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

New Image - The Leo Trio
by Tyler Allred 18 Mar '10

18 Mar '10

Hi all. I spent the nights of the 14th and 15th imaging an old favorite... the Leo Trio of galaxies. I try to image them every year because the offer such a lovely field of view. At any rate, my latest version of this grouping of galaxies can be seen on my website here: http://71.18.228.62/gpage8.html Please take a look and let me know what you think. The new AP130 is performing well and the color data really turned out nice on this one. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler PS - There are a few other images on the page that I didn't post to this group, including a narrowband image of the Powder Puff nebula. Feel free to look around. Bye.

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An awful astronomy expedtion
by Jerry Foote 18 Mar '10

18 Mar '10

Many years ago (about 31 I think), I had just mounted my 10" Newtonian on a trailer and Doug & Bonnie McCombs and I went out to Simpson Springs between Christmas and New Years to photograph a Lunar eclipse. This was in the days of hypered film. As this would be the telescopes maiden trip on the trailer I was careful to use Locktite on all of the screws, nuts & bolts. We arrived just at dusk and we started to get ready. I carefully aligned the trailer with North and then removed the blue cover. It had snowed a few days before but there was only a thin crust of snow left on the ground. I had covered the ends of the OTA with some cloth covers to keep out dust. Standing at the front of the OTA I removed the front dust cover. Curiously some silver flakes settled to the ground in front of me. I thought it strange that snow had gotten into the OTA. So I looked in to see if there was any more snow. Gently rocking about half way down the tube was the primary mirror on its side. Looking further I found that the secondary was way out of alignment and seemed to actually be tilted. At the end of the tube was the mirror cell. It seems that in my haste I forgot to use Locktite on one of the three mirror clips. The bumpy ride to Simpson Springs loosened this clip and allowed the primary mirror to come out of its cell. I suspect that the last 10 miles of the road caused the mirror to bounce back and forth between the mirror cell and the secondary. Well that was along time ago and the original secondary and primary had to be replaced. They were both made by Coulter Optical and were of fair quality. Since then I have replaced both of these again with the last mirror done by Steve Dodds. If you ever get to the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival stop by and I can show you the cracks in the side of the OTA where the original primary mirror finally came to rest. I suspect that everyone that ventures out to a remote site has a similar story to Joe's & mine. Jerry Foote ScopeCraft, Inc. 4175 E. Red Cliffs Dr. Kanab, UT 84741 435-899-1255 jfoote(a)scopecraft.com

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Mars lecture - extensive ice deposits on Mars
by Canopus56 18 Mar '10

18 Mar '10

WIth respect to last night's lecture on Mars, the following recent article regarding extensive ice deposits on Mars at equatorial latitudes may be of interest. - Clear Skies, Kurt http://www.universetoday.com/2010/03/02/mro-radar-maps-extensive-subsurface…

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars lecture - extensive ice deposits on Mars
by Gary Vardon 18 Mar '10

18 Mar '10

The last lecture on Mars was outstanding. I hope that with the large budget that SLAS has we fund more lectures including public lectures with outside experts. Perhaps we could even fund an astronomy conference? Sincerely, Gary Vardon The book DO It Right will help you understand vital ideas leading to your greater success. GO to PublishAmerica.com Consulting For Profit is also available. Learn how to make money as a consultant.

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A little help?
by Steve FISHER 18 Mar '10

18 Mar '10

If this is an inappropriate place to ask I'll apologize in advance. I'm looking for a little help with my large transportable pier project. I need a little grinding help and some welding. I have to weld a short piece of 5 1/2" pipe to a steel plate and I need to weld a piece of 3/16" plate to a tower. It is a simple welding job. I can't believe for the first time in my life I don't have a source. I'd be happy to trade some Astro Equipment if I have something you would be interested in or pay cash. Feel free to e-mail me personally if you can help. Thanks. Steve

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Pit 'N' Pole misadventure
by JayLEads 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

