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

Sunday night bolide
by Richard Tenney 05 Apr '09

05 Apr '09

I no sooner stepped out my parent's front door in American Fork (which faces Mt. Timp to the East) to head home when the sky lit up with a fabulous bolide dropping over 30 degrees to fall behind Mt. Timpanogos. As it fell, it left a bluish-white 10-degree train, and began to fragment just before it disappeared behind the mountains, reminiscent of a falling firework, the fragments looked like trailing sparks. It appeared to be probably 3 times as luminous as venus. Fabulous sight, even my 87-y.o. dad with his macular degeneration was able to see it fall. Anyone else catch sight of it at 10:04 pm tonight?

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Colorful Doubles - Mon to Cnc
by Canopus56 05 Apr '09

05 Apr '09

The following list was originally proposed in early March 2009. Objects on this final list has been completely reviewed. The following is an observing list with respect to my continuing color-contrast-doubles urban-astronomy interest. Because of the deteriorating weather situation (at my local op) and the advancing first quarter moon, I've posted it before completing a review of the entire target list, so others interested in looking at a few targets can do so. For the Mon through Cnc frame, stars with good-to-showcase color contrast (plus bet Mon) are: eps Mon (yellow-tint blue) bet Mon (double white) 15 Mon (white-tint yellow) STF1019(white-blue) Herschel 3945 145G CMa Winter Alberio (yellow-blue) STF1183 (white green-blue-shade) zet Mon (yellow-grey) SAO98013 Center of M44 triple asterism SAO98020-SAO98021 Center of M44 quad iot Cnc Spring Alberio (yellow-blue) The entries start with SAO numbers because that is what I use in my GOTO hand-controller. I understand that both Meade and Celestron hand-controllers have the SAO list. Where an SAO number is not returned by a handcontroller, lookup and use the direct RA-Dec coordinates. This observing list was developed by reviewing color contrast double lists such as Mullaney, Haas and Belmont and then preparing a short list of candidate targets. The candidate list was then reviewed using a 4 1/4 inch short GOTO reflector from an urban light polluted site to determine the practicality of seeing the objects from an urban setting. This list was also expanded to include three prominent carbon stars in this observing frame. Because the portion of the night sky west from Orion is dominated by anti-spinward Orion-Cygnus Arm white OB stars, I wanted to fill-in with some more color. Clear Skies - Kurt MON TO CNC COLOR CONTRAST DOUBLES FOR URBAN SKIES (EAST ORI TO MON) ID SAO113810 Constellation Mon AltNames - Name - HD44769, HIP30419 CommentsSec eps Mon, 8 Mon, 4.4v, 6.5v, 12.1sep, 29pa, 2004,Haas:showcase yellow-lilac,A5IV,- RA 062346 Dec +043534 CommentsMisc - Observation note Showcase pair with contrast per Haas representation. A small gap with white primary and light blue fainter secondary. Very pleasing. Fairly close gap at 40x; wide pair at 100x. Nice pair. ID SAO95659 Constellation Mon Name - HD45725, HIP30564 AltNames bet Mon; 11 Mon; Herschel's Wonder Star CommentsSec 4.7v,5.2v,7.3sep,132pa,2000,Mullaney:blue-blue-blue,0.148kpc,B2 RA 062849 Dec -070158 CommentsMisc - Observation note At 40x appears as single star. At 100x, appears as an easy, split, two nearly equal white stars with a tiny, but distinct gap. A nice warmup for a start of this run with no color contrast. ID NGC2244 Constellation Mon AltNames Rosetta Neb Open Cluster CommentsSec - RA 063224 Dec +045200 CommentsMisc - Observation note Showcase cluster listed for completeness ID SAO114258 Constellation Mon Name - HD47839, HIP31978 AltNames 15 Mon; STF950 CommentsSec 4.6v,9.9vAa-C,16.6sep,14pa,2002,Haas:triple-lemon-white-with-silver,-,- RA 064059 Dec +095344 CommentsMisc At base of Christmas Tree Cluster FG 9.0v,10v,39.5sep,263pa,2002,-,-,- Observation note Two faint stars to the north of 15 Mon at the base of the Christmas Tree Cluster. 