January 2009 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Gallery: Wow!
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Back on line and just checked the gallery and was delighted to see it's already up to 16 albums. Excellent. I'm having fun browsing through the various albums. Joe's shot of NGC6946 shows just how far along he's come. And Mike's album shows you don't need a telescope to get some nice astronomically themed shots. And I got a kick out of the many shots Daniel got of smiling astronomers (obviously not taken when they were still trying to figure out why their latest telescope or piece of software is not working). Way to go. And thanks again to Ken for making it all possible. Clear skies (please!!!) patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT: Marching Utes
by zaurak＠digis.net 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Thanks Rich for posting that. BTW if you watch the whole video, it ends with the Lunar Rover/Camper NASA Concept Vehicle. Erik --- retenney(a)yahoo.com wrote: From: Richard Tenney <retenney(a)yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] OT: Marching Utes Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:31:32 -0800 (PST) Pulled from the content filter... --------------------------------- Hi All, I have included link to the U of Utah Marching Utes at the Inauguration for anyone who is interested or who may have missed it. Forgive the off subject flavor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eLC4Xgpyf8 Erik _______________________________________________ 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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SLAS gallery is online!
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

I just got off the phone with SLAS webmeister Ken Warner who told me the brand spanking new SLAS gallery is on line. In an effort to keep rules to a minimum right now there are only two rules: 1) Users must be current SLAS members. 2) Total space alloted for all images in the gallery is 150 MB (so please try to keep image sizes down). Ken and I are the only administrators for now. That may change. Note that neither of us really know how this is all going to work so be patient and be sure to email us if you run into any problems. At present I will not know if someone registers for an album in the gallery. Hopefully eventually the system will send me an email when someone applies. But until that happens, if you want quicker service, after you have logged in you might want to send me an email saying you have registered. I'll then go into the system and, assuming you are a current SLAS member, activate your album. BTW, comments on pictures will be allowed as well but after the experience we had with porn comments on the old UA gallery, all comments on the SLAS gallery will need to be approved by a moderator before they are posted to the site. Note that if you currently have images on the "Member Profiles" section of the SLAS site (http://www.slas.us/gallery/ member_profiles.htm) you will need to move them to the new site as that section will eventually be deleted. I hope I've covered everything but if you have questions feel free to fire away. And don't forget to send kudos aplenty to Ken. As with the SLAS site, the new gallery has been developed by Ken, is maintained by Ken and lives on Ken's server all at no cost to SLAS. Clear skies! patrick p.s. Oh yes, you may want the URL... http://gallery.slas.us or http://www.slas.us/gallery2

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Tyler to speak at February SLAS
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Jan '09

22 Jan '09

I just got confirmation that our very own Tyler Allred will be speaking at the February SLAS meeting. Not surprisingly he'll be speaking about astroimaging. Definitely a meeting many of us will not want to miss. Cheers, patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Venus returning from max elongation (near Uranus)
by zaurak＠digis.net 22 Jan '09

22 Jan '09

Is there a plural for Venus? --- josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com wrote: From: Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Venus returning from max elongation (near Uranus) Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:11:33 -0800 (PST) This reminds me of a slightly off-color but true comment. (Those easily offended, read no further.) Years ago a coworker and I had been talking about the plural of aspirin -- whether it's two aspirin or two aspirins. Earlier we had discussed the pronunciation of Uranus. I said I was going to look up aspirin in the big dictionary, which was kept on a stand in the middle of the newsroom. As I headed to it, she shouted, without realizing what it sounded like, "While you're at it, why don't you look up Uranus?" -- Joe --- On Tue, 1/20/09, zaurak(a)digis.net <zaurak(a)digis.net> wrote: From: zaurak(a)digis.net <zaurak(a)digis.net> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Venus returning from max elongation (near Uranus) To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:57 AM I think we all noticed it, but understood you meant Uranus, not Venus x 2. --- paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com wrote: From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Venus returning from max elongation (near Uranus) Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:17:02 -0700 Typo alert! That _should_ have read: The evenings of the 21st and 22nd Uranus will be just under 1.5 degrees from Venus. Thanks to Sheena and Siegfried for catching that. patrick On 18 Jan 2009, at 20:38, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > The evenings of the 21st and 22nd Venus will be just under 1.5 degrees > from Venus. > > Weather permitting Uranus at mag. 5.9 should be easily visible in even > smallish binoculars. > > 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 _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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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Tri-color samples
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Jan '09

