March 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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Back on the mailing list
by Chuck Hards 31 Mar '08

31 Mar '08

Hi friends; things have slowed-down for me enough that I'm turning my hobby lists back on. Should be able to keep up on the email. Been away too long! I finally broke-down and bought a binocular viewer. What can you folks tell me about your experiences with them? I make my own eyepieces so I won't go broke buying two of every focal length, lol.

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Telescope sold
by Patrick Wiggins 31 Mar '08

31 Mar '08

I just learned that the Seabase telescope I mentioned here on UA this morning has already been sold. patrick

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Patricks very first planisphere
by diveboss＠xmission.com 31 Mar '08

31 Mar '08

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343674,00.html

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SLAS's and PayPal
by Patrick Wiggins 31 Mar '08

31 Mar '08

I just got off the phone (yes, at 4:45 am) with SLAS webmeister Ken Warner and I'm happy to report that after much effort (and writing nearly 2,000 lines of code!) Ken now has the SLAS PayPal system up and running. Effective immediately newbies can join SLAS on line and current members can renew online. Same goes for the magazines (although since it is MUCH faster to renew S&T directly with Sky Publishing I'll continue to recommend members renewing S&T go direct to Sky Pubs). Qualified current members can also pay H-Alpha and SPOC fees online. See the "join or renew dues" link on the SLAS website front page ( http://slas.us ). Kudos to Ken! patrick

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Fractional time zone value?
by Canopus56 31 Mar '08

31 Mar '08

My newest mount control software allows for a fractional time zone entry in a hh:mm format. The default used to be in integer values, e.g. -7.0. Assuming a fractional time zone will increase the hand controller's pointing accuracy, any recommendations for or how to compute the factional hour zone minutes? - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Special deal for Yahoo! users & friends - No Cost. Get a month of Blockbuster Total Access now http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text3.com

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Telescope for sale
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Mar '08

30 Mar '08

The folks who own Bonneville Seabase (SLAS used to do public star parties out there) have a small scope they like to sell. It's a Meade 114mm f/8 reflector on a clock driven equatorial mount. Tripod included. Nothing fancy but a good scope for someone just getting into the hobby. If interested contact Linda Nelson at 435.884.3874 most evenings and make an offer. BTW, I spoke with this evening and she's more interested in getting the scope into the hands of someone who would use it rather than making a lot of money off the deal so I doubt you'll have to offer very much. patrick

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Fast mover (darn clouds)
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Mar '08

29 Mar '08

In a couple of hours minor planet 2008 FP is due to pass within ~160,000 km of Earth's surface (less than half the distance to the Moon). At that time it will be charging through Utah's skies at over 2,400 arc seconds per minute. Plus it will be high in our skies and an easy target for CCDs at magnitude 14.9. But, of course, it's mostly cloudy now and rain is on the way. Darn clouds... patrick

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Couldn't they have brought this out
by diveboss＠xmission.com 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

a little closer to Halloween? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342854,00.html

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Planning an observing trip to Utah
by Canopus56 27 Mar '08

27 Mar '08

The general Utah pattern is for more rain in the wet season ending in May with June being the clearest month. But June is relatively more daytime limited than May. In July, summer heating makes for afternoon thunder storms which clear out at night. June will be hotter and more crowded and you will have to stay up later for the dark skies, but is the better bet. July and August are 100 degrees plus bake-your-brains months, best enjoyed on a raft trip. Thus, the Bryce Astronomy festival is held in June 25-28. http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/astronomyprograms.htm Here's a summary of cloudy and clear skies by month for Salt Lake City - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/SLCWeatherClimateTabl… compiled from NOAA data at: http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/wx/climo.html Unfortunately, there is no comparable data for Cedar City and St. George. The closest available data is for Milford in central Utah, which shows a similar pattern to Salt Lake. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/htmlfiles/westcomp.clr.html Astronomical twilight doesn't hit until 10pm in May and 11pm in June. http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2006ParapegmaSLCUT.ht… In May, the full Moon is around the 20th; in June on the 18th. In June, the 3rd Quarter Moon is on the 26th, giving a couple of hours observing before moonrise during the Bryce astronomy festival on the 26th at 00:50am. If it were me, I shoot for either: 1) Social observing at the Bryce Festival around June 27 or 28. 2) Dark sky solo hunting between the new Moon on June 3 and first-quarter Moon on June 10. It's hard to find a campground anywhere in southern Utah on the major holidays that is not full, e.g. the weekends near: 1) Memorial Day. 2) July 4, or, 3) the statehood holiday on July 24. but with gas prices being high, more campsites may be open this year. There also are state parks with a separate reservation system. Enjoy. - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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