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

Another satellite / Need a scanner?
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Nov '08

21 Nov '08

Folks here might have heard that a tool bag got away from an astronaut on ISS the other day. Interestingly I'm hearing from a couple of people on one of the other lists I'm on that they have actually been able to see the bag (I'm assuming with binoculars). Has anyone here had any luck at seeing it? It has not come up on Heavens Above yet. Hopefully soon. In the mean time here's where the bag is located: http://www.n2yo.com/?s=33442 On a different matter my Nikon LS-2000 slide scanner recently quit working. It's pretty old so I figured rather than try and get it fixed I'd just replace it and my still working HP Scanjet 4470c flat bed scanner with one device that would do both. Now that I've got the new one I'd like to get rid of both old ones. Both include all cables, software and documentation. The Nikon is free to anyone who thinks they might be able to fix it. I'll part with the Scanjet to anyone who'd care to make a small donation to SLAS's SPOC fund. Any takers? patrick

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Nye and Tyson on Stargate tomorrow
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Nov '08

21 Nov '08

Those who enjoy mixing science and science fiction may be interested to know that Bill Nye and Neil Tyson will appear in tomorrow's episode of Stargate Atlantis. patrick

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Excellent shuttle/ISS pass this evening
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Nov '08

21 Nov '08

6:09 rising in the SW 6:12 pretty much straight overhead 6:14 fading low in NE as it passes into the shadow of the Earth patrick

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Almost as good as Tyler's
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Nov '08

20 Nov '08

New picture almost as good as Tyler's work. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1958 patrick :)

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Fw: Astronomical Calendar
by Richard Tenney 20 Nov '08

20 Nov '08

Astro "spam" that might be of interest to some of you... /R --- On Thu, 11/20/08, Tilly <tilly(a)universalworkshop.com> wrote: From: Tilly <tilly(a)universalworkshop.com> Subject: Astronomical Calendar To: retenney(a)yahoo.com Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 3:38 PM Hi Richard, I hope your astronomy club is flourishing! Here is an offer for your members. You probably know of the annual Astronomical Calendar, which Guy Ottewell started in a small way when Kohoutek's Comet loomed in 1973 and which has grown to be a book of 84 atlas-sized and richly illustrated pages, used by 20,000 in over 100 countries. The 2009 volume is even better, to meet the challenge of the UN's International Year of Astronomy (whose logo Astronomical Calendar 2009 is privileged to bear). Our modern age of astronomy began in 1609, with Galileo's thrilling discoveries through his first telescope - as well as his friend Kepler's publication of the famous "three laws" of planetary motion in the same year. Guy's cover painting for Astronomical Calendar 2009, the extensive "cover painting story", and several other features scattered through the book, bring alive the events and revelations of those exciting and dangerous times. You can see more about the contents of the Astronomical Calendar at www.universalworkshop.com. You will receive a 20% discount for an order of 5 or more copies of Astronomical Calendar 2009. There will still be a charge for shipping, but our standard shipping rate is economical. Just telephone, and mention promotion code CFS05. The offer expires on Dec. 31, 2008. Sincerely Tilly Lavenás tilly(a)universalworkshop.com Universal Workshop P.O. Box 102 Raynham, MA 02767-0102 www.universalworkshop.com 800-533-5083/1-508-802-5660

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Happy 10th B-Day ISS
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Nov '08

20 Nov '08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7738955.stm patrick

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Many thanks to Bob
by Canopus56 19 Nov '08

19 Nov '08

Many thanks to Bob Moore for his service as the SLAS president. All hail the chief! - Kurt

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Takahashi scopes for sale
by Tyler Allred 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

Hello all. I just purchased an ASA Astrograph and I am reluctantly considering selling one or both of my Taks to recoup some of the money. I have two very different Taks, and both have superb optics. I thought I would offer them to the local astronomy community before listing them on-line. Scope 1 - Takahashi Epsilon 160 Astrograph This scope is a 160mm f/3.3 and it is a great scope for astrophotography. Most of the images I have posted over the recent years have been taken with this scope. Go to www.Allred-Astro.com <http://www.allred-astro.com/> to see many examples from this sweet little scope. Although the scope is built like a tank, my G-11 mount handles the scope with ease. I have never touched the collimation because it has always been dead on. If anyone is interested in this scope, the price would roughly $2900 depending on the accessories (rings, motofocus, mounting plate, etc., etc.). We would just need to work out a fair deal. My latest image of M31 was taken with this scope (link below). By the way, this scope has a 49mm image circle with a very flat field. That image circle is big enough for most of the large camera chips of the new astro cameras. The scope is also Tak green, not that ugly yellow! :-) Here is a link to my most recent image with this scope: http://71.18.228.62/images/M31_Allred_Astro.jpg Scope 2 - Takahashi CN-212 Cassegrain / Corrected Newtonian This scope is Taks convertible 8 inch marvel. It converts from a fast newt to a high powered cassegrain in a matter of seconds, and both configurations provide breathtaking views. This scope can be used visually at f/12.4 (2630mm) or at f/3.9 (820mm). It also has field flatteners for photographic work in both configurations. This scope is still sold by Takahashi, and sells for $4925 new. Mine is in great shape and would be a lot less than that, probably something near $3200 depending again upon the accessories. This scope is tricky to collimate, due to the variable setups, and I would probably want to send it to Texas Nautical for a complete checkup before delivering it to a new buyer.. just to make sure it is dead on. We can talk about that if you are interested in the scope. I also have a great Scopeguard wheeled case that was custom-made for this scope. We could work that into the deal as well, but that would require adding a bit to the price. Here is a link to a lunar image I took with the CN-212 in cass configuration: http://www.allred-astro.com/subpage17.html And, here is another image taken by me with the same scope in Newt configuration: http://71.18.228.62/images/Web%20-%20M33.jpg For more info on this scope, see the following links: New scope info http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?pid=1556 Review on Astromart by James Edwards http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=199 Thanks, Tyler Allred _____________________________________________

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Splitting unequal doubles
by Canopus56 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

A little bit of personal horn tooting - Earlier this year I was working through some improved algorithms for spliting unequal doubles, having written a web site on the topic a couple of years ago. That drew an inquiry from Tim Napier-Munn in the spring of this year and that ended up with some honorable mentions in his new article in the fall issue of the Journal of Double and Variable Stars - A Mathematical Model to Predict the Resolution of Double Stars by Amateurs and Their Telescopes by Time Napier-Munn http://www.jdso.org/volume4/number4/Napier_Munn.pdf In any event Tim's article is good read for anyone interested in this topic as is the JDSO generally. http://www.jdso.org/ . - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Help ID old timers
by steve.nielsen＠comcast.net 15 Nov '08

15 Nov '08

Patrick, I am disappointed that you are kneeling right next to a beautiful blonde (No. 19) and you do not recall who she is. Steve -------------- Original message -------------- From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > As part of the SLAS history project we are trying to ID several > SLASers in a couple of old photos Bruce Grim found in his files. > > I have posted temporary annotated versions at: > > http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/baldmtnid.jpg > We can't ID #s 1, 3, 4, 12, 13, 14, 19 & 21 > > http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/spocid.jpg > We can't ID #s 2, 6, 12 & 13 > > Any help appreciated, > > patrick > > _______________________________________________ > 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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