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

Parallax experiment with (3833) Calingasta
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Jul '10

30 Jul '10

I spent some time tonight working with J D Armstrong and some of his students at the U of Hawaii doing a parallax experiment I've been wanting to do for some time. It's one of those things I'm sure has been done before but I wanted to try it myself. They used the 2 meter Faulkes Telescope North on Haleakala and I used a C-14 here in Utah to simultaneously take images of (3833) Calingasta which is currently about .45 AU from Earth. Here's my first (and admittedly "quick and dirty") effort to display the images side-by-side: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/parallax01.jpg Fun night, patrick 718

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MSL in 3D
by Patrick Wiggins 30 Jul '10

30 Jul '10

Grab your red/blue glasses. Here's a 3D shot of NASA's Mars Science Lab: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/MSL3D.JPG patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Benefits of owning a Large Dob . . .
by Jay Eads 29 Jul '10

29 Jul '10

And then for when public outreach is done . . . http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/129191808871460319.jpg On 2010-07-29 23:29, Jay Eads wrote: > LOL > > On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 4:57 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@???> wrote: > > > yes, when our economy gets so bad that we've all lost our pants, I for one > > intend to hang onto my scope! > > > > --- On Thu, 7/29/10, Jay Eads <jayleads@???> wrote: > > > > From: Jay Eads <jayleads@???> > > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Benefits of owning a Large Dob . . . > > To: utah-astronomy@??? > > Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 4:50 PM > > > > > > This came from CloudyNights and I know not all will see it so I re-post it > > here: > > > > http://stellafane.org/images/2002_conv/gallery/photo065.jpg > > > > Enjoy. > > _______________________________________________ > > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > > Utah-Astronomy@??? > > 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@??? > > 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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Another fried electronics story and powered USB buffers
by Canopus56 29 Jul '10

29 Jul '10

Kim wrote: > I'm wondering if I could have been causing > problems with too many USB-connected devices. Although most external drives and similar devices are self-powered and do not draw power through the USB port, the take-away points from the laptop tech is: 1) All external powered devices are not always well-behaved by either brand or for a particular device over time. They can have voltage variations in the data lines even if they are self-powered. 2) USB port power devices normally include circuits to prevent over drawing power through the USB port power line. Again, what you get depends on the manufacturer and the device. 3) External powered mini-hubs often have both power line surge protection and data line surge protection. Read you mini-hub packages carefully so you are sure what you are buying both power line and data line surge protection. - Kurt

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More on the Meade mount
by Kim 28 Jul '10

28 Jul '10

For what it’s worth, I just tried the mount connected to a 12V power supply with the Meade 12V-to-18V adapter. With or without the hand controller connected the mount just slews in RA at the rate of about ten degrees per minute. Any other ideas? Kim

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Another fried electronics story and powered USB buffers
by Canopus56 28 Jul '10

28 Jul '10

In followup to Kim's story about a fried scope board, I would like to convey a recent experience regarding astronomy cameras and other gear powered through a USB port on a laptop. The short version of the lesson learned and related in this message is that it is a good idea to have a separately powered USB mini-hub and to use that as a buffer between your laptop and astronomy gear. Last year, I might have scoffed at that notion because a powered USB mini-hub is one more piece of gear to haul around and hook up in a hobby that is already overloaded with gear. Based on my experience related below, know I feel it is a basic safe computing practice. Since 2006, I have used a Compaq Presario 6400 laptop as my primary computer, including for powering astronomy cameras (Meade DSI Pro). It has served me extraordinarily well - having been in a virtually continuous "on" state since 2006 and suffering me carrying it around in softcase on a daily basis. Last winter I also started working with other USB interfaces and devices: computer control of a ham radio receiver in support of radio astronomy, external 500mb portable drives, a cooling platform that was USB powered and a new DMK31 astrocamera. In the middle of experimenting with these new USB powered or effecting devices, my USB ports shorted out. The laptop worked fine but no USB ports worked. For a modern laptop that is close to having no laptop. Not wanting to upgrade this Windows XP laptop and repurchase and reinstall all of my astronomy software under Windows 7, I purchased a new motherboard and had it installed at a local computer store. The "certifed" new motherboard has a short in CD-DVD player burner pins but the USB ports now work. Because of the product development cycle for software and laptops, I am deferring buying back in until December or January and continue to limp along with the old Presario. The laptop tech's experience was that using alot of USB powered devices generally results in motherboard short-outs. He said that he always uses a separately powered USB min-hub - so if the power hungry USB powered plug-in device shorts out or justs tries to draw too much power - the mini-hub gets fried and not your laptop's motherboard. Live and learn. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Meade products
by Canopus56 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

Chuck and Kim, Another debug justification to switch to an entirely different power source - presumably with a new connector cable - is to rule out a fault or short in power connector cables. - Kurt

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Meade products
by Kim 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

Hi all. I just wanted to share yet another bad experience I had today with Meade customer service. I’ve had an LXD 650 mount for a five-inch apo that has almost never worked properly. It (the mount) has been returned to Meade for service on at least five different occasions and has even sometimes been returned to me in a non-working condition. I called today to see if there’s anything they could do to help me out and the response, in so many words, was, “No.” All they would offer was to suggest that I buy yet another sh$%!@tty Meade mount to replace the one I own. This is a typical experience for me with Meade customer service. I have never had a good experience with their service department. I would NEVER purchase another Meade product, and if one were given to me I would sell it immediately and buy a Celestron product with the cash. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but I’m enormously disappointed (pi__ed-off would be more accurate) with Meade and I’m extremely offended and angry by their nonchalant attitude toward their badly manufactured products and dissatisfied customers. I think my astronomy friends, especially anyone considering purchasing a new scope or mount, should be aware of Meade’s way of doing business. BTW, my brother has had similar experiences after purchasing both a 12-inch SCT and a 14-inch SCT. Both scopes spent more time at Meade for warranty repairs than they did in his possession. OK, now I feel better for getting that off my chest. I am now in the market for a suitable replacement mount, but I don’t have much money. If anyone has something that would work and would consider some kind of trade, please let me know. Kim

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Full moon
by Chuck Hards 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

For all the grief we toss it's way, there's NOTHING to compare with the sight of a full moon rising over the Wasatch. This makes 3 in a row that I've seen. I may hunt some PN tonight. The moon won't hurt the hunt in the least. Shine on, Luna.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Meade products
by Canopus56 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

Kim, Debug ideas (which you may have already tried): 1) bad controller to mount cable -> try borrowing a cable from someone in the club that has the same mount. 2) rule out power fluctuations -> put it on a solid regulated power supply. Try two different sources to rule out the connector. Clear Skies - Kurt

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