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

Best to be green
by Stephen Peterson 02 Mar '11

02 Mar '11

The Utah legislature should make green the official State laser color! Seve

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Viewing tonight?
by Craig Smith 02 Mar '11

02 Mar '11

Everything was looking pretty good for tonight not long ago, but it seems some high clouds have moved in.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere?
by Wayne Sumner 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

Thanks, Jon. I WILL party on. I'm sure everyone in this group realizes that most adults don't know stars or constellations. I have one more REALLY good reason, then, why we need to teach kids constellations (whether by planisphere or ipod doesn't really matter). When the issue of light pollution comes up, who are the only people who care about it? It is those who know and love the night sky. If we can share our passion for the beauty of the night sky, whether by CCD imaging or naked eye, with enough people, then maybe, just maybe we stand a chance of getting decent dark sky laws passed. Or, better yet, people will start to realize without even needing laws, that light pollution is a bad deal for everyone. The imagers and gazers amongst us will surely agree that without future awareness, dark skies might go the way of homing pigeons. What say ye? Wayne A. Sumner Math/Physics/Astronomy/Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach Northridge High School Davis School District (801) 402-8610 >>> 03/01/11 7:38 AM >>> Joe Wrote: Personally, I'm more interested in seeing (and photographing) amazing objects in space than I am in memorizing constellations. If we lived in another part of the galaxy I'd still be interested in examining the same classes of objects but the constellations would be far different. Do beings on every inhabited planet have to bother memorizing the designs just because their ancestors did? Hi Joe, I think learning the constellations is important for beginners... or anyone for that matter, because it helps to orient oneself in the night time sky. It helps to narrow down sections of the sky, and make it easier to find what one may be looking for, or at. I can glance up into the night time sky and in seconds orient myself and determine what I'm looking at, and where to go from there. Many people, not knowing the constellations are well... just lost. They only see bright, twinkling lights in the air. Besides.... its fun. Looking up into the summer sky and seeing the constellations is like seeing old friends once again. I think my favorite is actually an astrerism: The Summer Triangle, a combination of Cygnus the Swan, Aquila the Eagle and Vega... the Vegetarian. Okay... that last one was a joke. Party on Wayne! Jon _______________________________________________ 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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Watching the Shuttle Launch from 30,000 feet
by Jay Eads 28 Feb '11

28 Feb '11

Not sure if everyone has seen this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM&feature=player_embedded It's the launch of Discovery this week as viewed from a passenger jet flying in the area. Rather an interesting view. -- Jay Eads

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere?
by Wayne Sumner 28 Feb '11

28 Feb '11

I still teach my high school students how to use a planisphere (most have never seen one!). Once they get the hang of it, they seem to enjoy it, too. There are lots of things you can do easily on a planesphere that might be more difficult on an iphone such as predicting what time a constellation will rise on a certain date, or when a certain constellation will be highest in the night sky. I always introduce my Edmund Scientific planispheres to the students by telling them I got them really cheap because of a misprint getting east and west reversed! Some always catch on to my teasing when we finally put them overhead and they notice that east and west are correct. Concepts such as zenith, circumpolar, and meridian are easily taught with planispheres. I buy them in boxes of 25 for about $50 (plus another $10 shipping) for my astronomy classes, which means I can let every student check out their own. It will be a few years before iphones get that cheap. By the way, as I point out constellations and stars with my green laser at star parties, it's always fun to ask those with iphones how I'm doing. They make great backups when I have a senior moment and forget a name. Wayne A. Sumner Math/Physics/Astronomy/Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach Northridge High School Davis School District (801) 402-8610 >>> Patrick Wiggins 02/27/11 4:36 PM >>> As much as us old timers complain about it, it is the way of the future. And certainly not just in astronomy. Light aircraft are now being sold with iPads built into the console replacing old fashioned "steam gague" instruments and the FAA recently approved using iPads to replace paper charts even in big aircraft (one airline exec reported replacing all the paper charts in his airplanes with iPods will remove about 50 pounds of charts and binders from each aircraft). I'm not thrilled about having computer screens glaring at true dark sky sites. But I have to admit that they do work well so, as with any other illuminated device, as long as they are shielded I'm ok with them. patrick On 27 Feb 2011, at 12:06, Jay Eads wrote: > I'm kinda of on an astronomy kick since the weather continues not to be good > for visual observing. So I just got done reading an article that talks of > learning the constellations and the article got me thinking. I learned the > constellations with a planisphere and from time to time I will still use > one. However, in the article the author talks how he had a group of novice > astronomy students out and each had a copy of the Edmund's Scientific > Planisphere. Some also had SkySafari, StarMap and Distant Suns on their cell > phones and they found the constellations and objects far quicker than those > using the planisphere. Thus the author came to the conclusion that cell > phones and apps are probably on the verge of replacing the planisphere as > the tool used for finding constellations and other deep sky objects, > especially for the younger generation. One of my observing friends is in his > 20's and he uses Distant Suns in the field all the time. So the question I > ask is do you use a traditional planisphere (and I could say atlas since > some of these aps go down quite deep) or are you still an old book, atlas, > planisphere type of guy? It also leads to an interesting thought which is > what will be the tools of the amateur astronomer say in 20 or 30 years? > > -- > Jay Eads _______________________________________________ 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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