15 Mon is white. All three detectable at 25x. At 100x, lemon color of beta barely detectable. In 4.25 inch, thrid faint C star is barely detectable. Faint double to the east of 15 Mon and the triangular corner asterism at the east base of the Christmas Tree is STF952. Struve designations not consistent with Washington Double Star. Is a complex multiple system with two other embedded systems. That it is a complex system is its main attraction. STF951, also in cluster is a similar complex multiple star system. ID NGC2264 Constellation Mon AltNames Christmas Tree Cluster CommentsSec - RA 064106 Dec +095300 CommentsMisc - Observation note Showcase cluster listed for completeness ID SAO152363 Constellation Mon Name - HD53755, HIP34234 AltNames STF1019 CommentsSec 6.5v,9.6vAC,38.5sep,295pa,2004,Haas:whte-blue-triple,-,- RA 070550 Dec -103940 CommentsMisc Triple with AB 6.5v-10.1v,6.4sep Observation note Faint white primary with nice blue fainter secondary. Tertiary not visible. Nice contrast on the primary. ID SAO173349 Constellation Cma Name - HD56577, HIP35210 AltNames 145G Cma, Herschel 3945, Winter Alberio CommentsSec 4.2v, 6.8v,26.6sep,-,-,Showcase yellow-blue pair,-,- RA 0716.6 Dec -2319 CommentsMisc Winter Albireo Observation note Showcase case - exactly as the name implies. ID SAO115756 Constellation CMi AltNames alf CMi, 10 CMi, Procyon CommentsSec 0.4v,11.7v,148.4sep,p17a,1984,Smyth:yellow-white-several-small-stars,-,F5IV RA 073918 Dec +051330 CommentsMisc - Observation note Mullaney and Haas do not list Procyon as double - just a pretty star field per Mullaney. As Mullaney notes, this is a pretty field-of-view that we often do not take the time to appreciate, since it is an alignment star. But the Washington Double Star catalogue shows this as a complex mulitple star system. The more refined CCDM shows Procyon as a triple. CCDM07393+0514. ID SAO135505 Constellation Mon Name - HD67159, HIP39675 AltNames STF1183 CommentsSec 6.2v,7.8v,30.6sep,328pa,2004,Haas:lemon-white-with-green-white,-,B9.5IV RA 080627 Dec -091442 CommentsMisc - Observation note Showcase - nice bright white green-blue tint wide gap pair. Good color contrast. ID SAO135551 Constellation Mon Name - HD67594, HIP39863 AltNames zet Mon; STF1190 CommentsSec 4.4v,10.1vAB,33sep,105pa,1998,Smyth:yellow-gray-blue,-;G2I RA 080836 Dec -025902 CommentsMisc Triple AC 4.4,9.7v,64.7sep,247pa,2002 Observation note Secondary too faint to give good color contrast, but is pleasant system, easy to find. ID SAO97645 Constellation Cnc Name - HD68256, HIP40167 AltNames zet1 Cnc; 16 Cnc; STF1196AB CommentsSec 5.6v,6.6v,0.98sep,52pa,2000,Mullaney:triple-yellow-yellow-yellow,-,F7V RA 081213 Dec +173852 CommentsMisc West of M44 Observation note: Could only split 5.9" AB-C - at 100x. A nice white yellow pair. Excellent but not showcase. ID SAO97646 Constellation Cnc Name - HD68255, HIP40167 AltNames zet2 Cnc; 16 Cnc; STF1196AB CommentsSec 5.6v,6.6v,0.98sep,52pa,2000,Mullaney:triple-yellow-yellow-yellow,-,F8V RA 081213 Dec +173852 CommentsMisc West of M44 Observation note - Could only split 5.9" AB-C - at 100x. A nice white yellow pair. Excellent but not showcase. ID SAO98013 Constellation Cnc Name - HD73618, HIP42497 AltNames - CommentsSec 6.9v,11.9v1.4sep,292pa,2000,Belmont:yellow-orange-white-triple,-,Am RA 083956 Dec +193311 CommentsMisc In