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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Observing Carbon Stars
by Jay Eads 07 Jul '09

07 Jul '09

Erik, Thank you! I will take a look at them. On 2009-07-07 15:12, erikhansen wrote: > >V Aquilla, UX Draconis, and RT Capricorn are some summer carbon stars. > > Erik >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Sunspot
by Jay Eads 06 Jul '09

06 Jul '09

This morning/early afternoon I saw at http://spaceweather.com/ is reporting on this. They state: Sunspot 1024 is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares. The activity is so intense, astronomers can't seem to take a picture of the sunspot without catching a flare in action. Pete Lawrence sends this example from his backyard observatory in Selsey, UK (go to the link to see the image): "Active region 1024 is putting on a fantastic show," says Lawrence. "The center of this region is incredibly bright and fluctuating. Solar observers haven't seen an active region like this one in more than two years. It is big, complex, and rapidly growing: movie. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot, revealed by SOHO magnetograms, show that it is a member of new Solar Cycle 1024. This makes sense: New research shows that solar jet streams are beginning to stimulate new- cycle sunspot production. Sunspot 1024 appears to be a sign of the process at work, heralding more to come. Monitoring is encouraged. Jay

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Help with followup requested
by Joe Bauman 06 Jul '09

06 Jul '09

You've definitely got something transiting there, Patrick! Wow! --- On Sat, 7/4/09, Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> wrote: From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Help with followup requested To: "utah astronomy listserve utah astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009, 10:07 PM Hi, A few nights ago I was working HD149026 trying to come up with a light curve of its known exo-planet's transit (something I'd done successfully before). When I reduced the data I had a nice curve but not the one I had been expecting. In fact I'd erred and used such a long exposure that the target star had saturated the chip so it's data were useless. However, the graph showed that the star I'd used as a check star contained a very nice curve. I've used that same star as a check star before but never had this "problem". So I contacted Bruce Gary at AXA who looked over my data and said that the change in brightness was probably too large to have been made by an exo-planet but that it could have been made by a red dwarf eclipsing binary. He did some checking and said he could not find this EB (if that's what it is) had not been reported before. I've snail-mailed him a DVD with my images for him to examine further but in the mean time he said I should ask others to observe the object in hopes of establishing a period for it. Here is an image of the field in question with HD149026 being marked as "V" and the star that created the curve marked as "2": http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/MYSTERY01.JPG And here is a screen save of the curve (red is the worthless curve made from the saturated HD149026 and the blue shows the curve created by star "2": http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/MYSTERY02.JPG HD149026 is located at RA 16:30:30.0, DEC +38:20:42. We've had nothing but bad weather here since the night of the "discovery" so I'd appreciate it if others could occasionally have a go at catching this one in the act. Clear skies! 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://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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LCROSS: South pole imaging opportunity 7-8 to 7-14
by Canopus56 05 Jul '09

05 Jul '09

Beginning July 8 and continuing through July 14, the Moon will enter a negative libration node cycle. The south polar region will become increasing exposed beginning on July 8 at about 12UT with a -1.3 degs of libration in latitude, a 99% illuminated fraction (from the lunar west) and a low altitude for northern hemsphere observers and ending on July 13 at about 12UT with about -6.5 libration, a 69% illuminated fraction (from the lunar west), and a higher local horizon altitude for northern hemisphere observers. At the predicted time of LCROSS impact (October 9 11:30 UT (5:30 MDT)), the Moon will be at 71% illuminated fraction and libration in latitude of -3.3 degs. Southern hemisphere observers will have reversed favorable local altitudes between July 8 to 14. Prior imaging focused on easterly lunar illuminations. See pages: http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/web/index-to-images http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/web/atlas-of-polar-images… Jim Mosher has collected available west lunar illuminations images, e.g. - http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/view/LCROSS_2009Oct9_1130UT.JPG/75571577 in - http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LCROSS+Impact Group members here may wish to consider returning to imaging the south pole from the current westerly illumination and libration-in-latitude cycle. For northern hemisphere observers, obtaining good images may not be practical because of the Moon's low summer seasonal altitude. Nonetheless, topographic study with this new illumination will help in rapidly locating the LCROSS impact in October. This is the first of two available imaging cycles available to view and image the south polar region at analogous librations-in-latitude, illuminated fraction and illumination direction between now and October 9. Clear Skies, Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Video shorts for a rainy night
by Joe Bauman 05 Jul '09

