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

S Cal Star Party
by erikhansen＠TheBlueZone.net 24 Jul '09

24 Jul '09

Hi All, I received this e-mail about an August Star Party. http://tinyurl.com/luauzt

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Asteroid or Comet Collision With Earth Probability
by BAXTER J DAVID Owner 24 Jul '09

24 Jul '09

Jupiter had major collisions with a comet 10 years ago this week. This week Jupiter had another major collision, probably from a comet. With this interesting fact in mind, is there a higher probability, than what is commonly given, that Earth could have a major impact from a comet or asteroid? Within the past ten years, Earth has also had a couple of lunar distance close calls with asteroids that were not detected until they where very close, by astronomical standards. Sincerely, J. David Baxter baxman2(a)q.com

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(no subject)
by Siegfried Jachmann 24 Jul '09

24 Jul '09

The above reports are similar to my experience. I was out with the 160 mm at 3:10 MDT, and got on the phone with Patrick. Jupiter was near the meridian and so was the impact. The normal seeing at house was true to form... not very good. The impact scar was intermittent at best. I was struck by how much more difficult it was than Callisto's shadow. It was smaller and lighter than the shadow. I saw it clearly but only in the moments of good seeing. I did not see the color reported elsewhere. I did see some elongation. My hat is off to the discoverer. It is amazing to have a second event on Jupiter in our lifetime. Thanks Jupiter for taking one for the team. It could have had our name on it at some point. Thanks Kurt for the timetable. Siegfried

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jupiter observing report
by Canopus56 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

Kudos to Patrick and Don. The July 24 spaceweather.com lists the following Jupiter impact photos. APOD has the discovery image. Here they are in date order. The quality of the viewing seems to be pretty aperture dependent. On some lists, there is a suggestion that the "scar" is in fact the tail of the comet. On other newsgroups it is described as the "ejecta field" of the impact. Over time, there does not seem to be an significant drift off CMII 216 deg. Tonight's spot transit on the Jovian face is at July 23 11:07pm MDT - 2009 Jul 24 05:16 ( 216°, 13°) at only - alt 13.2 degs az 122.3 degs. The spot should still be visible an hour later at midnight, but will only be at 22 degs alt. Clear Skies - Kurt http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090723.html http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Robert… http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Paul-K… http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Joel-W… http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Jim-Me… http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Jeremy…

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid or Comet Collision With Earth Probability
by Joe Bauman 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

It's certainly happened in the past, and not so long ago. What worries me is the Yellowstone caldera, which is just itching to bury the West (again) deep in ash. --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Asteroid or Comet Collision With Earth Probability To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:21 PM BTW, for the worriers among us, some scientists feel that the earth is overdue for a "nuclear" sized impact; one big enough to cause major disruptions or even mass extinction. Thus the current emphasis on finding and cataloging objects that cross earth's orbit. (Get busy, Patrick!) ;o) Combat soldiers are fond of saying that you never hear the one (bullet) that gets you... _______________________________________________ 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] Jupiter Impact Transit Times for SLC
by JayLEads 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

