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

What Sites Would You Give Someone Just Starting Out?
by Jay Eads 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

I am wanting to do some stuff with beginners, not just my students and I have a list of sites that I would give out and would love to see if anyone would add anything to it: Here is my starting list: Utah-Astronomy Cloudy Nights: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0 Carol's Picks in the Equipment Thread: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1572221/pa… AstronomyLogs.com http://www.astronomylogs.com/index.html Log Books and Finder charts for Free (while you have to print them). Tonightssky.com http://www.tonightssky.com/ Messier45.com http://www.messier45.com/ The Ultimate Messier Object Log (TUMOL) http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html RASC Messier List by Season: http://seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/dataRASC.html Dark Sky Finder: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/ Find dark location (old map though) and observing locations outside of the backyard locally Clear Sky Chart: http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/WstJrdnUTkey.html?1 (West Jordan to find others look to the green box on the right/ also hit the 3. Display color Image under the Image Control on the left) Tom T's Small Wonders http://cloudynights.com/category.php?category_id=170 Monthly observing guide by constellation (some harder items also). Link to SLAS, OAS, or any of the other observing clubs in the area. There's lots others, I'd be interested in seeing what others would recommend (or perhaps something up above should be removed and that's okay, just provide the reasoning).

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New Image - Iris Nebula from Kanab, Utah
by Tyler Allred 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Hello All, I recently made a trip to Kanab to visit Jerry and Cindy Foote. While there, I managed to do a little imaging. Here is the first image from that trip. It shows the Iris Nebula and some of the surrounding dust. The image includes a whole lot of data. Details and a clickable full version are on my website at this link: http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html The company was great and the hospitality was as good as it gets. They sure know how to make me feel welcome. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler Allred _____________________________________________

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Dark Sky star party sites
by Lowell Lyon 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Hello: I have star gazed from Canyonlands, Arches, Natural Bridges, the Wedge Overlook, etc. over the years. The reason I have settled on Capitol Reef National Park is that it is just as dark as anywhere else I've been in southern Utah. From my house in the Cottonwood Heights/Sandy area, it takes me just as long to drive to the Wedge Overlook as it does Capitol Reef. Capitol Reef however, is paved road all the way to the actual observing area and there are campgrounds or motels just a few miles away from the official observing area we use at Panorama Point. Capitol Reef also is available from March through October with little worry about bad roads or bitter cold as the elevation is just a bit higher than Salt Lake at around 5,000 feet. I love to visit all of the other parks and remote areas in southern Utah, yet for dark skies and convenience, it's hard to beat Capitol Reef. That's just my experience, yet talk with other SLAS member who have star gazed from various places and you'll probably get the feedback that Natural Bridges, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef have offered just about as good a dark sky view as anywhere, with Capitol Reef perhaps being the most convenient for private dark sky parties. Thanks. Lowell Lyon

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid "impact"
by Joe Bauman 24 Oct '09

24 Oct '09

WOW! Did'ja see the contrail on that thing? -- Joe --- On Fri, 10/23/09, Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> wrote: From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid "impact" To: "utah astronomy utah astronomy listserve" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Friday, October 23, 2009, 5:31 PM Asteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news165.html pw _______________________________________________ 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://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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Augustine Commission Report
by Canopus56 23 Oct '09

23 Oct '09

U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee Final Report ("Augustine Committee" Report) http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/home/index.html Press release http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/meetings/10_22_pressconference.html Direct url to report (7.7mb) http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf Essentially recommends ending of space exploration. - Clear Skies - Kurt

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IYA 2009 Galilean nights (tonight and tomorrow night)
by Canopus56 23 Oct '09

