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

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts
by sfisher01＠comcast.net 07 Mar '12

07 Mar '12

Never? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spencer Ball" <spencer(a)spencerball.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:27:05 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts We'll never see past the cosmic microwave background, much less see light from clear all the way around. Spencer Ball -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of sfisher01(a)comcast.net Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:12 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts I read this on the usless facts gadget on my desktop. I'm not sure I understand it. Care to comment? A sunbeam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would go in a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 billion years. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)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(a)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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Call for parts
by Chuck Hards 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

On 9/27/11, Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > Chuck > > I have a focuser from a Burgess 127, one side was damaged (knob broke > off but the R+P are good0 I replaced the R+P on my Burgess and gave > my unbroken focuser to my friend that broke his. In turn I have his > broken (damaged shaft) focuser. Yours if you want it. Thanks Rob! I'll foot the postage, want anything else for it?

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ATM session report and next planned date
by Hutchings, Mat (H USA) 27 Dec '11

27 Dec '11

We had a great ATM session on Saturday. Charlie, Jay, Joan and Josh were there and my neighbor who is working on a couple of 8" mirrors also came by. Charlie brought parts of his 17" telescope that he is adapting for use for his 13" f9 project. The purpose of this is to get the scope operational to the point that he can star test to determine if the mirror is astigmatic. Jay worked on the azimuth motion of his Orion 10 " scope. After shimming the central bolt up with disks made of milk jug plastic, the motion seemed much better. This had the effect of reducing some weight on the teflon bearings. He did not have the OTA with him to try the motion out, but it should be improved. Joan brought the optics from a 17" telescope from which she would like to build an ultra-compact style dobsonian. This must fit in her car trunk when finished, hence the need to go with the ultra-compact design. This should be a nice telescope when finished and I look forward to seeing it and seeing through it when finished. Josh brought his 8" mirror and supplies to strip the mirror of its coatings. This is something I had not done before so it was good to learn together. As it turns out, ferric chloride does a great job. Josh soaked the front surface with the chemicals and gently swabbed with cotton balls. It did take awhile, probably an hour, to get the bulk of the aluminum off the mirror. At that point, we poured a sub-diameter pitch lap he will will use to touch up the figure of the mirror. My own current project is a 4" f4 mirror. Prior to the ATM session, I quickly threw together a mini dob mount for the purpose of star testing. So far the mirror is making a good impression on me, but I have yet to have a good night to really see what its limitations are. At that point I will either decide to work on its figure some more, or call it done and get it coated. I plan on mounting the OTA in a ball rather than a dob mount. The next session is on Nov. 12th from 9:00 AM to noonish. As usual, email me off list at mat.hutchings(a)siemens.com and I will give you directions to my house. Mat ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s). The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice(a)siemens.com Thank you

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White-light solar scope update
by Chuck Hards 18 Dec '11

18 Dec '11

On 9/13/11, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: > The scope will probably include an inexpensive eyepiece OK, I have to cut-off reservations today, as I have exhausted the stocks of my suppliers for the time being, but everyone who contacted me both on-and-off list will have their orders filled. The only disappointment is that the eyepiece I had my eye on (no pun intended) is unavailable, and any available substitutions would double the cost of the scope. So I'm hoping that everyone has a suitable eyepiece already on-hand. If not, let me know and I'll see if I can assemble something from my lens inventory. Magnifications for given eyepiece focal lengths. Objective FL = 600mm: 40mm = 15X 30mm = 20X 25mm = 24X 20mm = 30X The scopes will have a 1.25" rack-and-pinion focuser, 1.25" star diagonal, a 50mm air-spaced achromatic objective, and installed Baader solar filter. The filter will be placed either behind a protective optical window in front of the objective, or directly behind the objective itself. I'm kicking around some ideas for a mechanism to retract the filter when not looking at the sun, but won't make that promise due to safety concerns. Also thinking of a simple, integrated solar finder, but that's not really necessary if you just use the scope's shadow for aiming. We'll see what happens, stay tuned.

