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

Mars & M1
by Dunn, David 19 Sep '07

19 Sep '07

Did anyone get to see Mars pass by M1 Sunday or Monday morning? It passed about 1 degree away from it. I noticed it approaching and then forgot to go look. When I took a look yesterday, it had passed by. I found one picture of it. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1252/1402486728_c85bcda1ff_o.jpg Dave

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Latest on the Gallery?
by Naz & David 18 Sep '07

18 Sep '07

I tried emailing Cynthia the other day to see what the plan was with the gallery but it bounced. Has anyone got an update? Cheers David

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2008 Observer's Handbooks
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Observer's Handbook 2008 SLAS will be offering the 2008 edition of the Observer's Handbook to members of all astronomy clubs in Utah for nearly half price. The only "catches" are that purchasers must pre-pay and must pick up their copies (yes, we said that last year but then I made a few exceptions and that lead to many troubles so this year purchasers MUST pre-pay and MUST pick up their copies). The retail price is $31.95. SLAS will be selling them for $18.00 which includes shipping. You can place your order at tonight's or next month's SLAS meetings or you can mail your check (payable to SLAS) to Salt Lake Astronomical Society, P O Box 26114, SLC UT 84126-0114. All order must be received NLT next month's meeting. patrick

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Wed 7pm KUED - Ferris's Seeing in the Dark
by Kurt Fisher 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Timothy Ferris's popular book from 2002 - _Seeing in the Dark_ - about amateur astronomy - has been turned into a PBS program. It airs this Wednesday at 7pm on KUED. The Tooele special star party is scheduled for that night. Members may want to set your TIVOs or VCRs to record it now. Or recommend the program to your spouse or relatives who think that you are a little odd for walking around in the dark muttering something about how "there's _billions_ and _billions_ of stars." - Kurt KUED Broadcast Schedule for Seeing in the Dark Wed, Sep 19th, 2007 @ 7:00 pm Fri, Sep 21st, 2007 @ 3:00 am http://kued.org/page.php?area=programs&action=viewSeriesDetails&id=17914 KUED Program Summary: This state-of-the-art documentary introduces viewers to the rewards of first-person, hands-on astronomy. Written, produced and narrated by award-winning filmmaker, journalist and best-selling author Timothy Ferris, the program is based on Ferris' book, Seeing in the Dark (Simon & Schuster, 2002), named one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times. The program features high-definition astrophotography and introduces men and women, both professionals and amateurs, who have seen and captured phenomenal images within and beyond our solar system and galaxy. Rating: TVG Length: 56 minutes, 46 seconds. PBS Seeing in the Dark Website http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/ Seeing in the Dark Book at PBS Bookstore http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2840050 Seeing in the Dark Book at Amazon with search inside book http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Dark-Astronomers-Discovering-Universe/dp/06848… _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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New images from Tremonton
by Tyler Allred 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Hi all, I have been absent for some time now, but I finally got a chance to do a little imaging and managed to complete three new images. Here are links to the small versions. larger version are available by clicking on the pics. The Iris Nebula http://www.allred-astro.com/subpage47.html The Pleiades http://www.allred-astro.com/subpage49.html M33 - The Pinwheel Galaxy http://www.allred-astro.com/subpage51.html My new home in Tremonton has pretty dark skies and is a really big improvement over Orem! I hope someone enjoys viewing these images. Let me know what you think. Cheers, Tyler Tyler Allred President Allred Restoration, Inc. 5725 W 12000 N Tremonton, UT 84337 801-358-1868 cell <mailto:tylerallred@earthlink.net> tylerallred(a)earthlink.net _____________________________________________

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Distribution of SLAS membership
by Kurt Fisher 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Attached find a crude map that I threw together of the distribution of SLAS membership as compared to SLAS venues. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/SLASMemberMapVenu… This was prepared to get a feel for driving times to the various venues and the number of club members close to each venue. The assumption was that after work driving time effects the ability of an individual member to support a particular star party. Hope this is of interest to the membership-at-large. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Star Party Presentation Cheat Sheet - Older Low-Metallicity Globular Clusters for Aug Sept
by Kurt Fisher 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Thanks David. Glad you enjoyed it. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT: Sports cars
by Naz & David 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Darin, Thanks, I thought as much but as I said the photos are great. You have to wonder why people bother to fabricate such trivial deception.... Thanks also for the snopes.com link. Cheers David

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Little Stonehenge
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Any old timers here remember the site south of Grantsville we used to call Little Stonehenge? I drove out there today. No development in the area but no sign of the stone walls and concrete floors I remember. Then again, maybe I'm misremembering the location. Anyone remember where it was? BTW, for those not familiar with the site, a number of SLASers used it in the 70s before SPOC was built. patrick

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OT: Sports cars
by Naz_David 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Had this sent to me at work. Not sure if this is a hoax but its a great story and you petrol heads will enjoy the photos ;) A New York man retired. He wanted to use his retirement money wisely, so it would last, and decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal. The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 yrs.; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs. The house was sold to pay taxes. There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. Nobody wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway......so, nobody made an offer on the place. The NY guy bought it at just over half of the property's worth, moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn.......curiosity was killing him. So, he and his wife bought a generator, and a couple of grinders.......and cut through the welds. What was in the barn...............? Go to http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm and start wishing it you had bought the place.

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