center of M44 Observation note - Obvious small triangle asterism off in one corner of central M44 field. Looks orange-blue-blue or yellow-lilac-lilac. This triple and STF1254 are good multiples to know about when presenting M44 at star parties. ID SAO98020 Constellation Cnc Name - HD73709, HIP42549 AltNames - CommentsSec 6.5v,9v,20.5sep,24pa,2000,Belmont:orange-white-quad,-,F2III RA 084021 Dec +194111 CommentsMisc In center of M44 Observation note - Could only make out three stars in quad - 6.0, 6.5 and faint 7.2. Some white-yellow contrast on 6.0-6.5, Mostly pretty due to setting in center of M44. ID SAO98021 Constellation Cnc Name - HD73710, HIP42549 AltNames STF1254 CommentsSec 6.0v,7.2v,10sep,25pa,2004,Haas:yellow-yellow-olive,-,F8V RA 084022 Dec +194012 CommentsMisc In center of M44 Observation note - Could only make out three stars in quad - 6.0, 6.5 and faint 7.2. Some white-yellow contrast on 6.0-6.5, Mostly pretty due to setting in center of M44. ID M44 Constellation Cnc AltNames - CommentsSec - RA 084024 Dec +194000 CommentsMisc - Observation note ID SAO80416 Constellation Cnc Name - HD74739, HIP43103 AltNames iot Cnc; 48 Cnc; Spring Albireo; STF1536AB CommentsSec 4.2v,6.6v,30.5sep,307pa,2000,Belmont:yellow-blue,0.1kpc,G8Iab RA 084642 Dec +284536 CommentsMisc - Observation note - Showcase obvious yellow-blue Alberio look-alike. ID SAO61125 Constellation Cnc Name - HD75959, HIP43721 AltNames 57 Cnc; Struve (STF)1291 CommentsSec 6.1v,6.6v,1.4sep,316pa,2000,Mullaney:yellow-yellow,0.112kpc,G7III RA 085415 Dec +303446 CommentsMisc N.e. of iot Cnc Observation note - No color contrast but good nearly equal white-white pair for split test of small refractor. ID SAO98230 Constellation Cnc Name - HD76221, HIP42549 AltNames X Cnc; AAVSO0849+17 CommentsSec 6.2v,Mullaney:Stellar ruby RA 085523 Dec +171353 CommentsMisc Red carbon variable Observation note - Showcase nice deep orange color. ================== Some supplemental suburban-rural sky doubles with color contrast - too faint for urban skies ID SAO152427 Constellation CMa Name - HD54361 AltNames W CMa CommentsSec 6.7v, carbon star RA 070803 Dec -115522 CommentsMisc - Observation note - Nice deep dark orange color. Recommend as suburban-rural target; not urban target. ID SAO80425 Constellation Cnc Name - HD74857 AltNames gam Cnc; 43 Cnc; STF1967; Asellus Borealis CommentsSec 4.7v,8.1v,106.3sep,66pa,2000,-,0.050kpc,A1IV RA 084715 Dec +213235 CommentsMisc - Near M44. Recommend for suburban-rural skies. Not urban target. Observation note - (From suburban skies) Bright white A star with superwide faint sea blue companion. Companion may not be observable from urban setting. ID SAO61177 Constellation Cnc Name - HD76813, HIP44154 AltNames sig01 Cnc CommentsSec 5.7v,10.2vAC,77sep,24pa,2003,Haas:triple-yellow-gray-gray,-,A8 RA 085933 Dec +322507 CommentsMisc - Recommend for suburban-rural sites. Not urban target. Observation note - (From suburban site). White-faint blue primary. Probably not visible from urban site. ================= This post is a continuation of my posts that concerning on my current observing focus: "after-work urban-astronomy". Urban astronomy focuses on using easily set up GOTO scopes across for seasons to view astronomical objects from urban light-polluted skies. As opposed to deep sky object emphasis, urban astronomy concerns bright objects visible with small apetures e.g. - open clusters, double stars, planetary and solar system objects. Having family, friend and work obligations like the rest of you, I will try to limit referenced targets to those observable prior to local midnight.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] USNO
by Jim Gibson 05 Apr '09

