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

Manned mission to Mars
by Kim 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

I’m reminded of other human endeavors that have taken years, even decades from conception to completion: the 13 colonies’ campaign for independence from England, the first transcontinental railroad, first transatlantic cable, Panama canal, Kim’s education. The great Duomo (cathedral) in Milano, Italy took about 700 years to complete. Seth, no offense, but I think that you’re just too pessimistic about people, societies and nations being willing to commit vast resources for a goal that may be decades out. Kim Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.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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ISS to cross the Sun
by Patrick Wiggins 09 Jan '08

09 Jan '08

Cal Sky advises that ISS is due to cross the Sun Sunday morning as seen from a line running from Stansbury Park to just north of Springville. Details here (very long URL so you may need to copy and paste): http://www.calsky.com/? Transitline=&obs=79303019710733&tdt=2454479.15725403&sat=25544&interval= 0.00011574&step=0.00000231&mainbody=0 patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Gallery
by Kurt Fisher 09 Jan '08

09 Jan '08

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

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Book Review: The Sky is Your Laboratory
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

The Sky is Your Laboratory: Advanced Astronomy Projects for Amateurs by Robert K. Buchheim. Springer Praxis. 2007 For amateurs who have passed the beginner rites of the Messier and Caldwell lists, Buchheims's _Sky_ contains the measured voice of the elder mentor of your astronomy club. Buchheim's _Sky_ is a must buy that will save you in time many times its purchase price. Each _Sky_ observing project is written like an after star-party club coffee meeting, with Buchheim patiently guiding through the practical field problems commonly encountered when starting photometry, double star astrometry or supernovae searching. He includes references to landmark manuals, amateur organizations and internet resources for each topic. Where appropriate, Buchheim fills in with basic observing skills that are often left unexplained as assumed knowlege in other texts, e.g. timing uncertainty reduction of asteriod occultations. _Sky_ now sits on my "ready reference" shelf - sandwiched bewteen other amateur classics - like Berry's _HAIP_, Sidgwick's _Amateur Astronomer's Handbook_, North's _Advanced_ or Meeus's _Algorithms_. If you have been hooked in the hobby for two or three years and want a roadmap to the next 10 years, Buchheim's _Sky_ is what you need. - Kurt P.S. - The projects include: A. Visually counting meteors B. Characterization of minor meteor showers C. Characterizing sporadic meteors A(1) Automated photographic meteor monitoring A(2) Radio meteor observing D. Lunar occultation timing E. Grazing lunar occultations F. Asteriod occultation timing G. Visual observing of variable stars H. CCD Photometry I. Asteriod lightcurves I(1) Primer on translating instrumental magnitudes to the UBVR system J. Extra solar transits K. Asteriod phase curves L. Astrometry M. Separation and position angle of binary stars N. Lunar meteor impacts O. Asteriod hunting P. Comet hunting Q. Nova searching R. Supernova searching S. Being mentally prepared for accidental discoveries T. Other projects 1) Meteor fireball networks 2) Spectroscopy 3) Microfilament measurement of binaries 4) Data mining (e.g. SOHO, SDSS) _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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New Gallery
by Cynthia Blue 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

Okay... I've moved the gallery. The temporary URL is: http://66.212.24.93/uagallery/main.php I think emails are working but I'm not 100% sure. I fiddled with some stuff and it seems to be sending to me okay. Passwords do not convert on a move, so you will have to use the Password Recovery link to have the site email you a link where you can go and set a new password. If you don't have an email address hooked into your account, send me an email and the email address you want hooked in, and I'll put it in. I'm on list for a while too, now, to discuss this. After a few people are able to go to the above URL and log in okay, then I'll get the domain moved. Also, anyone still want the wiki? Is it being used? I have not moved it yet but if it's being used I'll move it as well. Cyn -- http://www.collierescueut.org/ Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius ASCA-CD RA CGC CH Pembroke Faded Glory VC AXP AJP RE HT CGC Angel Pumpkin Spice Lady DPP CGC Spirit Chasers Spice NA NAJ WVN CGC http://www.tiptail.com

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Beginning of solar cycle 24
by Kurt Fisher 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

