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

stacking software for dslr
by daniel turner 09 Feb '10

09 Feb '10

I'm looking for stacking software the doesn't come bundled with camera and telescope control software. I leave my PC at home and just mount my DSLR with a short lense on a minimalist tracking device without any guide telescope. There are some popular packages for the video files that planet photographers use but not for DSO still photography. Any sugestions would be appreciated. DT

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Big sunspot
by Patrick Wiggins 09 Feb '10

09 Feb '10

I have not seen them yet but SpaceWeather.Com is reporting a big group of sunspots. Here's an image from their page: http://spaceweather.com/images2010/08feb10/midi512_blank.gif?PHPSESSID=ssrr… Maybe if the Sun really is going to start up again I may finally get some sort of H-alpha scope. patrick p.s. Very nice night tonight.

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St. George this weekend
by Dunn, David 09 Feb '10

09 Feb '10

I am still planning to be in St. George this weekend. I will be heading down on Thursday evening and plan to observe Friday and Saturday. The plan is that we will meet in the Motel 6 (St. George) parking lot and head out to which ever site we choose. My Cell phone is 801-589-8474. Please give me a call or send an email so that I know you are coming. The weather is still looking good, low 60s during the day and high 30s at night. Thanks, Dave

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Utah radio meteor obs report Jan 2010
by Canopus56 09 Feb '10

09 Feb '10

My graphical Utah radio meteor observing report for January 2010 can be viewed at: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2970 Data in this report covers in part the periods: Date-UTHour MJD Solar longitude 20091225 00UT 55190 273.2 20100101 00UT 55195 280.3 20100131 23UT 55226 311.8 Three peak counts were: Date-UTHour Count Comments 20100103 20UT 145 Ursids peak 2010 6hr duration 20100115 15UT 165 anomalous spike 20100128 11UT 150 anomalous spike Ursids peak readings: yyyymmddhh count 2010010316 90 2010010317 115 2010010318 139 2010010319 138 2010010320 145 2010010321 122 2010010322 109 2010010323 62 Thanks to all who helped me in getting the station running. Next major meteor shower is not until April. For the next few months, I expect only to record anomalous spikes and the daily apex-of-the-way trace. I have purchased and am replacing the data recording laptop with a cheap desktop computer. The HP laptop has heating problems during extended use that causes the computer to stop recording - which is the cause of data gaps in the report. - Clear skies - Kurt Station description: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2984 [Observer]Kurt Fisher [Country]United States of America [City]Salt Lake City Utah [Longitude GMAP]-111.882 [Latitude GMAP]40.775 [Frequencies]55.250 mhz CW [Antenna]MFJ-1622 Radial Antenna, HF [Azimut Antenna]90 [Elevation Antenna]45 [Pre-Amplifier]MFJ-1045C Preselector 55 mhz [Receiver]ICOM R1500 [Observing Method]Spectrum Labs software [Remarks]Presario V4000 1.7Ghz Pent M [Soft FTP]Colorgramme RMOB Lab v 2.3

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Big sunspot
by Jay Eads 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

Patrick et al , I agree, it i.s a good night tonight. I've seen sketches on the sunspots from yesterday and today. They look promising. So back to looking through some stuff and not wasting the night. NGC 1980 looked really wonderful when I left it about 10 minutes ago. n 2010-02-09 03:25, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > I have not seen them yet but SpaceWeather.Com is reporting a big group of sunspots. Here's an image from their page: > > http://spaceweather.com/images2010/08feb10/midi512_blank.gif?PHPSESSID=ssrr… > > Maybe if the Sun really is going to start up again I may finally get some sort of H-alpha scope. > > patrick > > p.s. Very nice night tonight. >

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Super Bowl astronomy
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

According to a report on NPR yesterday, just over half of the people who watched today's game watched not for the game but for the commercials. Actually I'm DVRing the whole thing and will fast forward through the game parts to watch the commercials (NPR figured that of the whole 4 hours the game lasts the ball will be in motion about 11 minutes). However, for those who have not seen it yet, there's talk on the web of a beer commercial airing during the game with an astronomical theme and it's on You Tube now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23nysgG7_Rc Let's hope some of the SPOC star parties this year will be as much fun... :) patrick p.s. Go Manchester United!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Street Lights
by Canopus56 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

Erik wrote: >My general impression is that the lights primary purpose is less energy >use, with proper shielding a very distant second. Efficient energy use goes hand-in-hand with wise lighting choices. Fixtures that broadcast large spheres of glare are by design energy wasteful. Replacing a sodium an LED light source with an LED does improve efficiency, but deploying LEDs using the same inherently wasteful broadcast light fixture designs defeats the energy savings purpose of the change. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Street Lights
by Canopus56 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

Two pics of two test areas: TestArea7 20100206 800 S 600 W Replace 250W Sodium unrecessed cobra head with 88W recessed cobra head http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2991 TestArea6 20100206 900S 600W Replace 400W Halide with 200W Induction in acorn head http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=2994 General impressions - The design of the head is more important and what goes in it. The recessed cobra heads project light down into distinct pools without hazardous glare. The original sodium lamps project below the bottom of the cobra head in order to disperse unshielded light across 180 degrees and thus create driving hazard glare. For older drivers, nighttime glare is an important safety concern. In the eldery, nighttime glare causes eye strain and headaches. It was much easier to drive through those sections of the 800 South in test area 7 that had the fully recessed cobra heads with lower wattage because they produce pools of shielded light from above without any glare. Without straining against the glare from a projecting-type cobra head, it was easier to maintain relaxed awareness of the driving situation. Due to over-the-top glare from the use of acorn heads at very high density, the acorn heads in test area 6 created an unsafe driving condition for elderly drivers. This was due to the fact the acorn head design and not the type of lighting used. The standard acorn heads adopted by Salt Lake City and used, for example, in the Avenues, are inherently unsafe for elderly drivers. The acron heads place unshielded lights just above the horiztonal sight line of the driver's eyes but still within their central field-of-vision. A short drive through Test Areas 5 and 6 induced both noticeable eye strain and a slight headache. The overall lighting gave the unasethetic effect of Draper-prision-like lighting. Because of the lighting, Test Areas 5 and 6 are not I kind of place I would like to drive through or live in. The SLC acorn heads were adopted after a fairly good study on lighting by the City back in the 1990s that concluded that the recessed cobras were the best type of lighting. But the report and City adopted unshielded acorn heads from a false perception of economy - that unshielded acorn heads projected the most light over the largest areas - and therefore were the "cheapest". Clear Skies - Kurt

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Bolden interview
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Feb '10

07 Feb '10

I just watched the replay of NASA administrator Bolden's news conference from this (Saturday) morning. I'm really liking this guy. He talks like a real person (even admits faults) and not like some political hack. It doesn't look like NTV is going to rebroadcast it again but I did find it on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision#p/a/u/0/FfGo2ugcG48 patrick

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Street Lights
by erikhansen＠TheBlueZone.net 06 Feb '10

06 Feb '10

The News that Patrick sends to SLAS members included information about a street light test being conducted by Salt Lake City. I have included a link to a map of new lighting locations. Salt Lake City is welcoming public comment on these lights. http://www.slcgov.com/Transportation/StreetLighting/PDF/SLCStreetLightTestM… Erik

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