Patrick, My bad and you are correct. I am not a planetary observer as I stick 99% of my time with DSO's. What I saw was a shadow from one of Jupiter's moon as shown in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=E7yZqLA4vXo. Having never observed a shadow transit I mistook it, and being tired . . . I didn't check the transit times on this (its even on a list of highlight events to watch that I get daily). So how does everyone like their egg from my face . . . scrambled or over easy? Guess I should have cut class tonight and gone to the SLAS general meeting . . . Oh well, I wondered why the spot was located in the center and not on the pole and I'm not the first to have done this as i saw this morning after reading your post Patrick that others on the night it occurred and the next night imaged shadow transits and posted their images thinking it was the scar. Interesting to me is on that form the discoverer Anthony Wesley goes by the name Bird, so this is being nicknamed the Bird Strike. In case you missed it here is CNN's interview with Anthony Wesley: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2009/07/21/ bpr.jupiter.spot.astronomer.cnn I'll withdraw from the forum now and everything else and go back into the corner with my Dobs and DSO's, wipe the egg off. Clear skies to each of you! On 2009-07-22 09:59, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > Hi Jay! > > Congratulations on seeing the spot. Well done. > > But now I'm confused. If I'm reading Kurt's data correctly it does > not show that a spot transit was to have been visible tonight (the > 22nd UT). > > What am I missing (other than missing seeing the spot tonight <g>)? > > patrick > > > On 22 Jul 2009, at 03:33, JayLEads wrote: > > > On 2009-07-22 03:09, Canopus56 wrote: > > > > > > Repost per discussion at tonight's club meeting. These are > > predicted transit times for the Jupiter comet impact hole in the > > Jovian atmosphere: > > > > > > WinJUPOS 8.0.4 (Jupiter), C.M. transit times, 2009/07/20 14:34 > > > Object longitude: L2 = 216.0° + 0.0000°/d * (T - 2009 Jul 19.5) > > > Time interval: 2009 Jul 20.0 ... 2009 Jul 31.0 > > > Only if celestial body is visible > > > Geographic longitude and latitude: -111 00, +42 00 > > > Output format: Date UT (C.M. of System 2, Altitude) > > > > > > 2009 Jul 20 11:56 ( 216°, 24°) > > > 2009 Jul 21 07:47 ( 216°, 30°) > > > 2009 Jul 23 09:25 ( 216°, 34°) > > > 2009 Jul 24 05:16 ( 216°, 13°) > > > 2009 Jul 25 11:03 ( 216°, 27°) > > > 2009 Jul 26 06:54 ( 216°, 27°) > > > 2009 Jul 28 08:32 ( 216°, 33°) > > > 2009 Jul 29 04:23 ( 216°, 8°) > > > 2009 Jul 30 10:10 ( 216°, 30°) > > > > > > Amateur discovery image Anthony Wesley, Australia, 7-19-2009 > > > http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/jupiter/ 20090719-155537/large.jpg > >

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Jupiter observing report
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

After hearing the SLAS board was going to open the Grim scope from 10 last night to 3 this morning I went over about 2 and found no one there (where was everyone?). So as long as I was there and Jupiter was nearing the meridian I opened the Refractor House and had my own private Jupiter party. I started with a 17mm Plossl (200x) and, despite turbulent seeing was surprised to see how obvious Callisto's shadow was and delighted to see the scar. While not as obvious as the shadow I really didn't have to try hard to see the scar. Next I installed the bino viewer and inserted two 17mm Plossls. Since the bino viewer requires the use of a 2x balow that gave me 400x which was too much for the seeing. So I switched to a set of 40mm Plossls (170x) and spent most of the rest of the session with that setup. I realize the 3D feel of the view through a bino viewer is just an illusion but on Jupiter tonight is was a very convincing illusion. Very comfortable viewing using both eyes and Jupiter just seemed to hang in the void in front of me. Lots of bands and swirls in the bands. The GRS was way off to the side and I had to struggle to see it (I'm not completely sure I did see it). All in all, a fun session. patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jupiter Impact Transit Times for SLC
by Canopus56 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Here's a photo taken 7-21-2009 3:46UT showing the spot smearing that I mentioned during the club meeting: Sean Walker on S&T http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Jup_by_Sean_09-07-21_03-46.jpg in http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance Compare to the July 20 discovery image with more distinct circular impact cloud in http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/51237952.html Here's the UT Sky and Telescope transit times for the GRS with 2:06 added and followed by my original printout from the WinJUPOS software. They is no significant time difference from either source. Source: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/41085997.html Times are GRS transit - GRS Transit plus 2:06 - MDT - WinJUPOS Obvious SLC daylight times are omitted. July 23, 7:10 - 9:16 - 3:16am MDT - 2009 Jul 23 09:25 ( 216°, 34°) July 24 3:01 - 5:07 - July 23 11:07pm MDT - 2009 Jul 24 05:16 ( 216°, 13°) July 25 8:48 - 10:56 - 4:56am MDT - 2009 Jul 25 11:03 ( 216°, 27°) July 26 4:39 - 6:45 - 12:45am MDT - 2009 Jul 26 06:54 ( 216°, 27°) July 28 6:17 - 8:23 - 2:23am MDT - 2009 Jul 28 08:32 ( 216°, 33°) July 29 2:08 - 4:14 - July 28 10:14pm MDT - 2009 Jul 29 04:23 ( 216°, 8°) July 30 7:55 - 10:01 - 4:01am MDT - 2009 Jul 30 10:10 ( 216°, 30°) Jupiter system II rotation time is 9:55. A quarter revolution is about 2.5 hours. I'm using an hour on either side of the CMII 216 deg transit time as the observing window.

