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

Crescent moon and Venus
by stormcrow60＠xmission.com 30 Dec '08

30 Dec '08

Jet streams? Cloudy skies? What? Did anybody see the thin crescent moon, otherwise known as Diana's bow last night? Venus was right above the moon... quite a beautiful sight.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ATM alert
by zaurak＠digis.net 30 Dec '08

30 Dec '08

Hi All, I browsed the web site. You can also find 20x80 Binocs for $90 and they have a nice 2" to 11/4" adapter with inner brass ring to protect your eyepeice barrels from set screw for $15. Erik --- chuck.hards(a)gmail.com wrote: From: "Chuck Hards" <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] ATM alert Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:56:40 -0700 For you telescope makers, Surplus Shed now has the 127mm f/5.5 acrhomatic objectives back in-stock: http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l3968.html $139.00 + $5 shipping. This is NOT an APO or ED objective, and at f/5 will display some color fringes on bright objects. However, it will excell on deep-sky objects and make a magnificent large finder for a big Dob. It comes with a cell. The price is outstanding and I have to thank the underpaid Chinese craftsmen who produced it. It is a full 5" clear aperture lens and an American made equivalent would cost seven or eight times the price. HURRY. Surplus Shed sold out of these in a matter of hours last time they got some in. _______________________________________________ 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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Doctor Atomic, KUED 7 at 11:00
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

It would appear someone has made an opera about the development of the atom bomb. (?!) Channel 7 is airing a show about the opera tonight (Monday) at 11. patrick

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A snack in Gemini before bedtime
by Canopus56 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

There was an hour of relatively clear air between 11 and midnight on Sunday night (12/28). I set up my e-cheapo Celestron 114GT after-work computer GOTO scope outside the back door. Shuttling between outside and inside the door for some hot chocolate, I looked at a couple of color contrast doubles in between the "feet" of Gemini - gam and mu Gem under light polluted skies between the cloud fronts: Transparency: SAO Scale - 2 - more than 25% of the sky is cloudy, less than 50%. Hazy water vapor at altitude ZLM: 17.7 mpsas; 3.7v Op: Aves, SLC, UT Scope: 114mm short tube refractor at 36x. All targets were an easy split and had good contrast visibility at this power and sky conditions. Target List Id SAO Characteristics | Notes 15 Gem 78739 25.4" (2002) 6.7, 8.2 Hass: Tangerine orange/bluish red. [6.2v] Amber 16 Gem is at edge of field. Kaf: Looked yellow orange/blue orange. 2 degs sw of mu Gem (Tajet Posterior). 20 Gem 95795 19.7" (2002) 6.3, 6.9 (optical double) Haas: Unequal-gloss white. Kaf: Nearly equal yellow-blue. 1 deg nw of gam Gem (Alhena). del Ori ----- 52.8" (2003) 2.4, 6.8 Mintaka as GOTO alignment star. Western star in Orion's Belt. Classic white/blue. These are part of a larger target list for Gemini. The NOAA Conus water vapor animated image shows a clear pocket heading for SLC tonight (12/29). http://www.weather.gov/sat_tab.php?image=wv - Clear Skies, Kurt Gemini after-work colorful doubles observing list (Extended objects included only for reference/GOTO targeting purposes) Id SAO Characteristics | Notes (Beginning at north-east corner of Gemini box traveling south.) Castor ----- AC 71" 1.9, 3.8 Triple wide-field. Haas: Showcase pair lemon-white. Mullaney: blue-white binary with 3rd orange star; compare diamond white with orange Pollux, bet Gem. Dist. 15.6 parsecs. del Gam 79274 5.8" (2003) 3.6, 8.2 Wesat, Wesat. Haas: Brillant white, yellow. Belmont: yellowish/blue. Dist. 18 parsecs. Eskimo Neb -- NGC 2392 38 Gem 96265 7.3" (2004), 4.7, 7.8 Haas: Showcase . . . lemon white/grey snowball. M35 -- NGC 2168. Per French at p. 54, contains Otto Strueve 134. OSS 134 78038 31", 7.6, 9.1 French: golden/bluish. Bright pair off-center in M35 open cluster. (Turning west along southern "feet" of Gemini box.) mu Gem 78297 2.9v Waypoint star in this list. Dist: 71 parsecs 15 Gem 78739 25.4" (2002) 6.7, 8.2 Hass: Tangerine orange/bluish red. [6.2v] Amber 16 Gem is at edge of field. Belmont: yellow/blue; orange/orange. 16 Gem 78402 6.2 Hass: [6.2v] Amber 16 Gem is at edge of field of double 15 Gem. 18 Gem 78297 nu Gem. A-BC 116.6" (2002), 4.1 8.0 Haas: Grand sight! A brillant Sun-yellow star with a small blue companion super-wide apart. 20 Gem 95795 19.7" (2002) 6.3, 6.9 (optical double) Haas: Unequal-gloss white. Mullaney: yellow-white/bluish. gam Gem 95912 Alhena. 145", 1.9, 11.2; 143.5", 1.9, 10.9 (Wide triple, faint) Haas (Webb): Pretty field. (Turning north of gam Gem on west side of Gemini box to above Pollux.) eps Gem 78682 Mebsuta. 110.6", 3.1, 9.6 Dist: 231 parsecs Haas: Sun yellow with speck next to it [at low power]. Belmont: yellow/yellow. Dist: 28 parsecs pi. Gem 60340 Triple. AB 19.3" (1998), 5.1, 11.4 AC 92.0" 5.3, 10.4 Haas (Smyth): "Delicate triple star . . . topaz yellow; bluish; dusky". Belmont: orange/bluish triple. Dist: 172 parsecs. (Returning south of gam Gem on west side of Gemini box.) ksi Gem 96074 Xi Gem. Alzier. Waypoint star. 30 Gem is in field. 30 Gem 96051 27.2" (1904), 4.5, 11.1 Haas: Difficult but striking. . . . citrus orange that shows a ghostly speck of light at the edge of its glow. Cone Neb. NGC 2264, NGC 2261?, Caldwell 49 Sources: Belmont Society. 2008. Belmont Society Colorful Double Star List. url: http://www.jouscout.com/astro/belmont/belmontd.htm (last accessed Dec. 29, 2008) French, Sue. 2005. Celestial Sampler. Sky & Telescope Pub. Haas, Sissy. 2006. Double Stars for Small Telescopes. Sky & Telescope Pub. Mullaney, James. 1998. Celestial Harvest. Dover.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Astronomy blog at www.sltrib.com coming soon
by Canopus56 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

