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

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts
by sfisher01＠comcast.net 07 Mar '12

07 Mar '12

Never? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spencer Ball" <spencer(a)spencerball.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:27:05 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts We'll never see past the cosmic microwave background, much less see light from clear all the way around. Spencer Ball -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of sfisher01(a)comcast.net Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:12 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts I read this on the usless facts gadget on my desktop. I'm not sure I understand it. Care to comment? A sunbeam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would go in a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 billion years. _______________________________________________ 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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St. George Star Party
by Dunn, David 18 Jan '11

18 Jan '11

For those that might be interested. The St. George Star Party will be the first weekend in February this year. I am planning to go down on Thursday (2/3) evening and come home Sunday morning. I have reservations at the Days Inn in Hurricane. It is $48/night. We will plan to observe both Friday and Saturday nights if the weather cooperates. Thanks. Dave

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So Long, Solar System
by Joe Bauman 12 Jan '11

12 Jan '11

Voyager 1 has reached a region where the solar wind is no longer flowing outward, nearly to interstellar space. If anyone would care to read and comment on my blog I'd be grateful: http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011134/Nightly-news-astronomy-Onward-t… Thanks, Joe

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12" Brandt Refractor
by erikhansen＠thebluezone.net 03 Jan '11

03 Jan '11

Hi All, I received an e-mail from Stephen Spiegelman, rebrandt12(a)yahoo.com, he is selling a 12" f16.3 folded Brandt Refractor with the optical axis through the Declination, keeping the eyepiece stationary during slews. He is going to sell it on Astromart via a no reservation auction on Jan 6. He will give more info and photos to interested parties via his e-mail, rebrandt12(a)yahoo.com Erik

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] RASC Colorful Doubles (N=79) to SAO Cross-reference list
by Canopus56 02 Jan '11

02 Jan '11

A corrected version of the above list posted 12-26-2010 has been uploaded. It includes changes from reviews by other amateurs. If you downloaded the original list, please download and update your copy from: http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/coldoubles/ColorfulDou… The corrections are one id number error and two name errors. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Year end review
by Canopus56 31 Dec '10

31 Dec '10

It's that time of the year. What were your most memorable SLAS events and star parties of the year? What were your the most memorable events on the celestial sphere for 2010? What were the most important scientific astronomical discoveries or articles for 2010? - Kurt

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Spectral GOTO Observing List for 41N Lat
by Canopus56 31 Dec '10

31 Dec '10

I have prepared an observing list for spectral stars (N=325) with GOTO references for the Meade LX200 handbox and partially for Celestron handboxes. The main difference between this list and other similar lists is that ids are cross-referenced to SAO and GCVS catalogues for GOTO slewing. The list consists of 325 bright stars observable from 41 N latitude and major stars referenced in Kaler's 100 Greatest Stars (2002) and Kaler's Stars and the Spectra (1997). The purpose of this list is to support star party presentations with respect to star types and use of simple visual diffraction grating spectroscopes like the Rainbow Optics grating. The list is available in html and pdf formats: http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/SpecGOTO/SpectralGotoT… http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/SpecGOTO/SpectralGoToT… For H-R diagram related star party presentations, generally I like to read excerpts from Kaler's 100 Greatest Stars. The goto cross-reference list is intended to have a simple hardcopy list that can be used to quicly locate spectral stars, principally of the A and M types. This list is also intended to support after-work pleasure observing under urban light polluted skies with diffraction gratings. In both instances, quick GOTO location of targets is important. Spectral observing is principally a photographic activity. Characteristics of visual spectra seen through simple diffraction gratings are too subtle for use in general public star party presentations. At best, comparisions between A class stars, which have distinct blue Balmer lines, and M class stars, which have an attenuated blue spectra and some faint molecular lines in the yellow and red portions of the spectra are useable. E.g. see Kaler's summary chart by class: http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/ss-hco.jpg This list was developed from my personal observing list for a 41 North latitude observing point. Bright stars with known absolute masses were assembled from Garrison and Karmo. Mullany's Celestial Harvest was used identify other celestial spectral exceptional objects. The list was filled out the all major spectral stars discussed in Kaler's 100 Greatest Stars and his Stars and Their Spectra. This list was then cross-checked against FAAS and Malpas (which does not appear to be authoritative) and Tonkin. Inclusion of multiple stars was minimized but in some cases stars in multiple systems are included on the basis of completeness or showcase status, e.g. Izar. Where a star is part of multiple system, the separation of key stars is included. Most similar lists concentrate on the brightest stars with known MK types. These are the stars that produce easily seen visual spectra. The list draft and untested. Commments, corrections and criticisms are always appreciated. Clear Skies - Kurt References: Garrison, R.F. and Karmo, T. 2011. The Brightest Stars. In RASC 2010 Observer's Handbook. pp. 279-288. Royal Astron. Soc. of Canada. ISBN-13: 978-0-9813292-5-3. Kaler James [KalerStSp]. 1997. Stars and the Spectra. Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN-13: 978-0521585705. Kaler, James [Kalernnn]. 2002. The One-Hundred Greatest Stars. Springer. ISBN-13: 978-0387954363. Kaler, James. 2010. Stars by Spectral Class. Website. http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/class.html (approx. 400 individual stars reviewed by spectral class) Forum of Amateur Astrospectroscopy (FAAS) and Malpas, B. 2010. Bright Star Spectral Index. http://users.erols.com/njastro/faas/pages/starcat.htm Robinson, Keith. 2007. Spectroscopy: The Key to the Stars: Reading the Lines in Stellar Spectra (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series). ISBN-13: 978-0387367866. Tonkin, Stephen F. 2002. Practical Amateur Spectroscopy. Springer. ISBN-13: 978-1852334895.

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Weather
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Dec '10

30 Dec '10

With the year drawing to a close I pulled out my observing log and calculated how many nights were good enough weather-wise for me to take data this year. Worked out to 138. Just for the heck of it I then compared that to the number of nights I was able to take data in the past few years. 2007: 157 2008: 187 2009: 169 2010: 138 No doubt climatologists will say 3 years do not make a tend but I be lying if I said the downward trend the past three years didn't concern me. Here's hoping 2011 will be better. patrick

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NASA Ambassador
by Kelly_Carroll＠nps.gov 29 Dec '10

29 Dec '10

I was extremely excited to be selected as a NASA Solar System Ambassador for the 2011. I wanted to spread the word in case there are any functions that I can plan to attend to give presentations. This can be any type of event: civic clubs, school functions, astronomical societies, etc... My contact information is: Kelly Carroll 100 Great Basin National Park Baker, NV 89311 kelly_carroll(a)nps.gov 775-234-7331 Thanks! Kelly

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