November 2010 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Hartley 2 meteors
by Canopus56 02 Nov '10

02 Nov '10

>From Today's spaceweather.com 11/2/2010. Note it is a potential "non-event" qualified by a "big if": ====== BE ALERT FOR 'HARTLEY-ID' METEORS: If Comet Hartley 2 is going to produce a meteor shower, tonight is the night. According to experts, there is a slim chance that dust from the comet could hit Earth's atmosphere on Nov. 2nd and 3rd, producing a slow flurry of meteors streaming from the constellation Cygnus. If you're out after sunset, be alert for Hartley-ids. ====== See also: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/27oct_hartleyids/ ====== Even so, he plans to keep an eye out for more in the nights ahead, especially on Nov. 2nd and 3rd. That's when a potential Hartley-id meteor shower would be most intense, according to calculations by meteor expert Peter Brown of UWO. The comet was closest to Earth on Oct. 20th, but that's not necessarily the shower's peak-time. Cooke explains: "The comet has been sputtering space dust for thousands of years, making a cloud that is much bigger than the comet itself. Solar radiation pressure and planetary encounters cause the comet and the dust cloud to diverge—not a lot, but enough to make the date of the shower different from the date of the comet's closest approach." If there is a Hartley-id shower—"that's a big IF," notes Cooke--it would emanate from the constellation Cygnus the Swan, visible to observers in the northern hemisphere almost directly overhead after sunset in early November. Lunar interference should not be a problem. On Nov. 2nd and 3rd, the Moon will be a slender crescent, providing dark skies for a meteor watch. "I'll definitely have our cameras turned on," says Cooke. "It's probably going to be a non-event. On the other hand," he points out, "we might discover a whole new meteor shower." ====== - Clear Skies - Kurt

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103P/Hartley 2 - Moon is out of the way
by Canopus56 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

Now that the Moon is out of the way, I briefly tried Hartley last night at 2:00 am with a quick peak using 50mm binoculars from SLC. Yoshida's comet page still shows it at mag 5.0. I used an updated planetarium program, but I could not pick it out from a star field that included mag 6 stars. If the high-pressure zone holds tonight, I'll probably try it from Little Mtn. tonight. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Spirit of the season
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

Being that this is Halloween I had hoped to post an astronomy related Halloween cartoon. Pretty slim pickings. This is the closest I could find: http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2010/10/31 Not astronomy related but I did get a laugh: http://comics.com/bc/?DateAfter=2010-10-24&DateBefore=2010-10-31&Order=&Per… Cheers, patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] 2003 UV11 What if it hit Salt Lake City
by Jay Eads 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

David, There was a study in 2007 by Sandia Labs out of Livermore CA (where I grew up) found at https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/asteroid.html that shows that the size of the Tungska event is actually smaller than orginally thought. Tungska's object created a yield of 3-5 megatons, which is revised down from the 10-20 megatons of earlier. Thus the size of the object would be about 60% less. How often is still up for grabs from what I've read but I'm sure they are more defined. I think Shoemaker estimated Tunguska events around every 300 years. From the Sandia study it looks like even smaller ones could still do major damage over a major metropolitan area. -- Jay Eads

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Purchase advice on Canon Digital Rebel XS, XSi
by Canopus56 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

Thanks, Rob. I hit the buy button on Adorama. Couldn't find the T-thread ring, so I ordered it off Scopestuff. - Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ISS this evening
by Canopus56 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

Rodger, I went out at 6:25 and saw the overflight at 6:27 (universal cell phone time). It was a bright, dramatic daylight overflight with good contrast against the early civil twilight sky. The main trick was that I could not see the approach. It sort of "winked on" near culimation. That's for the head's up, Patrick. - "Killer Death From Above" Kurt (Yeh, it's Halloween)

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ISS this evening
by Patrick Wiggins 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

Challenging pass of ISS this evening (challenging because it occurs right at sunset). Here are data computed for my place but should be good for all of most eveyone on this list (well except for Rob but he'll probably be drinking something cool on a beach somewhere at the time <g>): Sunset 18h27m Appears 18h23m55s 3.3mag az:236.4° WSW horizon Culmination 18h28m52s -4.1mag az:324.4° NW h:72.8° distance: 370.6km height above Earth: 356.3km elevation of sun: -1° Disappears 18h33m36s -1.1mag az: 52.4° NE h:1.2° patrick

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