05 Jul '09

The last pic is a dandy -- Werner, Disney and Heinz Herber looking on as Willy Ley holds a model V2! What was going through Werner's mind at that moment? -- Joe --- On Sat, 7/4/09, Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> wrote: From: Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Video shorts for a rainy night To: "Utah Astronomy List Serv" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009, 12:38 AM You may be thinking of the _Man Will Conquer Space Soon!_ series in Collier's from the 1950s and the related book _The Conquest of Space_ illustrated by Chesley Bonestell. Conquest of Space - Collier's series http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/COLLIERS/COLLIERS1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Bonestell http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Chesley_Bonestell Conquest of Space - Bonestell's book from 1950 (text only) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?103314 There's also a collection of Bonestell's art: http://www.amazon.com/Chesley-Bonestell-Space-Art-Chronology/dp/1581128290/… - kurt _______________________________________________ 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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Help with followup requested
by Patrick Wiggins 04 Jul '09

04 Jul '09

Hi, A few nights ago I was working HD149026 trying to come up with a light curve of its known exo-planet's transit (something I'd done successfully before). When I reduced the data I had a nice curve but not the one I had been expecting. In fact I'd erred and used such a long exposure that the target star had saturated the chip so it's data were useless. However, the graph showed that the star I'd used as a check star contained a very nice curve. I've used that same star as a check star before but never had this "problem". So I contacted Bruce Gary at AXA who looked over my data and said that the change in brightness was probably too large to have been made by an exo-planet but that it could have been made by a red dwarf eclipsing binary. He did some checking and said he could not find this EB (if that's what it is) had not been reported before. I've snail-mailed him a DVD with my images for him to examine further but in the mean time he said I should ask others to observe the object in hopes of establishing a period for it. Here is an image of the field in question with HD149026 being marked as "V" and the star that created the curve marked as "2": http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/MYSTERY01.JPG And here is a screen save of the curve (red is the worthless curve made from the saturated HD149026 and the blue shows the curve created by star "2": http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/MYSTERY02.JPG HD149026 is located at RA 16:30:30.0, DEC +38:20:42. We've had nothing but bad weather here since the night of the "discovery" so I'd appreciate it if others could occasionally have a go at catching this one in the act. Clear skies! patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] A Question on JaFu 2 in NGC 6441
by Debbie 04 Jul '09

04 Jul '09

Jay, I think I viewed NGC 6441 when I was down at Texas Star Party back in 1998. The globular I really enjoyed while I was down there was NGC 6541. It was a lot larger than 6441. If you are in the Scorpius region, check out NGC 6337 and NGC 6302 (Bug Nebula). I have used the blackskies.org many times during the last ten years. You may want to print out this page for summer planetaries. Here is the link. http://www.blackskies.org/seasonbst3.html Debbie On Fri Jul 3 22:25 , Jay Eads <jayleads(a)gmail.com> sent: >Daniel, > >Thanks for confirming what I was thinking in my first post. . Sitting >so low on the southern horizon reduces the effectiveness of any scope >and makes this an object to put down for when I have the opportunity >of being farther south. I may try though come late July or early >August when JaFu2 is at its highest point in the southern sky. > >Joe, > >I have not tried the PN in M22 because it is 1' (arc-minute) from the >core. I don't have a current scope capable of bringing in this object >visually. > >I did find this link http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_1.htm and I >believe this is the link Joe put in his blog. . It suggests attempting >Pease1 in M15; "It is visually at 13th magnitude and located several >arc-minutes north of the globular's core center. Alister Ling (1990, >Deep Sky 32 36) gives a good write-up on how he finally succeeded in >locating this PN. (Doug's note: There is a Pease1 page on this site >with finder charts.)" > >Here are the finder charts for GJJC1 in M22: http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_2.htm > so it is in one place though you can link to it from above or from >the link in Joe's article. > >I may wait until this fall and go for Pease1 in M15 when it is near >zenith. > >Here's the star hoping in M15 at this link (mentioned above) for >finding Pease1 http://www.blackskies.org/peasefc.htm Now that is an >interesting challenge as it combines a great globular with one of my >favorite objects, PN's, and at 13 mag. I think that is very achievable >and I like challenges. > >Here is another site discussing the PN GJJC1 in M22. http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_1.htm > >I guess I'll put GJJC1 on my wish list also until I can get Grim >Certified but I know I can bring in Pease1 in M15 this fall in my own >scopes. Thanks Joe for bringing this up in June. > >On 2009-07-04 02:36, Joe Bauman wrote: > > Oh yes, I even wrote a blog about it. Here 'tis: > > > > http://www.deseretnews.com/blogs/monthly/1,5553,10000034,00.html\?bD=200906… > >_______________________________________________ >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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Video shorts for a rainy night
by Joe Bauman 04 Jul '09

