February 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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DOD to "engage" satellite
by Patrick Wiggins 18 Mar '08

18 Mar '08

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20080214/NEWS01/80214033 patrick

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More on 193
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Cal Sky reports the possibility of at least 8 pieces of USA 193 reentering over N Utah between now and Sunday. All are daytime or very low in the sky at night so they'll probably fall unseen. Still, FAA has issued this notice to airmen: 8/5536 - SPECIAL NOTICE .. THIS NOTAM REPLACES FDC 8/5501 DUE TO ADDITION OF CONTACT NUMBER. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL 0803092300 UTC. AIRCRAFT ARE ADVISED THAT A POTENTIAL HAZARD MAY OCCUR DUE TO REENTRY OF SATELLITE USA-193 DEBRIS INTO THE EARTHS ATMOSPHERE. FURTHER NOTAMS WILL BE ISSUED IF MORE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. IN THE INTEREST OF FLIGHT SAFETY, IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL PILOTS/FLIGHT CREW MEMBERS REPORT ANY OBSERVED FALLING SPACE DEBRIS TO THE APPROPRIATE ATC FACILITY TO INCLUDE POSITION, ALTITUDE, TIME, AND DIRECTION OF DEBRIS OBSERVED. FAA HEADQUARTERS, AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEMS OPERATIONS SECURITY, 202-493-5107, IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. WIE UNTIL UFN Plus Space.Com is reporting that (and how is this for irony?) the launch of 193's replacement has been put back a couple of weeks as "... a precautionary measure to avoid possible debris from the satellite that was intercepted on Feb. 20." patrick

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list broken
by daniel turner 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

I usually follow the list by reading the archives but new posts stopped appearing there after 2/24. At first I thought that list was just running slow for awhile but today new threads started appearing on the archive but not on the "view newest messages" page. The new threads each contain a single post with no date and no cross links to other related posts. Many of the icons come up as "x" or broken links. There seems to be no way to log on and access the archives other than the lurker mode which is now broken. Also the the subscriber list doesn't work anymore unless you actually logon to the list. It used to be open to lurkers. Is there someone with admin authority who knows what they are doing minding the store? DT ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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Society for Astronomical Science meeting
by Jerry Foote 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Hi All, Just wanted to send a note that the deadline for abstracts for the Societies annual meeting in May are due by March 14th. Please go the society's web site at www.socastrosci.org for details. The annual meeting is in Big Bear, California May 20-22, 2008. The first day of the meeting will be devoted to two workshops with MaxIm DL and ACP on the agenda. The next two days will be the technical presentations. The Keynote speaker this year will be Tim Parker from JPL, "Life on Mars: Four Years of Extended Mission Science for the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers" If you have an interest in astronomical science with amateur equipment and pro-am collaboration with that equipment, this is the meeting for you. Plus the timing of the meeting is the week before RTMC Expo being held just down the road. Jerry Foote, CBA-Utah Program Committee and Trustee Society for Astronomical Sciences www.socastrosci.org/ jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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Google maps updated
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

I just noticed Google Maps has finally updated their image of Stansbury Park. SPOC (and even my and Bruce's home observatories) show up nicely. Plus I see that they've added a lot of "Street View" to Utah (it was fun to "drive" right up to my house and into my driveway). Check it out at: http://maps.google.com patrick

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Messier Marathon planning reminder - corrected
by Canopus56 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Sorry - early morning brain fart on the date of this year's marathon. I originally posted the 2006 date. The 2008 dates are: New Moon 2008 Mar 07.7 Primary Weekend Mar 08 Secondary Weekend Mar 29 New Moon 2008 Apr 06.2 - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

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WorldWide Telescope
by Chris 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

http://wwtelescope.com "The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground- and space telescopes to enable seamless, guided explorations of the universe." Looks interesting. Anyone know more? Chris

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Messier Marathon planning reminder
by Canopus56 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

This year's Messier Marathon is: Primary Weekend Mar 25 New Moon 2006 Mar 29.4 Secondary Weekend Apr 01 From: http://www.messiermarathon.com/marathon_dates.htm If you do not own Machholz's book, for free you can also download TUMOL - The Ultimate Messier Object Log. http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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Misc Obs Reps: 2-26 Solar | 2-27 Lunar
by Canopus56 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Solar 2006-02-26 09:40MST On one of the first clear spring days, checked out the Sun it the morning. Saw two prominences - one large arch on the northeast limb and a small spray on the west limb. Chart at: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/main.php?g2_itemId=11018 Lunar-Planetary 2006-02-27 04:00MST Spent a few minutes in the early morning viewing a near third quarter Moon and Saturn. The Moon is at a low altitude but paradoxically the seeing was better than Saturn - which is higher and just after opposition. I had one of the best lunar observing sessions with a grab-n-go small refractors in some time. At this "reversed" illumination (usually you view the first quarter Moon with the light coming from the west instead of the east), the Alpine Valley was crisp and easily distinguishable with 60mm of aperture. North polar crater Meton put on a great "reversed" crater ray show. Usually crater rays are viewed as they rise as dramatic spikes across a dark crater floor. For Meton, this happened in reverse - the crater ray shrunk out of the crater floor. http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Meton Mare Serenitatis was in half-darkness with the tiny 15km diameter Bessel right on the terminator. Normally not easily seen with a small aperture, it was prominent due to the lighting, as was the low central wrinkle ridge of the mare. Both smaller prominent craters Manilius (dia. 38km) and Menelaus (16km) could be distinguished. - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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