05 Apr '09

Jerry, Thanks for the information. I have been doing a little searching around on the astrometry subject for the last few days. Of the four plate solving programs you mentioned (AIP4WIN, MaximDL, MPO Canopus, Astrometrica) seems I have 3 of them...hehe. I haven’t actually fired up Astrometrica yet, though I have it down loaded. It has a 100 day free trial after which if you like it, it costs only about 25L or $33.00 to buy it. I am deciding on a catalog before I fire it up. The USNO-A2.0 has 526,000,000 measured star locations in it which they claim would include 12,000 stars per square degree. The small version USNO-SA2.0 had 57,000,000 measured star positions which would include about 1300 stars per square degree. The small one would be very adequate for my purposes. I perused the Maxim DL manual for astrometry and the subject is covered in there but it is broken up into different locations in the book and no tutorial like they do with some subjects. Maxim will probably be the software I use for astrometry once I figure out what to do; unless I really like Astrometrica. I do have the version of Maxim with PinPoint in it so I should be OK there. AIP4WIN had the best presentation on doing astrometry. I went through their tutorial and found it fun and fairly easy. It seems that my equipment (Canon XT and Orion 100mm ED) are at the lower fringes of what is needed to do good science. I think I will try starting out imaging asteroids like Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and the “big boys”, do the astrometry, and work my way down in size from there. It sounds like a lot of fun to me. I ran across an article that shows how to do astrometry with a video camera. They claim that In considering the relative sources of error between using a CCD camera and a video camera, it may be expected that the enhanced timing precision associated with a video camera will lead to it being the preferred astrometric tool if the motion of an asteroid is greater than about 100(arc-seconds)/minute. For example, nine astrometric positions reported on MPEC 2009-F01 http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09F01.html were measured from images derived from video; those positions have an RMS residual of less than 0.3². Like so many things in astronomy there are a plethora of ways of doing things that the beginner can quickly get swamped. I am going to stick with what I have and see what I can learn. Jim

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VizieR Service
by Jerry Foote 04 Apr '09

04 Apr '09

A very useful tool that I use when trying to locate information about an object is the VizieR Service, http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR . This service allows access to 7276 catalogs and has a Java enabled visualization tool that plots the data from a specific coordinate and catalog to be plotted over the POSS II image of that area. A few hints to get started with the service: 1. Start by determining what catalog you want data from by "Browsing Through Catalogs". Some common catalogs that I use are the GSC, GSC2.2, SDSS, Landolt 1992:II/183. Once you find the catalog that you want data from put either its name or catalog number in the top left box. 2. In the "Target" box either put in the target's common name that can be resolved by Simbad or put in the RA & Dec Coordinates. 3. In "Target Radius:" put in the radius of objects around your target that you want information on. As the field of view for our telescopes is around 20 arc-minutes, I put in 20. 4. In "Output Preferences" select an appropriate number of objects to find. I typically set it for 200 but in crowded fields I have gone up to 1000. 5. I check the "Compute" boxes "r" and "Position". 6. I select "Sort by" "r". 7. Then go over to the left and select "Find Data". 8. Give it some time and soon a table of information around your target from your selected catalog will be produced. 9. Here is where the fun begins: slide the screen all of the way down to the bottom of the page and look for "Optical Image of the central part of this region with Aladin-Java". Click on this and a Java enabled viewer will appear and the stars from the POSS II plate will be plotted as well as your data. 10. Click on an object that has a red diamond around it will show the underlying data for that object at the bottom. If more than one catalog was selected all data from all catalogs will be shown. Enjoy. Jerry Foote ScopeCraft, Inc. 4175 E. Red Cliffs Dr. Kanab, UT 84741 435-899-1255 jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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USNO
by Jerry Foote 04 Apr '09

