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

Defeat
by Joe Bauman 08 Jun '11

08 Jun '11

Last night was a great one for observing or astrophotography from SPOC. Unfortunately, I struggled all night without success. At one point near dawn Patrick found M51 for me and I got a crappy picture. I then went to a bright star to focus, and when I tried, I couldn't find M51 again. I didn't have the knack of my new RoboFocuser; also, everything kept drifting. In the morning I checked whether my gear had lost its level, but it was still level. Then I checked the balance and found it was far out of balance, which must have caused the distressing failure to track correctly. Thanks, your discouraged pal, Joe

5 10

Lakeside
by Michael Vanopstall 08 Jun '11

08 Jun '11

Greetings -- Very good night for Lakeside. Got there about 11:45 -- just about when the whole sky was covered by a large cloud mass. I sat in the car with books making a plan and set up, and about five minutes later all was clear. No wind the whole night. No howling sounds or military tests. Very quiet and dark. I had all luck. I was looking for a galaxy in Centaurus that was pretty close to the horizon. Pointed the scope at some star that was visible, checked the field -- there it was. Looking for a globular in Corona Australis. Just as the constellation started to rise, I thought I'd check with binoculars if the stars I was seeing were correct -- there was the globular in the binos. Pointed the scope roughly in the direction NGC 6819 in Cygnus and looked -- there was the cluster.... So my list for the day was accomplished pretty quickly and without much satisfaction. Ian showed up a bit after 1:00 and we ran through some Messiers. Interesting note: about 2:32 am I was driving east towards home on I80, and due east I saw a large meteor actually break into pieces. I have no idea how far away it was. ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall(a)math.utah.edu

3 2

New image and blinking gif of supernova in M51
by Tyler Allred 08 Jun '11

08 Jun '11

Hi all. I took advantage of the clear night on the 5th-6th and imaged the new supernova in M51 with my AP 130 and ML8300 camera. It turned out pretty nice. I posted the photo and a blinking gif to my website. Here is the link to the "Latest Images" page. http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html Take a look and let me know what you think. It is amazing to me that a single star can be so visible at this great distance. Pretty cool! Cheers, Tyler

3 5

Lakeside
by Michael Vanopstall 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Joe -- I know, man! I was there! That night is still one of the weirdest things. That's exactly where I go -- to the Big Canyon sign, take a left, then find the spot at the berm.... Anyway, I'm probably up to it for tonight. When are you getting there? I don't want to interrupt anything. I'll not likely do a ton of observing before the moon is out of the picture, though Saturn was good the other night. I'm not a planet person, but I could see through the rings, see the shadow, and finally saw Rhea. I'd be interested in looking for more moons... Anyway, I'll see you there, likely. Or not, like last time... ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall(a)math.utah.edu

3 2

Celestron nexguide autoguider
by Jorge Gutierrez 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Has anyone in the list used a celestron nexguide? Im thinking of ordering one this week and using it with either a ST80 or the mini 50mm guidescope, both from orion, in an attempt to keep a lower load on my mount (orion sirius eq-g) and trying to keep my gear light and portable, since for now im only using a meade sn6 that so far seems to perform well -thanks in advance for any feedback you guys might have. -Jorge G.

1 0

Lakeside
by Michael Vanopstall 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Ian -- It absolutely won't bother me. There's no worry of crowding me out. Usually, I just try to make sure that before I leave home, my car lights are set not to come on when I open the doors, and when I make the at the "Big Canyon" sign, I turn my headlights on and navigate in on parking lights. Some dust kicking up is inevitable. Anyway, I usually get there while the moon is just barely up to have some light to set up by. Hope to see you there. ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall(a)math.utah.edu

1 0

Tuesay June 7; iPad app
by Michael Vanopstall 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Hello all -- Anyone going out to Lakeside tonight? Forecast at present looks good. I'm just asking because I'm not likely to head out until after midnight when the moon's down, and I don't want to interrupt. Still not a sure thing, but I sort of feel like a few hours out tonight... Anyone else annoyed that S&T's online interactive sky chart is offline indefinitely (evidently used old software on old servers -- Fortran back end on a VMS system is my guess)? Anyway, I found an iOS app with very similar functionality (not yet reviewed by Jay on his blog!) It's called "Planisphere" and costs 99 cents. It is what it says -- a software planisphere where you can change location and time and see what's up. For me this is perfect for planning. When in the field, I know the constellations, so I don't use things like Google Sky Map, but for 99c, this is a good tool for preparing outings. ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall(a)math.utah.edu

4 7

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Kurt's pic
by Canopus56 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Thanks, Joe. I have submitted a corrected image. The initial posting has Venus on the wrong track. Up at Little Mountain a couple of days ago, Venus and Jupiter are now separated by 20 plus degrees, instead of the 2 degrees in the EPOD pic. I couldn't get a useable exposure, since at that image scale, Venus is now too faint against the morning sky. But it still makes for a pretty sunrise. - Clear Skies - Kurt

1 0

I think it was Newton
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

This was on one of the flying newsletters I read. I think it might give the physics folks here a chuckle. patrick :) We were approaching from the east years ago in a B-727, which was famous for being able to descend very steeply, as long as it was not speed-restricted. Approach was changing from an east landing configuration to west, meaning that the airplanes over Lake Michigan were all going to end up high because of the change in plans. Controller (to a 727 ahead of us) : "If I give you STORY intersection at 11,000 feet, can you make it down from there?" 727 Pilot: "Yes, but we'll have to start down right now." Controller: "O.K., start down now; cross STORY at 11,000. Oh, and I need you to do that at 250 knots." 727 Pilot: "Hey, we can't come down and slow down at the same time." Controller (unsure who was giving him a hard time, since the 727 pilot hadn't used his callsign) : "Who said that?" 727 Pilot: "Uh, I think it was Newton." Controller (laughing) : "I guess I deserved that. O.K., which aircraft is anticipating an energy management problem?" Several of us jumped in and said, "We are!" all at the same time. As a former physics major, this one really cracked me up. One usually thinks of a comeback line like that on the drive home, instead of instantly as this fellow did.

2 1

Kurt's pic
by Joe Bauman 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

Congratulations to Kurt Fisher! He has the Earth science Picture of the Day (EPOD) -- his grand view of planets. Here's the link: http://epod.usra.edu/ Best wishes, Joe

1 0