04 Jul '09

Oops, that's Wernher! --- On Sat, 7/4/09, Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> wrote: From: Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Video shorts for a rainy night To: "Utah Astronomy List Serv" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009, 12:38 AM You may be thinking of the _Man Will Conquer Space Soon!_ series in Collier's from the 1950s and the related book _The Conquest of Space_ illustrated by Chesley Bonestell. Conquest of Space - Collier's series http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/COLLIERS/COLLIERS1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Bonestell http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Chesley_Bonestell Conquest of Space - Bonestell's book from 1950 (text only) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?103314 There's also a collection of Bonestell's art: http://www.amazon.com/Chesley-Bonestell-Space-Art-Chronology/dp/1581128290/… - kurt _______________________________________________ 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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Video shorts for a rainy night
by Canopus56 04 Jul '09

04 Jul '09

You may be thinking of the _Man Will Conquer Space Soon!_ series in Collier's from the 1950s and the related book _The Conquest of Space_ illustrated by Chesley Bonestell. Conquest of Space - Collier's series http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/COLLIERS/COLLIERS1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Bonestell http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Chesley_Bonestell Conquest of Space - Bonestell's book from 1950 (text only) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?103314 There's also a collection of Bonestell's art: http://www.amazon.com/Chesley-Bonestell-Space-Art-Chronology/dp/1581128290/… - kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] A Question on JaFu 2 in NGC 6441
by Jay Eads 03 Jul '09

03 Jul '09

Daniel, Thanks for confirming what I was thinking in my first post. . Sitting so low on the southern horizon reduces the effectiveness of any scope and makes this an object to put down for when I have the opportunity of being farther south. I may try though come late July or early August when JaFu2 is at its highest point in the southern sky. Joe, I have not tried the PN in M22 because it is 1' (arc-minute) from the core. I don't have a current scope capable of bringing in this object visually. I did find this link http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_1.htm and I believe this is the link Joe put in his blog. . It suggests attempting Pease1 in M15; "It is visually at 13th magnitude and located several arc-minutes north of the globular's core center. Alister Ling (1990, Deep Sky 32 36) gives a good write-up on how he finally succeeded in locating this PN. (Doug's note: There is a Pease1 page on this site with finder charts.)" Here are the finder charts for GJJC1 in M22: http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_2.htm so it is in one place though you can link to it from above or from the link in Joe's article. I may wait until this fall and go for Pease1 in M15 when it is near zenith. Here's the star hoping in M15 at this link (mentioned above) for finding Pease1 http://www.blackskies.org/peasefc.htm Now that is an interesting challenge as it combines a great globular with one of my favorite objects, PN's, and at 13 mag. I think that is very achievable and I like challenges. Here is another site discussing the PN GJJC1 in M22. http://www.blackskies.org/gjjc_m22_1.htm I guess I'll put GJJC1 on my wish list also until I can get Grim Certified but I know I can bring in Pease1 in M15 this fall in my own scopes. Thanks Joe for bringing this up in June. On 2009-07-04 02:36, Joe Bauman wrote: > Oh yes, I even wrote a blog about it. Here 'tis: > > http://www.deseretnews.com/blogs/monthly/1,5553,10000034,00.html?bD=20090610

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