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

Blowing my own horn
by Steve FISHER 25 Jun '10

25 Jun '10

Many of you were out at Stansbury Park on the 22nd of May for the public star party that was nearly canceled. I told Patrick and a few others that I had had a GREAT night in spite of not setting up my own scope. I came home and typed out my experiences for that night and sent it to a few people to see if I could get it published. Well Cloudy Nights did publish it today. I know it is not up to Joe B's level but who would have ever thought I would be "published" with anything concerning astronomy? http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=2449

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Busy evening / EPOXI
by Patrick Wiggins 24 Jun '10

24 Jun '10

Busy evening this evening here near SPOC. First there were two bright Iridium flares within less than a minute of each other and less than a degree apart. Then a beautiful ISS pass though the zenith a few minutes ago. And I see NASA's EPOXI spacecraft will be near the zenith in the north shortly. I think I'll see if I can get some images. EPOXI, BTW, is headed for an Earth flyby in a couple of days en route to Comet Tempel 1 to examine the crater created by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Those of us that went to Wendover to welcome home Stardust in 2006 might remember that it was EXPOXI that delivered the Stardust return capsule back to Earth. patrick

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Fw: Sundance Star Party -- looks like it's off already
by Richard Tenney 24 Jun '10

24 Jun '10

All, Looks like it's a no-go. I'm grateful for the great response from several of you however. Until next time... Clear skies all, /R --- On Wed, 6/23/10, Michelucci <mailbox(a)michelucci.net> wrote: From: Michelucci <mailbox(a)michelucci.net> Subject: Re: Fwd: Sundance Star Party? To: "Richard Tenney" <retenney(a)yahoo.com> Cc: "Carla King" <cking(a)sainc.com>, "Barbara Smith" <smithbarb(a)sainc.com> Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 8:43 PM Rich, I just found out that the conference has been suddenly put on hold until further notice. If we end up having the conference, it will likely not be in Utah. I feel terrible about this, especially given the effort you've already put into organizing a star party. My very sincerest apologies to you and to anyone who has begun to plan around the canceled event. Hoping to peek through your scope under other circumstances if I ever make it to your neck of the woods. Sorry again for the inconvenience. Clear skies, Pietro On 6/23/2010 12:46 PM, Richard Tenney wrote: I've had good response -- at least 4 others will be bringing up scopes that night. Don't forget to send me the contact info @ Sundance so we can arrange for an observing site. /Rich Subject: Sundance Star Party? Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:40:26 -0400 From: Pietro Michelucci <pem(a)experimentaldata.com> To: retenney(a)yahoo.com, questort(a)attbi.com Dear Mr. Tenney, Hi. I'm writing to see if the Utah Valley Astronomy Association might be interested in organizing a star party on the evening of July 22 for a group that will be staying at the Sundance Resort. I am organizing a conference for about 50 scientists that will likely be held from July 22-23 at the Sundance Resort. They are not astronomers, but would be engaged and fascinated to explore both the sky and the knowledge of your members. The idea would be for them to be a the conference during the day on July 22nd, eat dinner, and then either walk outside to a dark location on the resort property or take a shuttle bus to a nearby location and look through some telescopes. I will be equipping them with planispheres, so they may need some guidance on usage. Would this be within the scope of your group's outreach activities and availability? I would be grateful for a rapid response as we are finalizing the meeting agenda and I'd like to include this prominently as an evening activity on the registration forms. Thanks and best regards, Pietro Michelucci (Northern Virginia Astronomy Club) 571.235.3288

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OT Geology EPOD Jun 24 On the Road to Price Utah No 2
by Canopus56 24 Jun '10

24 Jun '10

Today's (June 24, 2010) EPOD is the second in my series of four pics concerning geology roadcuts between Spanish Fork and Price, Utah. Regards, Kurt http://epod.usra.edu/ If you access this after 6-24-2010, you will need to use the previous button on the EPOD page to scroll to the earlier entry.