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Annular from highway 56
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

Forwarded with permission from Brent Watson: On 24 Sep 2011, at 19:29, Brent Watson wrote: > Patrick, > > I was driving west along Utah 56 yesterday and took these photos. They start just after getting out of the mountains west of Cedar City and end just before Modina. The horizon was accurately measured to less than one finger width held at arm's length in every photo. > > I would not recommend going to Modina. It is a good place to visit, but not for very long. Every time I have been there (3 or 4) I am followed or watched closely by those who have a differing viewpoint on monogamy. > > By the way, the Escalante Valley Elementary School is at Beryl Junction. Not saying to, but a school star party may be possible. > > Brent I've posted two of his pictures here: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/brenthwy56-01.jpg Remember that the centerline follows highway 56 so I'm thinking anywhere along the highway should work, especially now that I see how low the horizon is. Thanks Brent for the report. patrick

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Halloween Treat
by Jay Eads 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Because of the weather last year, I wasn't able to set up my 10 inch dob and show kids the moon and/or Jupiter. This year the weather looks good so it is time for a little neighborhood outreach and come views of the waxing crescent moon on the terminator and Jupiter if it is up high enough. Anyone else going to do this? Besides the 10 inch dob I'll have a late 1960's Tasco Spotting Scope that zooms that is an excellent lunar observing scope. Anyway, just curious. -- Jay Eads

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Zion Lodge 10/29 Observing report
by Ian Glenn 31 Oct '11

31 Oct '11

Hi all, What a wonderful weekend! Just wanted to throw in my two cents, I had the good fortune to be in Zion National Park on Friday and Saturday night, both were cold, clear, and incredibly dark nights. I have only ever used a 6" f/8 Dobsonian, but I was with a friend who had his Orion "Starblast" 4.5" f/4 with him, and appropriately we were up at around 3:45 am when the great nebula in Orion, M42, was well placed for observation. I knew what the nebula looked like in my own relatively small aperture, so I didn't expect any more from his smaller reflector. While the lower magnification of the f/4 allowed me to see more of the arc of the glowing cloud, I couldn't see any of the hints of contrast-y detailed cloudiness I had seen in my own 6". Then I casually panned northwards, up to Alnitak, the easternmost belt star. I was very surprised to notice some nebulousness around the northeast of the star, sort of like two bands with a dark patch in between them. Panning farther along in that direction, I came upon what looked like two stars surrounded by a somewhat small but brighter nebula that looked like an oval and a rectangle mixed together. I roughed out a quick sketch of each before going to bed. I searched for both of them with my 6" with no success, my lowest magnification was 48x. Today I took a look at Stellarium, and I think I have observed both the Flame Nebula and M78! I stumbled upon both of these last night, using the 4.5" f/4 at 41x, it was incredible! Ian

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Observing 10/29 at the Pit
by Jay Eads 30 Oct '11

30 Oct '11

Just wanted a quick recap from last night at the Pit. The weather cleared and though seeing and mainly transparency were not so good at first, the steadily improved throughout the night. Out there was Josh, Mat, Mark, Jorge and me. It did get cold out there, down to around 19 degrees F when we left at 1:40a.m. but we were warm thanks to dressing for the weather, some Hot Hands and Mark's dual portable gas heater. The highlight for me was chasing down Pease 1 (this is a known planetary nebula in Messier 15, a globular, and is one of only 3 known PN in gobs). I used the information from this site: http://www.blackskies.org/peasefc.htm and from this one: http://www.blackskies.org/images/pnbst/m15_p1cap.jpg The OIII filter popped out the PN at 471x easily and it popped it at 235x every so often. This is a very challenging object I would invite others to give it a try. I'll post more details on my website later in the week as the weather is going to turn and observing double stars and even the moon won't happen. The rest of the night I went after Planetary Nebula and galaxies. My favorite of the night was NGC 7332 and NGC 7339 which share a very close proximity and are orbiting each other. Here is an image of the two: http://www.astrosurf.com/astroduvel/images/ngc7332.html Another good pair for those who astro-image I believe. Mark spent the night looking at the night sky, identifying the constellations and then looking at some objects in them. Josh did the same and worked with Mat on finding and viewing objects. Jorge was imaging and I hope he shares some! A good night and tonight actually looks to be even better if anyone dares the cold and can get out. I don't think I can tonight. Jay -- Jay Eads

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Comics
by D P Pierce 30 Oct '11

30 Oct '11

http://www.gocomics.com/theargylesweater Deloy Pierce

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