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

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] SLAS History Thank you Ann B
by Wayne Sumner 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

I'll third that!! I've just spent about an hour reading through Ann's history, and found it wonderfully engrossing. Although I was an official SLAS member for only a few years (I've never actually lived in SLC), I remember fondly the meetings I attended at the Hanson Planetarium with Brent Watson. You'd have to check with Brent to be sure, but I seem to recall that several SLAS members were involved with the Evans & Sutherland Digistar project that Brent and I worked on in the early 1980's. I helped Brent do a presentation of Digistar at RTMC that several SLAS members also witnessed, that received a rousing ovation and was hailed as the future of planetarium projectors! By the way, work is proceeding, albeit at a snail's pace, on the Northridge High School roll-off roof observatory. The cinderblock walls are complete, the cement work around the building is complete, and I'm told the welding for the guide rails for the roll-off roof is scheduled for next week. Perhaps next spring???? I've been telling people that this will be the first high school observatory in the state of Utah. Does anyone know if this is accurate? I know several high schools have telescopes and astronomy programs, but has anyone seen or heard of an actual high school observatory in our fair state? Thanks, Wayne A. Sumner Math/Physics/Astronomy/Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach Northridge High School Davis School District (801) 402-8610 >>> Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> 10/30/08 9:29 PM >>> Hi Kurt, I'll second that and add that the accent is on the "and growing" part of your message. The good Ms Blanchard just sent me a whole new section on "SLAS Members Publications" that I hope to have added shortly. And, PLEASE everyone. Keep the comments, additions and corrections coming. No one person knows the whole history (and some remember it differently than others) or can catch all the typos so the more input Ann's project gets the more complete and accurate it's going to be. Carpe Noctem, patrick On 30 Oct 2008, at 19:28, Canopus56 wrote: > Many thanks to Ann Blanchard for her efforts on the 69 page (and > growing) SLAS history. That's quite an effort! - Kurt > > http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/slas/SLASPAST.PDF > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > Patrick Wiggins NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah & NE Nevada http://utahastro.info paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com 435.882.1209 _______________________________________________ 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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SLAS History Thank you Ann B
by Canopus56 30 Oct '08

30 Oct '08

Many thanks to Ann Blanchard for her efforts on the 69 page (and growing) SLAS history. That's quite an effort! - Kurt http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/slas/SLASPAST.PDF

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Spooky space pictures
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Oct '08

30 Oct '08

Spooky space pictures: a Halloween gallery http://tiny.cc/Qggf2 And, just for fun, the latest from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/microsoft_ad_campaign_crashing Grins, patrick

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M31 Mosaic - from Kanab, Utah
by Tyler Allred 29 Oct '08

29 Oct '08

Hi all. Last weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to the home of Jerry and Cindy Foote, in Kanab, Utah, for a little astro-imaging. The conditions were really great and so was the hospitality. I decided to try a mosaic of M31, which I had never really done with my Epsilon 160. This image is a greatly reduced version of the two-frame mosaic. Here is a link to my website, which has a larger version that you can click to view. http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html I am pretty happy with the results, but there is always room for improvement. I probably should have used three frames because I am still cutting off a little bit of the extended portion of the galaxy. Feedback is always welcome. Cheers and Clear Skies, Tyler Takahashi Epsilon 160 Losmandy G-11 with Gemini Level 4 SBIG ST2000XM with CFW-8 and Astrodon Filters 2 Frame Mosaic 5x10 minutes L unbinned (each frame) 4x5 minutes RGB binned 2x2 (each frame) Maxim DL4 and Photoshop CS3 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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Fw: Planetary Scientist to Speak at BYU Nov. 21
by Richard Tenney 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

--- On Mon, 10/27/08, Roger Layton <roger_layton(a)byu.edu> wrote: > From: Roger Layton <roger_layton(a)byu.edu> > Subject: Planetary Scientist to Speak at BYU Nov. 21 > To: "retenney(a)yahoo.com" <retenney(a)yahoo.com> > Date: Monday, October 27, 2008, 12:59 PM > Dear Mr. Tenny, > > Our library is hosting an event that we think will appeal > to your organization. > > Dr. Jani Radebaugh, a planetary scientist, has been chosen > to deliver the annual Alice Louise Reynolds Lecture on > November 21 at 2:00 pm in the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU. > Dr. Radebaugh has traveled to Hawaii to study volcanoes and > to Antarctica to search for meteorites. Her work focuses on > moons including Saturn's moon Titian, Jupiter's moon > Io, and Earth's own Moon. > > You can learn more about Dr. Radebaugh on her faculty > information page at: > http://www.geology.byu.edu/faculty/jr/jr.htm > > Thanks, > Roger Layton > > ---------------------------- > Roger Layton > Communications Manager > The Harold B. Lee Library > HBLL 2082 > BYU > Provo, UT 84602 > 801-422-6687 > roger_layton(a)byu.edu