23 Oct '09

IYA 2009 Galilean nights project (10-22 to 10-24) http://www.galileannights.org/about.html October 22 to 24 is the Galilean nights project of the Int'l Year of Astronomy. The IYA project is based on the work of Ewen Whitaker that assigns dates and times to the nearest half-hour in 1609 that Galileo observed the Moon and drew figures that appear in Sidereus Nuncius and modern lunar planetarium software author Jim Mosher - who associated a string of date-times between Oct. 22 and Oct. 25, 2009 in which the Moon can be observed in a nearly similar orientation to that seen by Galileo 400 years ago. Mosher's (and Pope's) table of comparable dates and time (see the far right-hand part of the table at the bottom of the following url) and the corresponding Galileo Sidereus Nuncius drawing can be found at: http://www.pacifier.com/~tpope/Reproducing_Observations.htm Clear skies - Kurt Utah IYA Galilean nights events Utah: Farmington Great Salt Lake Star Party Location Venue: Great Salt Lake Nature Center Street/Description: Glovers Lane next to Farminton Bay Bird Refuge City/State: Farmington Post Code/Zip Code: 84025 Google Map Link When Start Date: 22/10/2009 End Date: 22/10/2009 Start Time (each day): 18:00:00 End Time (each day): 22:00:00 (approximate) Contact Details Organising Group: Farmington Jr High, O.A.S. Ogden Astronomical Society, Great Salt Lake Nature Center Main Contact: Greg Domgaard E-mail: gdomgaard(a)dsdamail.net Phone: 801-402-6900 Website: Further Details Get off I-15 Farmington exit heading north - turn immediate right following a frontage road to Glovers Lane. The Great Salt Lake Nature Center is at the end of the road just a few miles. Utah: Orem UCAS - Galilean Nights Location Venue: Outside UCAS Activity Center Street/Description: 940 West, 800 South City: Orem Post Code/Zip Code: 84058 Google Map Link When Start Date: 22/10/2009 End Date: 22/10/2009 Start Time (each day): 18:30 End Time (each day): 23:00 (approximate) Contact Details Organising Group: Utah County Academy of Sciences Main Contact: David Trevino E-mail: dotrevino(a)gmail.com Phone: Website: Further Details This observing event will follow the Parent Teacher Conference. If you have a telescope or binoculars, you are invited to bring them. Utah: Vernal Vernal's Galilean Night Location Venue: Searle Pavilion Street/Description: 1000 West 500 North City: Vernal Post Code/Zip Code: 84078 Google Map Link When Start Date: 23/10/2009 End Date: 23/10/2009 Start Time (each day): 19:30 End Time (each day): 21:30 (approximate) Contact Details Organising Group: Sentrywest Insurance Services Main Contact: Clark Hall E-mail: clark.hall(a)sentrywest.com Phone: 435-789-1578 Website: Further Details Dress warm.

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Asteroid "impact"
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Oct '09

23 Oct '09

Asteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news165.html pw

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Google Earth Observing Sites
by Jay Eads 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

I have a list (I've sent most but not all to Kurt) of local observing sites in the greater Salt Lake City region and in Utah that you can download and then install into your Google Earth so you don't have to mark them yourself. You can adjust as needed. If you want a copy of them and there are a good many, email me and I'll be happy to send them to you. My email is JayLEads@

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Orionids anyone?
by Canopus56 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

Wednesday morning 2:30 to 2:50am from downtown SLC, ZLM 3.5. Expected rate was ZHR 50. For an urban location and being 2 hours from trasnit, I was expecting about ZHR 5 or 2 1/2 per half hour. Saw one mag 0 streamer coming off the Orionid radiant (brighter than Pollux, dimmer than Sirius). Color brillant white 1 to 1/2 second tail, very fast moving relative to Persieds. Tail length about the same distance as between Castor and Pollux (about 4 degs). Nice relatively warm night. Pleasant to sit outside in the quiet of the early morning. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Private star party locations
by Lowell Lyon 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

To Debbie: When we go to Capitol Reef, we usually stay at the Capitol Reef Inn & Cafe in Torrey. It has a nice on-site restaurant and the rooms are very reasonably priced. You may go to www.capitolreef.org to find other lodging ideas. To Josephine: I agree that the Wedge or Cedar Mountain is a great place to go if you want to leave your scope up at all times. I'm getting soft in my old age and like to sleep in a nice motel bed at the end of an observing session. Clear Skies!! Lowell

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