Chuck, > Although you are no longer on Joe's Christmas card list... *;o)* To be clear, I didn't have Joe in mind. The list of the guilty is only available under duress. :) - Kurt

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The Fight Over NASA's Future
by Naz & David 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

Not as reliable as The Onion, but an interesting read none the less: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/science/30spac.html?_r=1&8dpc Anyone see the letter Armstrong wrote to the WSJ in the weekend edition? Things must me really getting stirred up! Cheers David

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Dinner with guy with Maui's Faulkes Telescope Project
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

J. D. Armstrong, Education & Outreach Specialist for the Faulkes Telescope Project on Maui is in SLC for a few days and looking to meet up with a few local astronomy types. J. D., BTW, is a friend of our (U-A's) very own Rob Ratkowski. Is there any interest here in a dinner this coming Thursday or Friday evenings (the 1st or 2nd) in SLC, possibly in one of the eateries in Trolley Square? patrick

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Want feedback on my Orion Nebula picture flaws
by Gary Bulk 29 Dec '08

29 Dec '08

It's cloudy tonight, so I guess I'll send an email instead of looking at the stars. The Salt Lake southern skies cleared a little last night, so I took my friend's Celestron C8+ (8" CST with a motor drive - the one I'm dusting for him) and my Nikon D80 with a prime focus adapter out to my front porch and took some shots of the Orion Nebula. After about a 100 shots, I'm getting closer to a clear picture, but the problems are getting harder to figure out.. My Orion Nebula emphasizing the fuzzy stars: http://glogan.smugmug.com/gallery/6872266_UTskH/1/#440661533_PeEFc-A-LB The above link is a crop that shows fuzzy stars in the pictures. That was a 30sec. exposure at iso640. The stars definitely have movement, which I'm guessing is my poor polar alignment. My porch faces South and I can't see the North star from it, so I kept moving the tripod until the star trails got short (at the time I thought they went away). I am also wondering how long of an exposure I should expect to be able to get as far as accurate tracking using this Celestron C8+? But the stars should be smaller also, more pin-pointish. I can't seem to be certain of my focus through my camera viewfinder, as the stars are too dim. Are there techniques or equipment that others use to help focus when mounting a camera? Also, (whine) the Celestron seems to have a pretty coarse focus knob, even with the regular eyepieces. My best Orion: http://glogan.smugmug.com/gallery/6872266_UTskH/1/#440655195_68tXH-A-LB Regards Gary Logan _____

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Astronomy blog at www.sltrib.com coming soon
by Canopus56 28 Dec '08

28 Dec '08

Patrick the curmudgeon wrote: > Respectfully, Kurt, telling the public that there's a penumbral > eclipse coming is the sort of thing Chuck warned about earlier today. > . . . . It _might_ be a good idea to mention the eclipse but only > to warn folks that it's not going to be anything worth looking at. > patrick the curmudgeon :) There are two groups of public celestial events: those that are commonly experienced with the naked eye by the general public and those that require a more practiced background to appreciate. The "bright moon" of last month is a good example - where the full Moon coincides with the lunar perigee. A couple of people with no astronomical background commented on it to me. Another example are wide-field planetary conjunctions, e.g. - "Kurt, what are those two bright things in the southwest that I saw at sunset last night? I know one is Venus." (The bright-Moon-at-perigree will repeat again on Jan. 10, 2009 - the only event of that type in 2009.) The second category are those that require more explanation. Meteor showers (except the Persids) most often fall into this category. Interpreting difficult to understand events to the average reader by clear, plain writing is what newspapers and members of the Society for Professional Journalists do for business. It is a problem not unknown to them. The major problem that I see in local science reporting is a failure to understand the material, basic reporting errors or editors unfamilar with the topic who cut important text out. TV media are more often the problem in this area, e.g. - announcing 100 per our meteor showers without checking that a full Moon will be up and will wash out the sky - making the shower unobservable. Again, another easily solved problem with your and Chuck's counsel. - Kurt the Sméagol :) P.S. - Sheena, A list of planetary conjunctions for Salt Lake during 2009 (and 12/30/2008) between about 6pm and 6am local time: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2009UtConjunctions.txt Each entry needs to be confirmed that it is visible as the date rolls up. These are generally followed using the RASC Observer's Guide, the Sky and Telescope Weekly Calendar, and/or Abrams Planetarium Calendar. S&T Calendar http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance Abram's Skynotes (there is a separate monthly calendar subscription) http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/nightskynotes/nightskynotes.xml

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Dear Santa:
by Chuck Hards 28 Dec '08

28 Dec '08

Orion has a 20% off sale going-on now. That makes the 100mm ED refractor OTA only $559.95 plus shipping. That's $120 less than the regular price, already a bargain! http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=optical_tube/~pcatego…

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