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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Perseids
by Canopus56 14 Aug '10

14 Aug '10

Watched at the Mirror Lake Highway day-pass dispensing parking lot in the Uintahs between 1:00AM-2:45 MST 8-13-2010. Watched one steradian centered on Mirfak (alf Per). Temp a refreshing 39F. ZLM est. 5.8; cloudless transparent sky. Double cluster and 0.5 deg of M31 naked eye; dark lanes of Milky Way from Cygnus to Per easily seen in great detail. 1:00AM-2:00AM 26 total, mostly mag 3.5 to 2.0; 4 mag 2.0 to mag. 1.5, typically 5 to 10 deg smokey white or smokey green tails. 6 sporadics. Mirfak at about 30 deg alt. Shower is clumpy but gave good impression of the "flashlight" stream effect. For "clumpiness", typically a bright meteor would be seen low on the horizon over Colorado, then a second one to the immmediate west of the observing point, followed by a clump of brighter meteors centered on the radiant. 2:00-2:30AM 7 total; 3 sporadics. 2:30AM-2:45AM 0. 3:20-3:30AM 10 with 3 sporadics. Mirfak at about 35-40 deg alt. After packing up and while driving back towards SLC at about 5 km north of the Kamas and Heber freeway interchange, stopped and watched from 3:20 to 3:25 in response to bright meteor seen through windshield. Saw outburst of 10 meteors, inclusive of 3 sporadics. Then nothing from 3:25 to 3:30am. 4:15-4:45AM 0. Back at SLC under urban light polluted sky with Per near its maximum per dawn altitude around 45-50 deg alt. Overall Perseids impression: The last two seasons have been fairly average - not like three seasons ago when there was an inspiring show of long and low streamers in short 1/2 hour burst between 11:30pm to 12:15pm MST. Definitely a nice show tonight though. Worth the drive. It was a nice night under pristine Unitah skies. Great to experience "cold" again, having forgotten it this summer. If anyone has any other reports on the 11:30am to 1:00am time frame - which I did not observe this season - I'd like to hear them. Kim wrote: ========= I was also pretty sure that I saw three or four Delta Aquariids during a short observing session Wednesday night, around 11:30, and since the peak of this shower typically occurs July 29/30 I'm not sure what to make of what I saw both Wednesday and last night. Did anyone else see any Aquariids this week? ========= This season, the delta Aqr's had a good strong peak around 8/4. In terms of radio reflections, not visual observing, the del Aqr's had a higher peak than the Perseids. Most of the sporadics that I saw this week (8-10 to 8-13) ran through Aries and Triangulum running on a line celestial east-west. The radiant back traces generally were celestial west-to-east, but I did not necessarily associate them with the Aqr region. I did not have any strong feelings about whether these sproadics were trailing del Aqr members or just part of the general summer antehelion stream. Kim, you may find these of the major meteor showers interesting: http://sonotaco.jp/img/SN_SWR2009A.png http://sonotaco.jp/img/SN_ALL2009A.png from http://sonotaco.jp/ see also http://sonotaco.com/e_index.html Clear Skies - Kurt P.S. - Concluded that meteor video camera with 160deg TFOV did not have sufficient sensitivity and will be converting it to a 60 deg TFOV lens in order to get more limiting magnitude reach.

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Perseids - and stuff
by Kim 14 Aug '10

14 Aug '10

Except for Kurt’s response to my query about Delta Aquariids I haven’t seen anything today regarding the report I posted this morning. I’m wondering if anyone else made it to a dark site to do some serious observing of the Perseids. I’ve never reported my observations in any kind of a formal manner, partly because that would feel too much like work. I am curious, however, to know if my methods even approach those followed by those who do. I would welcome criticism or comments, if y’all have either. For example, I read other’s reports and wonder why I “bag” so many more meteors. Is my methodology flawed? I do really see the meteors themselves, so I just don’t know what I may be doing wrong – or right. I was planning to observe all nine planets (yes, I still think that there are nine) tonight, but I just couldn’t find Mercury in the murk above the horizon near Santaquin. Missed it last night, too. Has anyone else had difficulty locating it? If not, at what time were you first able to spot it? Kim

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Andromeda and a Perseid
by David Rankin 14 Aug '10

14 Aug '10

Got a Perseid in one of my exposures last night. Enjoy! http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3631&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

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Aurora Watch Photos
by Robert L. Taylor 14 Aug '10

14 Aug '10

We had a well attended Aurora watch on the 3rd of August and while the Northern Lights were a no-show the night time sky combined with the lake did provide some opportunity for nice photos anyway. I posted a few on the SLAS Gallery in my album if you care to look. Bob

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Channel 4 at Harmons tonight
by Nate Jackson 14 Aug '10

14 Aug '10

Steve, Thank you for allowing me to look through your scope! I learned quite a bit tonight. About optics, space, and people in general.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Channel 4 at Harmons tonight
by Nate Jackson 13 Aug '10

13 Aug '10

What time will this Soiree begin? I may make this my first Star Party.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Channel 4 at Harmons tonight
by Nate Jackson 13 Aug '10

13 Aug '10

Thank you Steve! I have been on the fence about tonight since I joined SLAS. I am a bit nervous on if I should just bring me or if I should bring a scope. (being the newbie I may feel a bit emasculated by all the diehards equipment!) I am... lacking when it comes to knowledge about astronomy. Although I could come incognito since nobody knows me! I think I should come and have that experience.

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Star Gazing tonight (Friday) at the gravel pit in Brown's Canyon
by Lowell Lyon 13 Aug '10

13 Aug '10

Hello: I am going up to the gravel pit tonight with a scope. If anyone is interested, please come join in. Thanks. Lowell Lyon

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Wolf Creek Friday
by Jay Eads 13 Aug '10

13 Aug '10

Wolf Creek again looks pretty good tonight, great clear skies, great transparency, no wind after around 9:00p.m., humidity around 40% to 45% tonight. Seeing is marked as average, but for this year, I'll take it. I know of two others going up, one is the owner of a 25" Obsession so that should be fun for him. On 2010-08-12 21:05, Joe Bauman wrote: > Hi Jay, What's Lakeside like tonight? I went to Knolls last night and was blown about like a rag in a hurricane. Thanks, Joe > > --- On Thu, 8/12/10, Jay Eads <jayleads@???> wrote: > > From: Jay Eads <jayleads@???> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Wolf Creek Friday > To: utah-astronomy@??? > Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 7:27 AM > > Clear Sky Clock, Satellite Imagery and NWS are all pointing to very good conditions this Friday up at Wolf Creek so I'm heading up. I'll leave the valley around 6:00p..m. to arrive around 7:30p.m. giving me a hour to set up before sunset. If anyone would like to join, as always, your welcome. After this I become more land locked to my three Rush Valley spots, my two spots up beyond Guardsman Pass (until snow hits) except for weekends. Hope to see a few people up there on Friday. > > > >

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Great night for the Perseids
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Aug '10

13 Aug '10

Just getting back from Bryce Canyon. Very nice night down there. The usual dark skies were free of clouds and smoke and the meteors put on quite a show. While the numbers may not have been as plentiful as we'd of liked (can you ever have too many meteors?) there were still a bunch and many of them were fireballs leaving long trains. I stopped by SPOC on my way home about 5 am and Dave and Nate were just closing up. Apparently they had quite a night there too but let's have them and other who were there talk to that. And remember, star party at the Midvale Harmons tonight and SPOC tomorrow night. patrick z-z-z-z-z-z

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