Joe, No apology is necessary. You did not bother me a bit. I felt sorry for your misfortune. I was sketching anyway and had an eye patch on to protect my observing eye part of the time so no biggie. Things happen and I firmly believe in life, we need to be far more understanding of each other. I need to apology as I got into my own routine and failed to offer to be of assistance. I appreciate the warnings you gave when you need light. I would welcome the opportunity to observe with you again. I'm hoping to go there or perhaps up to the Grantsville Reservoir on Friday (looks like rain right now) or Saturday which is a little higher and may avoid some of the humidity that can happen on the desert floor locations. We'll see how the weather is come this weekend. I captured 15 Herschels last night (mainly galaxies) and sketched about 7 of them, taking about 20 to 30 minutes per object to observe detail and sketch. Michael was in the zone last night and it was a pleasure to just watch him observe, and would welcome the opportunity to observe with him around again also. I also looked at about 6 other objects in detail. My final object was NGC 2903, which looked really good and showed visually, some decent detail. Since I had to work today I left around 2:00a.m. and I apology to Michael for leaving and disturbing him. On 2010-03-17 00:13, Joe Bauman wrote: > I finally caught up with Michael and Jay, I'm very sorry to say, and we set up at Pit 'N' Pole. I'm sorry for them, not for me. I was the world's worst observing partner, because I had a telescope disaster unlike anything I've dealt with before, and I had to hop in and out of my Jeep, turn on the indoor lights, sometimes accidentally turn on the headlights, etc. I was awful to be around. I'll write about the incident for a blog, but not tonight. -- Best wishes, and apologies to Michael and Jay, Joe > > > >

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Globe at Night
by Craig Smith 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

Just a reminder that Globe at Night ends tomorrow -- let's get lots of Utah measurements in! http://www.globeatnight.org/

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SLAS Speaker at Tonights Meeting
by Canopus56 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

SLAS Speaker Tonights Meeting From the SLAS Calendar General Meeting - Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Description: Meeting starts at 7:30 PM Dr. Marjorie Chan, Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah, will speak on Martian "geology." Location: University of Utah Engineering/Mines Building Room 105 --------------- My Observer's Guide to SLAS 2010 Star Parties with corrections http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/20100315SLASObservingG… (printable) http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/20100315SLASObservingG…

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Nice prominence
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

Those with H-A solar scopes might want to have a look at the Sun today. A prominence that's been building on the NW limb has now broken away except for attachment points at either end forming a large arch. In white light the good sized group of spots that resembles the Hawaiian Islands chain is still visible though seeming a bit smaller and less active than in days past. patrick

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Mini Messier Marithon.
by daniel turner 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

I took my 20x80 binoculars out to the Salt ponds near Stansburry Island and bagged 55 Messier objects before the dewfall became too heavy to cope with. I didn't get all the Virgo and Coma galaxies but I was able to nibble around the edges of them. Next time I'll do better. Here is my report. Time: 2010 March 16 0300-0600 UT (monday night MDT). Location: Stansbury Island. Equiptment: 20x80 binoculars hand held. Pocket Star atlas for confirming locations. Conditions: Clear with a slight wave of haze passing from west to east over the session. Temp 46F falling to 38F. No wind. Humid with a heavy dewfall at end of session. Stadium of haze due to low level humidity half way to the height of Polaris. But Transparency above this was good. All seven stars in UMI visable with direct vision. Venus set just after arrival. Saturn visable in VIR. Zodiacal light stands vertical ending at the Pleides. At 21:10 MDT M79, M41, M46, M47. At 21:15 M103, M52, M31, M32, M110. At 21:17 M33, M34. AT 21:23 M77 (with averted vision), M45. At 21:27 M81, M82, M42, M43, M78. At 21:31 M93, M50. At 21:33 M1, M35, M36, M37, M38. At 21:37 M44, M67, M48. At 21:51 M40, M92, M109. AT 21:53 M101, M51. At 21:59 M63, M106. At 22:09 M108, M97. At 22:18 M65, M66, M95, M96, M105. At 22:34 M3, M49. At 22:55 M104. At 23:09 M53, M64. At 23:28 M61, M68. At 23:49 M58, M59, M60. At 00:02 M98, M99, M100.

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