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ISS Event
by Ann House 25 Oct '08

25 Oct '08

All, A man named Tracy Hickman contacted me by email wondering where he and his wife could best view an ISS pass. Their friend was aboard. I passed his message along to Patrick, knowing Patrick would be able to give them an abundance of information. They followed Patrick's advice and sent back the following thanks. It is a delightful account, so I asked for and received Tracy's permission to post it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. -A Dear Friends; My wife Laura and I awoke early this morning and bundled ourselves and our equipment up as quietly as we could so as not to awaken guests staying at our home. We found our parkas in the dark, grabbed my Skyscout and our laptop and drove out of the driveway at 6:30 am. We were hunting the International Space Station ... and our friend Richard Garriott. We drove over to the ridge just south of our Eastlake section of Daybreak. It runs west from the new temple and gives us an elevated view across the southern valley. It was cold this morning ... around 38 degrees ... but we were bundled up and prepared to face it. I found a likely spot along the ridge, we parked and got out of the car. I was astonished to look up and see all the stars that I had been studying over the last week in preparation for this event. There was Sirius, bright as could be, and all the stars of the Canis Majoris constellation. I checked the star sightings with my Skyscout and then we got back in the car (no sense in staying out in the wind and cold any longer than necessary) while I checked the Starry Night software for the star locations against the projected path of the ISS. Then, with about two minutes to go and satisfied that I had the proper coordinates, we ducked back out of the car and walked out onto the cold grass of the ridge, hoping as the dawn began to brighten in the east that we might see some dim flicker of the station as it passed. Laura gasped in astonished surprise and pointed. "Is that it?" Exactly where I had told her to look, the International Space Station was climbing into the star-studded sky. No dim flicker this; it was a brilliant, blazing star rising swiftly and steadily above the horizon. It was one of the most glorious things I have ever seen. Laura and I stood on that ridge in awestruck wonder as our friend Richard soared above us across the heavens. We watched him for nearly five minutes as he crossed the sky, the station fading as it crossed into the dawn, vanishing only as it flew into the brightness of the morning twilight. Your advice of yesterday proved absolutely invaluable to us. You put us in the right spot for the event with everything we needed to know. Thank you; you helped change our lives. It asks a little of us here. It asks of us a certain height, So when at times the mob is swayed To carry praise or blame too far, We may choose something like a star To stay our minds on and be staid. -- Robert Frost / 1947 / Choose Something Like a Star Clear skies to you all; Tracy Hickman

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WorldWide Star Count
by Mark Hanning-Lee 23 Oct '08

23 Oct '08

The next two weekends may be a good time to share the Great WorldWide Star Count with the public. The appearance of Cygnus is compared to maps printed for various limiting magnitudes. See http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/starcount/ . The project runs until the return of significant evening moonlight on Nov. 3. During a star party, we could bring up several topics: Light pollution The stages of evening twilight Dark adaptation No white lights The scatter among measurements made by different people The more you look the more you see Aperture and magnification, and how they affect the field of view ... Best, Mark

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Fw: BYU Astronomical Society Star Party This Weekend
by Richard Tenney 23 Oct '08

23 Oct '08

--- On Tue, 10/21/08, Nicholas Herrick <nick.herrick(a)gmail.com> wrote: > From: Nicholas Herrick <nick.herrick(a)gmail.com> > Subject: BYU Astronomical Society Star Party This Weekend > To: "Rich Tenney - UVAA" <retenney(a)yahoo.com> > Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 12:41 PM > Rich, > > We're having a Halloween Star Party this Friday up at > Big Springs Park. Your > association is welcome to join us, as well as any public > you may want to > invite. We'll have candy at each telescope and people > can dress up in (warm) > Halloween costumes. We might even decorate the telescopes, > who knows... > > Place: Big Springs Park - upper parking lot (toward the > back of the lot this > time - that way we won't have the lights in our eyes) > Google > map<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Big+Springs+Park+%4040.332…> > Time: Dark > > Nick Herrick > President - BYU Astronomical Society

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Friday launch
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Oct '08

22 Oct '08

A Delta II rocket is scheduled for launch this Friday evening from Vandenberg at 20:28:21 MDT during a launch window that is one second long. patrick

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