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shadow of Callisto on Jupiter
by daniel turner 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

I went out late last night and found a hole in the clouds. DT Time: 2009 July 22 0730-1000 UT.(Wednesday morning MDT) Location: Puddle Valley equiptment: 17.5 inch dobsonian cloudiness: 70% down to 5% and back up to 70% during the session. Wind: calm at start increasing to a shroud russle and then back to calm. Temperature: 60F falling to 55F. Transparency: good 4/5 most of session but haze built up as twilight approached. seeing: fair 3/5. split ETA AQR at high power. Jupiter: at 0744UT Three moons to east 1 to the west and a shadow transit in progress. Callisto. later took a left eye views to save night vision with right eye. at 0829 UT shadow dead center moon approaching the planet. at 0912 UT moon is gone apparently in transit but not visable. shadow 3/4 of the way accross planet. touring in HER at 175x ngc5899: galaxy in HER, wide spindle with prominent bulge and stellar nucleus almost at the limit of detection. Beautiful object. ngc6239: galaxy 5:3 spindle bulge less prominent doesn't curve the outline. winking stellar nucleus with averted vision. ngc6229: globular cluster round fairly dense center outter half resolved to graininess. tour at ALPHA CAP at 175x m72: globular cluster triangle irregular shape. lots of grainy stars accross the not very dense middle. ngc6818: planetary neb, greenish round disk with a winking central star. ngc6903: galaxy, 3:2 spiral involved with a bright field star. ngc6814: galaxy, face on spiral two clockwise arms subdued nucleus slightly stellar. ngc6945: galaxy, wide spindle 1.5:1, small smudge no details near a bright star. m75: globular cluster, slightly triagular with a bright stellar nucleus. grainy at outter edge not really resolved to stars. touring ALPA SGE m71: globluar cluster, very irregular in a very rich starfield lots of resolved stars in a background of haze in triangle shape. ngc6905: planetary nebula, structure at high power, central star almost lost in glow. a hint of anullarity. ngc6891: planetary nebula, bluish star that doesn't come to sharp focus. various: Pleaides up over mountains at 0230. venus clears horizon at 0346. Mirak and ngc404: star is orange, galaxy is round glow with semistellar nucleus a hint of spiral arms. ic10: galaxy in CAS, dim smudge near a bright star. meteor at 0208 passing through the head of DRA comming from ALPHA CAS. meteor at 0251 in SAG comming from ALPHA CAP. meteor at 0255 in AQR comming from ALPHA CAP. meteor at 0344 in square of PEG comming from ENIF.

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Jupiter impact
by Gary Vardon 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Fellow SLASers, This is the second major impact on Jupiter in less than 20 years. Image if earth has a major hit from a meteor or comet every 20 years. Life on earth would be hammered hard. We should be grateful that Jupiter sweeps the solar system of hazards. Last night I attempted to spot the impact on Jupiter with a 4 inch Meade ETX-60AT. I could not even see the bands of Jupiter's clouds let alone the impact trace. 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: Rob Ratkowski Photography Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:27 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Telescope dealers It's not in SLC but have you tried AstroMart ( http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/ )??? I have had great success buying and selling astro items at reasonable prices just check the 'Refractor' section of the classifieds Aloha Rob _______________________________________________ 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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