January 2008 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Happy New Year (belated)
by Kim 15 Jan '08

15 Jan '08

I just realized that I hadn’t wished a Happy New Year to some of my best and oldest friends. (“Just who are you calling old?” – thought I should beat anyone to that line.) So, all the best for a good year. I hope you all keep improving…and enjoy clear (clearer) skies. I rang in the new year by watching much of “Mars Rising” on the Discovery Channel – I think. For anyone who hasn’t seen the program, I thought it was very well done. And you get to listen to William Shatner not being cheeky for a change. I hope that we get there in my life time. We should begin a pool for the landing date. If we start now and bank the money, it could be worth quite a bit by the time we launch. Anyway, the program suggested that a Mars mission might be 30 years out. I’m thinking much longer, in part because a 30-year occupation of Iraq now seems much more likely than a mission to Mars. Oops, there I go getting political. Sorry. So, does anyone have thoughts on a Mars mission, such as technology, timing, should Patrick volunteer, etc.? Kim Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.31/1128 - Release Date: 11/13/2007 11:09 AM

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] No more Astromart emails
by Naz & David 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

I second all the positive comments about AstroMart. Its the only place I'm prepared to buy and sell used astro kit on the web, even stuff worth '000s. The great thing about it is that of your a crook you only get one go at it and your out, Herb keeps a very close eye on that kind of nonsense. When I'm dealing with a person that has not been rated, which has not happened often anyway, I'm just a little more careful about how the transaction is handled. I've never bothered with the email option, have always been content browsing while logged in (a cookie keeps it logged in on my desktop anyway). Cheers David

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No more Astromart emails
by Dale Hooper 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

I'm not sure how many of you used them - but apparently the Astromart emails are no longer being sent out unless you are a "contributor". I've used Astromart from time-to-time to both buy and sell things. But, I haven't felt that I used it often enough to feel guilty about not paying. What do you think - am I just being too cheap - or has Herb York (who runs Astromart and also owns Anacortes Telescopes and Wild Birds) finally gone too far? I suspect that Herb has finally gone too far, but I'd be interested in hearing from others. Clear skies, Dale.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] No more Astromart emails
by Kurt Fisher 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

I do not use the Astromart forums or their emails, but have no problem accessing the classifieds and pricing information - once a free basic login id is created. You also have to have a modern browser version (IE 6.0 or above) and have your browser's "cookie" option enabled. The cookies are used by the browser and website to pair your session id with the information that you request from the server (and also for marketing web-tracking purposes). Otherwise the site, like many other commerical sites, won't work properly. I have not bought anything from Astromart (www.astromart.com) for a couple of years, because mostly because I am cheap and have lost out on bidding. (I'm still hoping for that $300 used spectrograph). I generally use Astromart to cross check the going "market price" for used astro goods, so I do not over pay on an Ebay bid. Hope that helps. - Kurt P.S. - More on notes commercial web tracking and browsers at astro sites. Like with all login ids required at commercial sites (Orion, telescopes.com, Meade, OPT, Surplus Shed), you do have to read the account creation menus very carefully, making sure that you are checking the option (or sometimes multiple options) to assure that you do not receive their electronic junk mail. The "do not subscribe to newsletter" buttons are often in microtype and are hidden below the browser's digital fold. The only amateur science commercial website that continues to send me their nuisance junk email, even after hitting the unsubscribe button several times, is Edmund Scientifics Online. Leaving your browser cookies turned on has become a necessity to use most commercial sites. But the down side is that most commercial sites now scan your browser cookies and browser history in order to create a marketing profile on you - which is in turn is used to send you more junk email. What I do to keep those nosey internet hypermarketeers out of my personal business is to use the "delete all personal info" option in IE 7.0 every two or three days. In IE 7.0, there is a new "delete" all personal information option (delete cookies, browsing history, temporary history, saved passwords) under Tools | Internet Options | Delete | Delete All. Under IE 5.0 and 6.0 you had to "delete cookies", "delete browsing history" and "delete all temporary files" separately to clean out the browser. Keeping the browser history and cookies cleaned out reduces subsequent junk or site emails, because there is only a small amount of info in your browser to grab. >From an info consumer perspective, a bad model is that used by the Tribune and (sorry JB) the DN. Visit those sites you get scanned and get hit with a pop up - or in case of the Trib, multiple popups. A better model from a consumer perspective is probably Amazon, which keeps track of what you buy or voluntarily add to a registry "wish list" and tailors their marketing to you from there. _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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earth from space photos
by Gary Vardon 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

Fellow SLASers, Google Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth to see views of earth from space. The site includes ISS shots of earth. Sincerely, Gary Vardon see my website www.wealthbuilder.wwdb.biz use gary1234 as the id -----Original Message----- From: Kurt Fisher Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2008 12:19 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Gallery Bob, It's a shared web authorship environment. It's the same software engine that is used to create the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. A sample - Observing resources page http://www.utahastronomy.com/Observing_resources Main page http://www.utahastronomy.com/Main_Page - Kurt P.S. - Cyn, when you do the move, would you please reset the $wgLogo variable to point to Partrick's M81 image at http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/d/7402-2/UA_M81.jpg _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net _______________________________________________ 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://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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earth from space photos
by Kurt Fisher 14 Jan '08

14 Jan '08

Definitely a cool place - http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/search/ One of my Utahh favorites - http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/earthobservatory/BINGHAMCANYONMINE_UTAH.HTM - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Comet Tuttle 8P - obs rep - negative result
by Kurt Fisher 13 Jan '08

13 Jan '08

With a rare clear night, I went up to Little Mtn to see if I could acquire mag 5.5 comet 8P Tuttle. With the 1st qtr Moon and light pollution (the comet is in the S-SW low sky in the SLC city glow), I was unable to pick it up by scanning at its current position about 4 degs north of ups Cet. This comet is moving very fast - about 6 deg apparent - per day. Tomorrow, it will be near kappa Fornax. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Canference in Hawaii
by Jerry Foote 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Patrick, Is this the conference you were referring to? http://www.galileoslegacy.org/STS%20Home.htm Called Galileo's Legacy Dec. 31, 2008 till Jan. 5, 2009 in Oahu. Organized by Russ Genet. Jerry Foote ScopeCraft, Inc. 4175 E. Red Cliffs Dr. Kanab, UT 84741 435-644-3167 jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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Date of conference in Hawaii?
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

I seem to remember there is a conference planned for Hawaii to coincide with the discovery of the telescope. Anyone here happen to know the date and any other details? Thanks, patrick

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42 on at 7 and 11
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

The SciFi channel will be airing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tonight at 7:00 MST and again at 11:00.

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