22 Jan '09

I spent some time collimating my scope last night after which I took a few test shots of M-1 which just happened to be transiting. Knowing there are some folks here on the list getting into astroimaging I made images for a "kit" that could help folks get a feel for what's involved in making color images. The kit contains: 1-Raw exposure with clear filter 1-Raw exposure with green filter 1-Raw exposure with blue filter 1-Raw exposure with red filter 1-Master dark to be used to reduce all of the raw images 1-Master clear flat for reducing the raw clear 1-Master green flat for reducing the raw green 1-Master blue flat for reducing the raw blue 1-Master red flat for reducing the raw red The master dark was made by shooting and median combining 15 darks. The master flats were made by shooting and median combining 15 each flats shot through the clear, green, blue and red filters. I should note that using the kit will not get you "Tyler like" images. Though the final image should look pretty good the main purpose of the kit is to show folks what's involved in making "real" color images (I say "real" as opposed to the one-shot cameras which, like color film, sometimes produce questionable colors). Let me know if you'd like a kit and I'll email it out. Clear skies! patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] FW: thanks
by zaurak＠digis.net 21 Jan '09

21 Jan '09

Ann, They should join SLAS and utilize the loaner scope program before they buy one for her. Erik --- a.blanchard(a)ugs.utah.edu wrote: From: "Ann Blanchard" <a.blanchard(a)ugs.utah.edu> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] FW: thanks Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:53:09 -0700 A friend at work has a question about buying a telescope for his daughter (see below). I don't know enough to know what to suggest. Could any of you experts give him some suggestions so we can get another astronomer on the path to years of fun stargazing? She's 5 going on 14. From: Ann Blanchard Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 12:05 PM To: Mark St. Andre Subject: RE: thanks How old is she again? I'll send this out to an astronomy list group I have and see what they suggest. From: Mark St. Andre Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 10:54 AM To: Ann Blanchard Subject: thanks Thanks for the SLAS flyer. My daughter is so into the stars right now that I'm sure we'll come to something this year. I am seriously thinking about a telescope for her birthday. Any thoughts on a really simple, beginning telescope I could get her that wouldn't break the bank? Mark Mark St. André Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Assessment 009 Sill Center, University of Utah mail: 195 S. Central Campus Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0511 office: 801-585-9876 fax: 801-585-3581 email: mark.standre(a)utah.edu _______________________________________________ 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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FW: thanks
by Ann Blanchard 21 Jan '09

21 Jan '09

A friend at work has a question about buying a telescope for his daughter (see below). I don't know enough to know what to suggest. Could any of you experts give him some suggestions so we can get another astronomer on the path to years of fun stargazing? She's 5 going on 14. From: Ann Blanchard Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 12:05 PM To: Mark St. Andre Subject: RE: thanks How old is she again? I'll send this out to an astronomy list group I have and see what they suggest. From: Mark St. Andre Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 10:54 AM To: Ann Blanchard Subject: thanks Thanks for the SLAS flyer. My daughter is so into the stars right now that I'm sure we'll come to something this year. I am seriously thinking about a telescope for her birthday. Any thoughts on a really simple, beginning telescope I could get her that wouldn't break the bank? Mark Mark St. André Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Assessment 009 Sill Center, University of Utah mail: 195 S. Central Campus Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0511 office: 801-585-9876 fax: 801-585-3581 email: mark.standre(a)utah.edu

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Improved Stardust composite now in Gallery
by Howard Jackman 21 Jan '09

21 Jan '09

I fixed up the composite image of the Stardust flyby and have now included it in the SLAS Gallery, you can find it here: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=167 When I edited the first time my LCD hadn't warmed up long enough so greys looked black and I missed that grey streak along the spacecrafts track. So I've re-done it with hopefully cleaner results. Howard

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Probe to Your Uranus
by stormcrow60＠xmission.com 21 Jan '09

21 Jan '09

In regards to Joe's tidbit on looking up the pronunciation of Uranus, I was at the Clarke Planetarium a couple weeks ago to see the Extreme Planets show. One of the projector bulbs had burned out, so while they replaced it, the narrator and the audience had a little Q&A session. The talk moved to planetary probes, and I could not help myself but to raise my hand. When the guy called on me, I simply asked if there were any planned probes to "Uranus". I got quite a laugh from the crowd... all in fun of course. I told the guy after the show that he was a good sport. He took it all in good fun. Jon

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