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

Satellite pictures
by Patrick Wiggins 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Happy birthday Vanguard 1 The weather did not cooperate for Vanguard last night. But the weather did clear about midnight and the rest of the night has been great. In fact, last night was the first night the corrector plate has not dewed up or frosted over in months. With Vanguard not available I thought I'd practice on a few other satellites. Oddly enough the pictures, though crude, came out on the first try. Both pictures are of geosats. If the weather is good tonight I'll try something that moves <g> and then maybe tomorrow night I'll try for Vanguard. Pictures are in the UA gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/main.php?g2_itemId=10620 patrick

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Virtually new ST-7xme camera
by Jerry Foote 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

I just received this e-mail about a virtually new SBIG ST-7XME camera and filter wheel that is for sale. This camera has been used one night and the owner wants to move it fast. The original price is about $2590. He took delivery of the camera and filter wheel two weeks ago. " Thought I would let you know that I have reduced the price for my ST-7XME and CWF9 filter wheel without filters to $2,400. http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=553805 If you or know of someone that is looking for a fast downloading USB CCD camera, here's a good deal. Clear skies, Bill Logan LBI AAVSO Robert Burnham Jr. Memorial Observatory Eagar, Arizona, USA "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Carl Sagan" Jerry Foote ScopeCraft, Inc. 4175 E. Red Cliffs Dr. Kanab, UT 84741 435-216-5450 jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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Half a Century in Orbit (from SeeSat)
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

This posted today to the SeeSat list. I liked his suggestion to try and get a picture. As (bad) luck would have it I'll only have about a 3 minute window this evening but, weather permitting, I think I'll try. Those of you in this area with better horizons will have up to 23 minutes. Poorer prospects for tomorrow but better the next night. Good hunting, patrick +++++ We have been celebrating some spaceflight anniversaries over the past few months. Here's one more: On 17-MAR-1958 Vanguard I (1958-002B, #5) got launched. As it was only the fourth satellite to reach orbit (and the second American one) it normally ends up as a mere footnote in the history of spaceflight (while its first failed launch attempt gets prominently mentioned and its second failed launch attempt not mentioned at all). It nevertheless was a remarkable satellite: With a mere 16 cm diameter and just 1.5 kg it did have two radio transmitters one of which was powered by solar cells (a space first) and kept going for a few years. And while its predecessors decayed after just a few months in orbit Vanguard I and its booster (1958-002A, #16) are still up there and can be observed - the first human objects to have survived half a century in orbit. Unfortunately my equipment isn't up to the job (and the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating anyway) but if any of you do have powerful enough equipment could you try a golden anniversary picture of Vanguard I or its booster in orbit? Gerhard HOLTKAMP Darmstadt, Germany +++++ That prompted another SeeSater, Allen Thomson, to reply: +++++ For those with a historical bent, the Defense Technical Information Center has a number of declassified Project Vanguard technical reports, quite a few downloadable as PDF files. Go to stinet.dtic.mil/str/advanced-tr.html , put "Vanguard" in the search box and tell it to sort by report date in ascending (oldest first) order. +++++ patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] DayLight Savimgs Time
by Canopus56 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

If you can connect the old Windows box to the internet, running the NIST synch program will synch the box's time without have to install a bucket of Windows updates. http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/service/its.htm See the box in the upper right hand corner. - 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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Planning an observing trip to Utah
by Quentin R. Jones 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

Hello all: I live in Alabama and recently joined the group because I am planning a trip to Utah in late May in hopes that I can get out under some really dark skies. I was in the Escalante area in 2005 (before I was into observing) and based on the light pollution data, this seems like a great spot. I wanted ask the group if this is a wise choice because I don't know the area climate very well; I am basing my decision mostly on light pollution data and the fact that I am at least vaguely familiar with the area. Is the weather good for observing this time of year? I also noticed that there is a star party at Bryce Canyon during the time that I will be there. Is anyone going to attend? Another decision I am wrestling with is wether or not I should ship my scope out there ahead of me or look into the possibility of renting one. I will be flying because I do not have the time to make the drive. A preliminary search for rentals did not turn up much. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any responses. Quentin Jones Birmingham, AL qrjones(a)gmail.com link to my local astronomy club: http://www.bas-astro.com

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DayLight Savimgs Time
by Canopus56 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

Eric, U of U Mac Tech support on resetting your network time server for OS X 10. http://www.macos.utah.edu/documentation/administration/network_time.html The Apple docs page on the DST change http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305056 The NIST timeserver FAQ for pre-Tiger Mac OS versions. It lists several time sychronization programs for the Mac. I'm sure several will been updated to Tiger. http://tf.nist.gov/service/pdf/macintosh.pdf - Kurt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Donate
by Canopus56 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

Not sure who to do it anymore or how to contact her. Last year there was donate button on the gallery. Last Christmas, I funneled a donation through her Utah dogs website, but that no longer has a Paypal link on the homepage. Suggest contacting her through her listserv admin address. leviblue(a)utahdogs.com or through her Utah dogs blog website. - 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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Google Sky online
by Mark Hanning-Lee 15 Mar '08

15 Mar '08

Google Sky is now online at http://www.google.com/sky/ ! I tried it and sent the following feedback to Google Sky team [edited]. Maybe I was a bit harsh on them, but I am excited about the concept of Google Sky, and do want to hold Google to a high standard: 1: When you zoom in, it has to load new images. For me the update time was OK over a 1 Mbps download, using a 2-year old PC. 2: Some images are at the wrong angle. I selected M4 and zoomed out to show the rest of Scorpio. This has been rotated by about 90 degrees relative to the true sky [i.e. relative to N-is-up]. This is a mistake, like turning N America through 90 degrees. 3: I would like to mouse over an object and have a pop up caption - Google markers are just not the same. 4: I'd like to be able to mimic reality. Have an option to add planets comets and asteroids at their correct position and brightness. Then the sky will look realistic. 5: The planets are drawn at their position today, but at midnight (00 h) UTC. Please calculate the position now. 6: If I zoom into the planet pictures I can't get very much detail. Some amateurs can photograph more detail. Provide more data, and perhaps show planetary moons. For bonus points, work out which part of the planet is facing us and show the appropriate image. 7: For more bonus points, add the horizon, color the image for the time of day: 3 colors for day, moonlight/twilight, and dark. Better, calculate the position of bright satellites visible from my location. Again, free software does this. 8: There is an occasional bug "no imagery available" even at wide fields of view. Work around is to zoom out then zoom back in. Bottom line, the sky is dynamic and there is some good software competing with Google Sky. Showing static images may be good for Google Earth, but does not work for the sky. You might consult with the Astronomical League. Afterwards, I thought that the cursor position shows RA & Dec, which are updated as you move the mouse. Quick: which constellation corresponds to RA 10h and Dec 65 degrees?! So it would also be good to show the constellation as you move the mouse. I think it'd be good to try it and to provide feedback straight to Google Sky. Best, Mark

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Colorful double star observing lists
by Canopus56 14 Mar '08

14 Mar '08

Just for the record, a couple of other prominent digitized double star observing lists out there - which are not always marked for color contrasts are: The Saguro Astro Club DS Database http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/downloads.htm The Spirit of 33 Project Database (33 doubles in all 88 constellations) http://www.carbonar.es/s33/33.html - 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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Google Sky
by William Biesele 14 Mar '08

14 Mar '08

Just stumbled into this http://www.google.com/sky/

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