April 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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Scope Upgrade Advice
by JayLEads 05 May '10

05 May '10

Ok, now's the time. I am beginning the process to upgrade to what I hope is the first of second major purchases over the next five years in the hobby. This one will be a dob, and I'm looking for a truss design. I have a bad back, deteriorating disc at L5/S1 so weight is an issue. I know Ron Ford has Bill Cowles Coulter Dob for sale and I'll be sending him email to take a look at it, but is there any other recommendations (thoughts on Bill Cowles Dob)? Here is where I am leaning. I have a 10 inch so I think upgrading to a 12.5 won't give me much bang for my buck. So I'm thinking a 15 inch and I am willing to go used or new (probably prefer used). A used Starmaster or Teledit comes to mind. An Obsession 15 inch comes to mind but they do have a rep for the upper cage to be small causing in some scopes a vignetting issue. I have also thought of a used Discovery, I won't go new with them because of what is going on with that company lately or the Orion XXi14. The XXi14 I like because of the intelliscope feature, if I don't want to star hop I can simply input and go. So I would love input into these or other choices others may have: 15 inch Obsession 15 inch used Starmaster 15 inch Teeter (see Teeter Telescopes, they are back east) XXi14 Thougths? Thanks for the input ahead of time.

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Star party, Friday May 7, Provo South Fork Canyon - help needed!
by Richard Tenney 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

I'm hosting a star party for a local high school in Provo's South Fork Canyon next week, Friday the 7th, at 0-dark-thirty (more specifically, sunset is about 8:30, fully dark by 9 p.m.), and would like a few other scopes and operators to show up and help with the crowd control. I think about 40 folks are expected, but it could be more. Please RSVP if you think you can help, whether or not you have a scope. I'm planning to bring my 16". I'll be sending another message out next week with additional details. This is a reasonably dark site for being only 15-20 min. outside of the city. Thanks in advance for helping! /Rich

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Atlas or CGEM?
by Chuck Hards 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

Rob, I can't actually find the word "GoTo" anywhere on the Celestron website pages concerning this mount. "Computer controlled" is as close as they get. Do you know, off the top of your head (and before I email Kevin) if the CGEM is a true "GoTo" mount? I'm pretty naive when it comes to commercial astro hardware, sorry! I've been a die-hard do-it-yourselfer for over 40 years now. On 4/29/10, Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > Hi Chuck > > > My experience w/ the Celestrom CGE mount is a good one and I would > expect the newer CGEM would be on the same level. All inputs are thru > the hand paddle, easy to follow and once aligned (drift alignment > recommended), the drive will place objects near the center of the > FOV. GOTO is accurate, the drive is quiet and has been a joy to use. > If you have any questions, contact Kevin Kawai at Celestron > KKAWAI(a)celestron.com. ENJOY your new mount!! > > 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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May 7th Star Party in Saratoga Springs
by M Wilson 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

In addition to Richard Tenney's star party down Provo way, there is another one for the Lakeside Academy near Saratoga Springs. So far, only one person has signed up for that one on the SLAS Site. They'll have about 60 sixth graders at that one and could definately use additional volunteers.

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Hawking vs ET - KSL this evening
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

Y'all may have heard the Stephen Hawking is saying humans should not try to contact "ET". http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14961193 I just heard from KSL radio (1160 on the am radio dial) that that'll be the topic of conversation during tonight's (Monday) 9:00 hour. Tune and and give a listen. Better yet, call in and voice your opinion. Cheers, patrick

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Podcast on Faulkes Telescope Project
by Jay Eads 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

Was/am catching up on my podcasts and on Naked Astronomy 25 Jan. 2010 podcast they spend about 5 minutes review the project and where the project is headed. Here's the link if anyone wants to listen: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/astronomy/ The Faulkes piece is from around 33.30 to 25.42. It's available free at the iTunes store also if you want to get it there. Was kinda of cool to listen and also interesting to hear what targets most schools pick to image, M51, M1 . . .

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Ratkowski on EPOD
by Canopus56 29 Apr '10

29 Apr '10

Sun Size and Altitude April 21, 2010 Photographer: Rob Ratkowski http://epod.usra.edu/ Rob Ratkowski is the featured author on today's (4-21-2010) EPOD. Congrads Rob. - Kurt P.S. - If you look at the epod page tomorrow, you will have to hit the "previous" button at the upper right-hand edge of the page to scroll back a day's entry.

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Atlas or CGEM?
by Chuck Hards 29 Apr '10

29 Apr '10

It's time for a new mount. I'm looking at the Orion Atlas, and the Celestron CGEM. Soliciting comments from owners/users of both. Thanks!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Atlas or CGEM?
by Chuck Hards 29 Apr '10

29 Apr '10

Thanks David and Rob! The CGEM I'm looking at has the same weight rating as the Atlas, 40 lbs. I plan on using the mount for imaging with APOs and generally apertures less than 8" when used visually (short Newt), so I shouldn't be close to the design limit. I did like the pier extension for the Atlas and I don't see a similar accessory for the CGEM, very handy for refractors. Supposedly some of the issues on the Atlas have been addressed in the newer model but I can't say for sure.

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