Space weather.com is calling the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 based on the appearance of the second magnetically reversed high-latitude sunspot on 1-4-2008, the prior reversed sunspot having occurred on 12-11-2007: 12-14-2007 NASA press release http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/14dec_excitement.htm 1-5-08 Space Weather.com article and image http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?month=01&day=05&year=2008&view=view As of yet, there is no confirmation on the bodies charged with officially declaring sunspot cycles - the NOAA Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Consenus Panel. http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/Statement_01.html http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/index.html - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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The Move
by Cynthia Blue 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

Today i am going to be moving the gallery.utahastronomy.com website to the new host. Please do no upload any pictures at this point. If you do, they won't be moved. I've already done the backup (5 mins ago) which will contain the files to be moved. The URL will still be active for a while pointing toward the old host. After I get the new gallery installed and uploaded onto the new host, I'll submit a DNS change to move the domain name. That can take up to 72 hours to complete. So, it's probably best if you don't upload any pictures for 72 hours. Just in case. :) After it has moved and everything is good, I'll let you know. I might need some help testing certain features. The new host is a VPS (Virtual Private Server). Which basically means it's a blank portion of a server located in LA, CA. I have to set up the operation system, PHP, MySQL, email, etc... everything. It's like running my own server. So... hopefully I've gotten it set up right! :) I have most of my blogs moved already. I've put the gallery off to one of the last to work out the bugs, so hopefully the move will go smooth. Also, I am not receiving emails from the list, so if you have comments or concerns please email me directly. Thanks! Cynthia -- http://www.collierescueut.org/ Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius ASCA-CD RA CGC CH Pembroke Faded Glory VC AXP AJP RE HT CGC Angel Pumpkin Spice Lady DPP CGC Spirit Chasers Spice NA NAJ WVN CGC http://www.tiptail.com

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Moonwatch
by Chuck Hards 05 Jan '08

05 Jan '08

Watching "Sputnik: Declassified" on NOVA tonight reminded me of something. Project "Moonwatch" was a civilian program that placed thousands of small, refracting transit telescopes in the hands of citizens, who would then observe and time Sputniks as they crossed the sky. With these transit times and other data, the military could refine the satellites' orbits. There were several designs but all were similar. A small refractor with a mirror at the objective end, on a viewing stand. A brief clip on the NOVA program depicted some of these Moonwatch scopes and I noted that they were the old Edmund 8x50mm finder that many of us used in the "good old days". Hansen Planetarium used to sell them in the gift shop, decades ago. I still have two or three around here someplace, and I think Patrick may have one laying around as well. Extremely rugged, with a thick-walled aluminum main tube, focusable glass crossline reticle, and focusing Kellner eyepiece in a machined brass housing. The objective housing is machined brass as well. They were obviously built to military specs of the day. And the imagery is outstanding. Sharp, clear field-of-view. It makes sense that Edmund ended-up with a warehouse full of these ( Edmund started-out as a surplus company) when the Moonwatch program ended. They then marketed them as finderscopes, even selling them on their own line of Newtonian reflectors. It seems it took about ten to fifteen years to sell them all. So, some of you have a little piece of history in your workshops, basements, or perhaps still mounted on a telescope. A hold-over from the dawn of the space-age. A geniune piece of history from about a half century ago. Neat!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] HELP!!!
by Chuck Hards 04 Jan '08

04 Jan '08

Warm the cell in the oven (not microwave!) to about 40 or 50 degrees warmer than the optics, (which you want to keep at room temperature). The glass elements should then slide in with enough extra tolerance to not bind. On Jan 4, 2008 2:57 PM, Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > I then tried to get the assembled lens back into > it's cell and somehow even w/ my most careful efforts, it got stuck. > I did free it but I now need to clean all surfaces again.

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Atmospheric effects - sky or punch hole photo
by Kurt Fisher 04 Jan '08

04 Jan '08

http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/atomsphere/20080103PunchHole.jpg.ht… As I walked out the door yesterday, a high cloud deck covered the horizon for 90 miles around Salt Lake City - except for this one sky hole. EPODs showing similar holes - caused by ice crystals falling from higher elevations include: Sky Hole EPOD 6-9-2005 http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=249696 Punch Hole EPOD 12-26-2007 http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=397216 Hole in Cloud Deck EPOD 4-8-2005 http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=240608 Ducktown Hole Punch EPOD 7-2-2007 http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=369824 Butterfly Punch Hole EPOD 7-3-2007 http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=369856 - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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