on Maui and the *Mauna Kea Observatories *on the Big island. Too get you further excited, I am attaching a photo of the Faulkes Telescope* on Maui. Rob and I have a few questions that we need answered before we can go any further with our planning. 1 - When do we go? Any time is a wonderful time to go, but for the best chance of clear skies and low winds, mid-spring on into early winter may be best. And off season would be the least expensive way to go, which means we don't go when it is 10 degrees here. Rob has some suggestions: Spring 2008 (May specifically for their Astronomy Day festivities), Nov 2007 for the lunar eclipse, and 2012 is Venus transit and Hawaii is fantastically placed. What are your thoughts? 2 - How many will be going? We need a rough estimate so we can plan plane reservations and accommodations. Also, I know many would like to bring family members, so we need to know if these family members would also like to view the observatories. The observatories can easily accommodate 20-30, but more people than that would require several visits with us taking turns. 3 - The Big Island and Maui are a given. Should we also schedule a trip to Oahu while we are there? The two islands with the observatories and all the other things those islands have to offer will easily fill a week. Oahu would be a brief layover. We can do it, but should that be an optional trip? Get back to Rob and I, either on our e-mails or through the list serve, ASAP with your thoughts so we can start putting this together, giving you an itinerary and prices. -A

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Hawaii Observatories Expedition - Picture
by Ann House 09 Jul '07

09 Jul '07

Since I can't send attached pictures on the list-serve, Patrick has posted the Faulkes Scope picture that Rob took a few nights ago at the following: http://utahastro.info/temp/FAULKESSCOPE.JPG and http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/FAULKESSCOPE.JPG Also, Rob writes: *The Faulkes scope is equipped w/ CCD cams and not an eyepiece like in the photo. This was a CHANCE occurrence and not the norm. It's a big problem for them to do this, everyone has to be out of the dome area for safety and there is no control in the dome to accurately point/correct the aim of the scope. We were there at the right time. The best scopes are at Mauna Kea, Haleakala was Hawaii's 1st observatory site, Gerard Kuiper noticed Mauna Kea above the clouds when he was researching Haleakala and Haleakala was in cloud. either way, THIS state is great and is fun and a joy to be in. There is something for everyone and Maui has the best beaches!!!!!!! Oahu is touristy but FUN, too crowded for me though. - Rob -A

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SPOC sprinkler note
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jul '07

08 Jul '07

In aid of tuning the ongoing relationship with the park service district, this is to note that the north west side SPOC sprinklers came on last night about 1:50 to 2:15am. The east side sprinklers did not come on before I left at 2:30am. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Spinklers at SPOC - Note
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jul '07

08 Jul '07

Diveboss, sorry the multiple posts. My ISP line kept dropping and not confirming the send. Friggin computers! - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Spinklers at SPOC - Note
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jul '07

08 Jul '07

In aid of tuning the ongoing relationship with the park service district, this is to note that the north west side SPOC sprinklers came on last night about 1:50 to 2:15am on Sun, 7/8/2007. The east side sprinklers did not come on before I left at 2:30am. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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SPOC sprinkler note
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jul '07

08 Jul '07

In aid of tuning the ongoing relationship with the park service district, this is to note that the north west side SPOC sprinklers came on last night about 1:50 to 2:15am. The east side sprinklers did not come on before I left at 2:30am. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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FW: Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 53, Issue 5
by Kurt Fisher 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

baxman2 asked, > Why isn't the date of the summer solitice, and the > date of the farest distance of Earth from the Sun, > not the same? Because in the Earth's distant past, a large planetiod hit the Earth and caused it to tilt on its axis. That being a random event, one would not expect to find any relationship between the shape of the Earth's orbit and the tilt of its axis. People usually notice the relationship because the hottest time of the year (in the north-centric view of the Earth's hemisphere) does not correspond with its closest distance to the Sun. Northern hemisphere high temperatures correspond to the Earth's farest orbital distance from the Sun. Both the distance from the Sun (aphelion greatest; perihelion smallest) and the 23 1/2 degree tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic effect the relative intensity of the seasons in both the southern and northern hemispheres. But, the climate effect of the tilt of Earth's orbital axis (that ranges other 47 degrees in a year) is many times greater than that of climate changes induced by the changes in distance of the Earth from the Sun (152,097,701km vs. 147,098,074km or about a 3 percent distance range). Surface temperatures in Utah can range over a 40 degrees C - associated with the tilt of the Earth. Even if you could measure changes in surface temperature associated with changes in the Earth's distance from the Sun, they might amount to just a few degrees C - nothing that you would notice while walking around outside. As others have pointed out, the northern hemisphere can be in the depths of a hot summer even though the Earth is at its farest orbital distance from the Sun; conversely, the southern hemisphere can be in the depths of winter when the Sun is nearer the Sun. Currently in the northern hemisphere, the closest distance of the Sun does not correspond to summer and the farest distance does not correspond to winter. Earth is near its greatest distance (aphelion) from the Sun at the summer solistice. The Earth is at it's closet approach (perihelion) at the winter solstice, when the North Pole points away from the Sun. So, the temperature changes of the two effects - tilt and distance - are not cumulative. Currently, they tend to cancel each other out. (Looking at today's SLC weather, they are not seem to be cancelling each other out enough!) Over the next 10,000 years, this situation will reverse - the closest distance to the Sun will correspond to summer and the farthest distance from the Sun will correspond to winter. See illustration at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Precession_and_seasons.jpg - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession#Precession_of_the_equinoxes The correspondence of these cycles of distance and tilt are called "Milankovitch cycles". http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Milankovitch/Images/orbital… from - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Milankovitch/milankovitch_3… Wikipedia. Milankovitch_cycles. << http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles accessed 11/2004 >> (online encyclopedia) The climate effect of Milankovitch cycles have been associated with changes in the layers of ocean bed sediments. I am not sure what the indicators are, but I am assume that they involve the number of fossilized plankton and the depth of the sediment layers. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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