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Subject: 2010 Bryce Canyon Astro Fest
by Canopus56 24 Jun '10

24 Jun '10

For Poe, Dark Ranger: Distribution of the festival posters that you distributed at the last SLAS meeting: 1) UofU Orson Spencer Hall lunch commons main entrance (high-traffic college students) 2) UofU Bookstore (high traffic college and high school-parents touring school) 3) Salt Lake City Library - left with Administration approval and posting on 6/23. Unlikely that the bureaucracy will review and post prior to the high Utah Arts Festival traffic beginning 6/24. 4) KCPW offices on Library Square. Unlikely that they will do anything with the poster unless an end-user posts directly to their community calendar webpage. 5) Roasting Company coffee shop 300 East 400 South - college student hang out; visited by many Utah Arts Festival goers beg 6-24. 6) Nostalgia Coffee Shop, 200 East 100 South, college student hang out. I won't be at Bryce but have a great festival. Regards, Kurt, SLAS member

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Sorry about the Clouds
by Jay Eads 23 Jun '10

23 Jun '10

Today was moving day for us so we have more space for my father-in- law. In addition the first of two scopes I have ordered arrive. Today the Orion XX14i arrived. I am hoping to put it together and perhaps give some doubles a try out this weekend. So the clouds today are my fault in case someone wants to blame someone. Lets see, unpack, put together a new scope, unpack, put together a new scope. Hopefully Saturday afternoon I can put it together.

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Steve Fisher
by Mark Shelton 23 Jun '10

23 Jun '10

Hi, I just read Steve's article on cloudy nights. Way to go Steve. Steve has been very instrumental in my life with astronomy. He is always willing to help and guide me as a new member to the club. I purchased my real telescope from Steve 2 years ago and I have never looked back. Was it worth it and will I really enjoy this hobby. I can say yes because of club members and all of the giving of time and there talents to help new members. I can not thank all of you stalwarts of the club enough. A special thanks to Steve and Roger and a few others (I can not remember there names) I have found something I will be doing the rest of my life and learning about the entire time. Where can you find a better hobby to do than this. Mark Shelton

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Augh
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Jun '10

23 Jun '10

A few days ago I did a fun telephone interview with a reporter from a rural Utah paper about this week's partial lunar eclipse saying how it will be easily visible from all over the west. Towards the end of the interview I mentioned the 2012 eclipse and that it will be best seen from Kanarraville and that thousands may travel there to see it. So now I'm reading online where the piece got picked up by the AP and someone managed to mix up the two eclipses and now the AP story has me saying folks will be traveling from all over to see this week's eclipse from Kanarraville! Very embarrassing. Where is ace reporter Joe Bauman when you need him for accuracy...? Groan, patrick p.s. Joe, do you know who I might contact at AP to ask they issue a correction? I've already left voice mails for the reporter and her editor and am about to email clarifications to all Utah media.

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Fw: Sundance Star Party -- request for help
by Richard Tenney 22 Jun '10

22 Jun '10

Looking for help with this. It's after first quarter, so targets will be limited. But after speaking with this guy on the phone today, you will be in the company of some important scientists (can't say who publicly for security reasons); it should be a fun experience. I'm planning to be there. Please let me know -- this is a Thursday evening @ Sundance (in Provo Canyon). TIA, /Rich --- On Mon, 6/21/10, Pietro Michelucci <pem(a)experimentaldata.com> wrote: > From: Pietro Michelucci <pem(a)experimentaldata.com> > Subject: Sundance Star Party? > To: retenney(a)yahoo.com, questort(a)attbi.com > Date: Monday, June 21, 2010, 10:40 PM > Dear Mr. Tenney, > > Hi. I'm writing to see if the Utah Valley Astronomy > Association might be interested in organizing a star party > on the evening of July 22 for a group that will be staying > at the Sundance Resort. > > I am organizing a conference for about 50 scientists that > will likely be held from July 22-23 at the Sundance Resort. > They are not astronomers, but would be engaged and > fascinated to explore both the sky and the knowledge of your > members. > > The idea would be for them to be a the conference during > the day on July 22nd, eat dinner, and then either walk > outside to a dark location on the resort property or take a > shuttle bus to a nearby location and look through some > telescopes. I will be equipping them with > planispheres, so they may need some guidance on usage. > > Would this be within the scope of your group's outreach > activities and availability? > > I would be grateful for a rapid response as we are > finalizing the meeting agenda and I'd like to include this > prominently as an evening activity on the registration > forms. > > Thanks and best regards, > Pietro Michelucci > (Northern Virginia Astronomy Club) > 571.235.3288 > > >

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S&T on CD
by Chuck Hards 22 Jun '10

22 Jun '10

I just placed my order for the complete S&T collection on CD, to be released in August. Pre-orders get $50 off of the $299. price, plus free shipping, plus a full-size paper copy of the very first issue (which Patrick and I already have, IIRC). Anybody else take the bait? This will make researching back issues SO MUCH easier than leafing-through the actual magazines. http://www.shopatsky.com/productdetail/SKY7COMBO.htm?utm_source=SKY062110&u…

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