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

AR1089 and SLAS Sun Party on 7-24-2010 Sat
by Canopus56 23 Jul '10

23 Jul '10

Active Region 1089 has grown so large, that it appears this sunspot is now a naked-eye object (through suitable solar protective screening.) See this image from the 7-22 Spaceweather.com edition. http://spaceweather.com/swpod2010/22jul10/Gil-Esquerdo1.jpg AR1089 should make for good solar viewing at the 7-24-2010 SLAS Sun Party. Clear Skies - Kurt

3 3

Sunspots
by Gary Vardon 23 Jul '10

23 Jul '10

I have looked for sun spots and since 7/31/08 have only seen spots on 3/28/10. I have started looking for solar flares on June 6 2010 and have not seen any Does anyone know if there is a relationship between flares and spots?. 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.

3 2

Re: [Utah-astronomy] AR1089 and SLAS Sun Party on 7-24-2010 Sat
by Gary Vardon 23 Jul '10

23 Jul '10

I am either an unskilled solar observer or someone is in error when talking about large spots on the sun recently. I have not seen any spots on the sun for months and then only once. For June and July I saw no flares either. 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.

3 2

Re: [Utah-astronomy] last effort before full moon
by Jay Eads 23 Jul '10

23 Jul '10

I was able to detect NGC 147 in my 10 inch at Pit n Pole last September. Basically it is a very, very faint halo with just a tad of brightening near the center. I'd like to try for the globulars in M31 with the 14 inch since I know of several who have gotten around six of them with a 10 inch. I'd also like next winter to go for Baade 1 in Taurus (4 degrees south of the Pleiades in the Sky Atlas 2000) since filters are not much help there. Finally, I need to give Pease 1 a try in M15 this fall. Someone also suggested that I go after the old planetary nebulas as listed in the Abells as those offer a challenge for visual observers. Perhaps we should make up a visual challenge badge for observing certain objects and having someone with you who can validate the observation. On 2010-07-23 04:54, Canopus56 wrote: > > I was looking hard right at the spot where NGC 147 (Caldwell 17) > > was with no luck, when I looked up and realized it wasn't > > dark anymore... Oh, well... Until August, I guess. > > NGC 147 (C17) is a faint irregular satellite galaxy to M31. Planetarium software simulation indicates it will be back into a dark sky window, free of moon light washout, beginning the evening of August 6 or 7. It will still be well placed near the local zenith in the early morning hours after 1 am. > > Even though its catalog integrated magnitude is 10.0, Clark's _Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky_, Appendix E, lists the surface brightness of NGC 147 at 24.0 mpsas. That makes it a true dark sky site object or would require a very large aperture - possibly 12 inches or above to acquire visually. > > If you do not have the time to travel to a try dark sky site, I'd recommend trying to acquire it by imaging - which will give you a little more magnitude reach. > > Clear Skies, Kurt > > Appendix E to _Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky_. > http://www.clarkvision.com/visastro/appendix-e.html > > > > > >

1 0

Re: [Utah-astronomy] last effort before full moon
by Canopus56 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

> I was looking hard right at the spot where NGC 147 (Caldwell 17) > was with no luck, when I looked up and realized it wasn't > dark anymore... Oh, well... Until August, I guess. NGC 147 (C17) is a faint irregular satellite galaxy to M31. Planetarium software simulation indicates it will be back into a dark sky window, free of moon light washout, beginning the evening of August 6 or 7. It will still be well placed near the local zenith in the early morning hours after 1 am. Even though its catalog integrated magnitude is 10.0, Clark's _Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky_, Appendix E, lists the surface brightness of NGC 147 at 24.0 mpsas. That makes it a true dark sky site object or would require a very large aperture - possibly 12 inches or above to acquire visually. If you do not have the time to travel to a try dark sky site, I'd recommend trying to acquire it by imaging - which will give you a little more magnitude reach. Clear Skies, Kurt Appendix E to _Visual Astronomy of the Night Sky_. http://www.clarkvision.com/visastro/appendix-e.html

1 0

last effort before full moon
by Michael Vanopstall 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

Trying to minimize downtime. Got up about midnight last night and headed out to Knolls. Set up a little before 2:00 am in the moonlight. Very clear, dry. Nice weather. 16 objects. Favorites were finally seeing NGC 891 (edge-on spiral in Andromeda), and the Helix. The Helix is fantastic. Very large and obvious at 30x, even nicer with an O-III filter in. Completed the Herschels in Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Pegasus, Aries. Herschel total up to 202, Caldwell to 55. I was looking hard right at the spot where NGC 147 (Caldwell 17) was with no luck, when I looked up and realized it wasn't dark anymore... Oh, well... Until August, I guess. Next sweep is Cygnus/Vulpecula/Lacerta before it gets too late in the year. Also, I saw the Pleaides for the first time in a long time being up in the morning... ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall(a)math.utah.edu

4 3

Some Interesting Planetary Nebulae in Scorpius
by Debbie 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

Hi all, I saw some interesting planetaries in Scorpius and Lupus Tuesday night. NGC 6026 was a mag 12.9 and size 54" at Dec -34 degrees. NGC 6072 showed up better at a mag 11.7 and about size 68" at Dec -36 degrees. This really looked good in the 12mm Nagler. It was a little dimmer than NGC 6302 (Bug Nebula). The Bug Nebula is about size 85"x44" and mag 9.7. The last planetary nebula in Scorpius was NGC 6337 with a mag 12.0 and size 51". This one is more circular shaped. Also got good views in Jim's 25" of planetaries in Cygnus. With the blinking planetary (NGC 6826), there is no blink effect in a 25 inch scope. NGC 7008 and NGC 7026 (Cheeseburger Nebula) looked awesome. We had good seeing at 8000 feet outside of Zion National Park. Viewed many globulars in the Milky Way, Hercules, and Ophucuius. Also many galaxies in the Canes Venaciti and Coma Berenices area of the sky. Also a few galaxies in Draco looked great. I think I viewed over a hundred objects Tuesday night so I decided to sleep Wednesday night. Hopefully next month it will get dark earlier in August. Debbie

9 24

Annular eclipse viewing site
by Stephen Peterson 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

Check out Hwy 56 just east of Modena (N of Enterprise). Flat farmland and the CL is basically on the Hwy for several miles. Steve

1 0

Capitol Reef National Park for Labor Day Weekend
by Lowell Lyon 21 Jul '10

21 Jul '10

Hello everyone: The weekend of Labor Day or Friday night, September 3rd through Sunday night September 5th will be a private star party at Capitol Reef National Park. Motel rooms in Torrey are going very fast, so if you are interested in attending, I might suggest that you may your reservations right away. Hope to see many of your there! Lowell Lyon

3 5

Ranger Mayer?
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Jul '10

21 Jul '10

Anyone here know someone with the National Park Service named Joan Mayer? Specifically what park she's with? Thanks, patrick

4 4