04 Apr '09

The main reason for using the USNO catalog (either the smaller A2.0 or the B1.0) is the high level of accuracy in the position of the stars. This allows much more precise astrometry when trying to locate an unknown object. For example the Minor Planet Center desires astrometry accuracy into the sub-arc-second level. The original Guide Star catalog could not provide this level so until the plates were re-measured to produce the USNO series accuracy was a limiting factor. As for using the USNO catalogs, many plate solving programs (AIP4WIN, MaximDL, MPO Canopus, Astrometrica) can use these catalogs when performing astrometry. Once an asteroids precise coordinates are known one can go to the Minor Planet Center (http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckMP ) to determine what the object is. The Minor Planet Center is a fun place to snoop around in. Jerry Foote ScopeCraft, Inc. 4175 E. Red Cliffs Dr. Kanab, UT 84741 435-899-1255 jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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Author Alvin Huey new free downloadable observing guides
by Jay Eads 04 Apr '09

04 Apr '09

Picked this up from CloudySkies, that Alvin Huey has made a series of observing guides for free download at http://www.faintfuzzies.com/DownloadableObservingGuides.htm . Some are for large apertures objects. The guides look interesting, though some of the guides are a ways off for the likes of me right now. I like the planetary nebula one. I'd like to know your thoughts on them. Thanks.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Treeless Mars
by Gary Vardon 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

I have seen slews of Mars images from NASA. Mars has varied terrain much of it cratered. Sincerely, Gary Vardon The book DO It Right will help you understand vital ideas leading to your geater success. GO to PublishAmerica. -----Original Message----- From: Joe Bauman Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:25 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Treeless Mars Hi Jon, Many thanks, Joe --- On Tue, 3/31/09, stormcrow60(a)xmission.com <stormcrow60(a)xmission.com> wrote: From: stormcrow60(a)xmission.com <stormcrow60(a)xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Treeless Mars To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 7:40 AM -----Inline Attachment Follows----- Hi Joe, ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Thanks for the heads up. I thought I followed the Mars surface probes fairly consistently. But apparently I have not been as diligent with the orbital probes that are taking these amazing pictures. I had no idea these photos existed. Science is truly stranger then fiction! Thanks for sharing. Jon _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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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Science Night Live/ "Stellar Imaging"/ April 7
by Patrick Wiggins 02 Apr '09

02 Apr '09

This will be in Friday's News but I'm posting it here for the non-SLAS members. patrick ++++++++++++++++++++ NOTICE -- "SCIENCE NIGHT LIVE!" --TUESDAY, APRIL 7 -- "STELLAR IMAGING: BACK TO THE FUTURE?" ------ The College of Science will present a "Science Night Live!" event on Tue, April 7 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Keys on Main, 242 South Main St. (next to Sam Weller's bookstore). Invite a friend, make a date, and stop by after work! Astronomers, physicists, and the general public often have overly- simplified ideas of what stars are, what they are made of, and what they look like. Physics professor Stephan LeBohec will discuss "Stellar Imaging: Back to the Future?" which will highlight his recent work on reviving a star observation technique that may provide totally new images and insights of stars. You are welcome to mix-and-mingle from 5:00 to 7:00. A complete food menu and drink menu will be available. Join us for a stimulating discussion and social event! Free and open to the public! Must be 21. SEE ATTACHED FLYER OR VISIT OUR WEBLINK: http://www.science.utah.edu/images/SNL%20flyer%3ALeBohec.pdf . Ride the UTA TRAX to the Gallivan Plaza stop. Or, there is limited street parking available on 300 South and is free after 6:00 pm. Perhaps the easiest parking is in the Wells Fargo building lot, accessible from 300 South. See www.keysonmain.com for more info, or call (801) 581-6958. ------ -- James R. DeGooyer Public Relations Specialist College of Science 1430 E. Presidents Cir. Rm. 220 Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Ph. (801) 581-3124 Fax (801) 585-3169

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USNO catalog
by Jim Gibson 02 Apr '09

02 Apr '09

Patrick, I am curious about the USNO catalog. What software is available to access it? Do you connect your planetarium software to it? How do you use it in relation to astrometry? If you image what you think is an asteroid, what software is available to analyze your image and produce the position and motion of the o bject? Jim

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Cool HorseHead
by Jim Gibson 02 Apr '09

02 Apr '09

Hey Tyler, Howcome your horsehead doesn't look like this? http://chaoscrusader.deviantart.com/art/Horsehead-Nebula-18462543 Jim

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