January 2011 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Farthest galaxy yet
by Joe Bauman 27 Jan '11

27 Jan '11

http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011267/Nightly-news-astronomy-The-Fart…

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Celestron Nexguide autoguider
by Chuck Hards 26 Jan '11

26 Jan '11

Has anyone purchased and used the Celestron Nexguide autoguider? http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?ProdID=648 As my transition from emulsion to digital continues, I really like this concept. I want to avoid having to take a laptop to a remote site- generally take only the minimum amount of equipment. I tend to take too much stuff even for visual outings, lol. Imaging with a DSLR and this little gadget seems to be the perfect way to go, especially considering the amazing images published by people using a DSLR instead of dedicated astro-camera. Spend more time getting images and less time staring at a monitor, punching keys, and generally losing good dark-adaptation. Do all the organizing and processing back at home. Add to that the fact that one's power requirements drop quite a bit when losing the computer, and it's a cinch for streamlined, reduced-hassle imaging. I'd like to get this with a portion of my tax return, and do some testing with the old Pentax film camera, until I can fund the DSLR later in the spring. Comments welcome.

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News Brief
by Ann House 26 Jan '11

26 Jan '11

There was a short article in today's Tribune that says the visitors to Bryce Canyon went up over 7% last year thanks in part to the astronomy programs. Cool! -A

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Mirror
by Mark Shelton 25 Jan '11

25 Jan '11

Hi, all I have a question. I just acquired a 13.1 F4.5 Coulter dob. I am thinking about just using the mirror out of it and making my own version of a Obsession looking dob. Is there a good way to tell if the mirror is worth the effort to make a dob built around it? I have it out of the telescope and I can not see any defects so far in the mirror. ( have not looked really close at it yet.) The Mirror sets in a kind of sling in the tube. Very Strange setup. I guess it was the way they made them in early 1980 or so. If some one has a mirror cell to fit this size of mirror I would love to hear from you. I really do not know what I should be looking for to check the mirror. Any Suggestions would be appreciated. Mark

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mirror
by sfisher01＠comcast.net 25 Jan '11

25 Jan '11

Mark: I would recommend the book "The Dobsonian Telescope" by David Kriege and Richard Berry. If you are considering building an Obsession style telescope this book is a MUST. Give me a call or e-mail me and I will loan you my copy to look through. While it stops short or measured drawings it has step by step instructions on building your truss scope. In spite of the fact that I will most likely not have a Dobson type scope any time soon, maybe ever. I would not want to part with this book but I will make you a short term loan. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Shelton" < woodturninginc @yahoo.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman. xmission .com> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 4:08:05 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mirror Hi, I will go out and clean the mirror tonight sometime and take a close look. I will let you know what it looks like. Thanks for the information Mark ________________________________ From: Jay Eads < jayleads @ gmail .com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman. xmission .com> Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 3:38:18 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mirror Mark, Have you considered emailing Steve Dodds over at Nova Optical here in Herriman ? I know when my daughter and I get done figuring our 8" and 12" mirrors I'll have him coat them. I believe he can test the mirror for you. How old is the mirror and how do the coatings look? Jay On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 2:29 PM, Chuck Hards <chuck. hards @ gmail .com> wrote: > Mark, a quick look through a Ronchi grid will tell you everything. > Likewise, before you part-out the Coulter , perform a star test. That > will also tell you about the correction on the parabola. > > I have owned many Coulter mirrors over the years, and never had a bad one. > > > > On 1/24/11, Mark Shelton < woodturninginc @yahoo.com> wrote: > > Hi, all > > > > I have a question. > > I just acquired a 13.1 F4.5 Coulter dob. I am thinking about just using > the > > mirror out of it and making my own version of a Obsession looking dob. > > > > Is there a good way to tell if the mirror is worth the effort to make a > dob > > built around it? > > > > I have it out of the telescope and I can not see any defects so far in > the > > mirror. ( have not looked really close at it yet.) > > > > The Mirror sets in a kind of sling in the tube. Very Strange setup. I > guess > > it > > was the way they made them in early 1980 or so. > > > > If some one has a mirror cell to fit this size of mirror I would love to > > hear > > from you. > > > > I really do not know what I should be looking for to check the mirror. > > > > > > Any Suggestions would be appreciated. > > > > Mark > > _______________________________________________ > > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > > Utah-Astronomy@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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy@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 > -- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@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 _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@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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Astrobites
by Jay Eads 24 Jan '11

24 Jan '11

Found this website which is done by graduate students for undergraduate students. Their goal is: "For most people, it takes years for scientific papers to become meaningful. Our goal is to solve this problem, one paper at a time. In 5 minutes a day reading astrobites, you should not only learn about one interesting piece of current work, but also get a peek at the broader picture of research in new area of astronomy." http://astroph.wordpress.com/ I thought some here might find it an interesting way to keep up on current research. Enjoy. -- Jay Eads

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Zeta Ophiuchi and impact of SN Companion
by Jay Eads 24 Jan '11

24 Jan '11

This is coming out of the WISE project and I found it interesting. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/gallery/pia13455.html Seems Zeta Ophiuchi is speeding through space because it's companion went Supernova shooting it out. Imagine what this will look like when it goes supernova and lights up that dust! Too bad its in about 4 million years (relative young for astronomical terms). If nothing else, I thought it was a cool picture and when I look at this star (we see it red, it is really a blue giant) I'll think back on this. -- Jay Eads

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12.9 Mag SN in NGC 2655 SN2011B
by Jay Eads 23 Jan '11

23 Jan '11

A Type Ia SN, SN2011B was discovered on 2011/01/07 by Koichi Itagak in NGC 2655. This should be viewable through many scopes and is probably a good target for those doing astro imaging. Here is a link to the image: http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2011/n2655s2.jpg Here is the info: http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/ I'd love to get out and visually see it but with the moon and the LP from Herriman during the early evening I don't think that will happen. If the weather is good come early next week I think I will try to get north a little and try to get some time in on it. If anyone does image please post.

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He helped SLAS get the Ealing
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Jan '11

23 Jan '11

Long time SLAS members might remember the guy this proposed movie is based on helped with moving the Ealing from the U to Stansbury: http://www.nme.com/movies/news/the-social-network-team-working-on-sex-on-th… patrick

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NASA announcement-Hubble Discovery-Jan 26, 2011
by Rodger C. Fry 21 Jan '11

21 Jan '11

I wonder what is up with this. NASA Announces Media Teleconference About Hubble Discovery <http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTExNzk4N TImbWVzc2FnZWlkPVBSRC1CVUwtMTE3OTg1MiZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTEyNzY3M zU4MjcmZW1haWxpZD1yY2ZyeUBjb21jYXN0Lm5ldCZ1c2VyaWQ9cmNmcnlAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmZ mw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&100&&&http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqn ews/2011/jan/HQ_M11-015_HST_Update.html> Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:00:00 -0600 NASA will hold a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 26. Rodger Fry

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