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

Seeing
by Craig Smith 07 Jun '11

07 Jun '11

How has the seeing been? The clear sky clock hasn't forecast it to be very good, but there were positive comments on Saturn. Thanks, Craig

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Vesta and Dawn Spacecraft 6-5-2011
by Canopus56 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4360 - Clear Skies Kurt On June 5, 2011, the Dawn solar system explorer spacecraft was about 385,000 kilometers (0.0025 a.u.) from its planned July rendezvous with the 530 kilometer diameter asteroid Vesta, and the spacecraft was approaching its destination at about 725 kilometers per hour (450 miles per hour). Both objects are about 230 million kilometers (1.53 a.u.) from Earth. Dawn will vastly improve our best image of Vesta, taken by Hubble in 1997, shown in left inset. The Dawn spacecraft (shown in the right inset) is powered by a revolutionary ion particle drive, and after orbiting Vesta, the spacecraft will break orbit and accelerate to a February 2015 encounter with dwarf planet Ceres. The position of Dawn on June 5, marked with the "X" was approximated by scaling a computer generated planetarium chart from the NASA JPL Solar System Live online applet. The image is approximately 3 degrees wide and approximates the view of magnitude 5.9 Vesta and magnitude 4.2 iota Capricorn as seen in the predawn southeast sky through 10x50 binoculars. iot Capricorn can easily be found using any planisphere. Related information: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Where is Dawn Now? (Webpage). http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/live_shots.asp Marc Rayman, JPL Engineer, Dawn Journal (Blog) (May 27, 2011). http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_05_27_11.asp JPL, Ion Propulsion. (Webpage). http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ion_prop.asp Rayman, M. Dawn, A mission in development for exploration of main belt asteriods Vesta and Ceres, Acta Astr. 58:605-616 (2006). NASA-JPL Solar System Simulator, online applet http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ Image Credits: Base Image: K. Fisher (fisherka(a)csolutions.net) 6-5-2011 10:56UT. Canon Digital Rebel, 800 ISO, 10 sec., f5.6, 50-300mm zoom lens, tripod mounted Vesta Inset: Ben Zellner (Georgia Southern University), Peter Thomas (Cornell University) and NASA, Vesta, Press Release Release Number: STScI-1997-27 (Sept. 1997) http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/27/image/d/ Dawn Spacecraft Inset: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, McREL. Dawn Spacecraft Illustration. http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/anim_spcecrft_300.jpg

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Tonight
by Craig Smith 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

It's a beautiful night tonight; hopefully someone out there it taking advantage of it.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 100, Issue 17
by opstall 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

Great night at Starvation State Park. Saturn was really sharp, dark lanes in milky way pronounced. And warm enough to leave the tent top off and sleep under it. DSO were great. Sent from Garminfone by T-Mobile. utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com wrote: >Send Utah-Astronomy mailing list submissions to > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com > >You can reach the person managing the list at > utah-astronomy-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >than "Re: Contents of Utah-Astronomy digest..." > > >Today's Topics: > > 1. Tonight (Craig Smith) > 2. Re: Tonight (Howard Jackman) > 3. Re: Tonight (Jay Eads) > 4. Re: Tonight (Jorge Gutierrez) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 23:44:58 -0600 >From: "Craig Smith" <cs2560(a)gmail.com> >To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight >Message-ID: <A6FE1F2DCEAA48D4AF3101CF2DC417F4@CS> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >It's a beautiful night tonight; hopefully someone out there it taking >advantage of it. > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 23:32:13 -0700 (PDT) >From: Howard Jackman <sumoetx(a)yahoo.com> >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight >Message-ID: <545174.63013.qm(a)web33502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > >Tried out a little astrophotography with the DSLR on the Moon and Saturn, I haven't opened them up yet to process but it was fun seeing Saturn and its moons, and the crescent Moon again after so long. The wife and kids enjoyed the short but fun star party as well. I was almost more excited to be in the cool night air, sure was warm today! >Howard >--- On Sun, 6/5/11, Craig Smith <cs2560(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> From: Craig Smith <cs2560(a)gmail.com> >> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight >> To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >> Date: Sunday, June 5, 2011, 11:44 PM >> It's a beautiful night tonight; >> hopefully someone out there it taking >> advantage of it. >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 3 >Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 06:35:59 -0600 >From: Jay Eads <jayleads(a)gmail.com> >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight >Message-ID: <AE73C622-B231-4C1D-9733-DB07F10DFB46(a)gmail.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > >It was a wonderful evening. Saturn was beautiful, the crescent moon was nice, and it was great to see the SN in M51. Bagged a few Herschel 400 also. > >Sent from my iPad > >On Jun 5, 2011, at 11:44 PM, "Craig Smith" <cs2560(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> It's a beautiful night tonight; hopefully someone out there it taking >> advantage of it. >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 4 >Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 08:46:39 -0600 >From: Jorge Gutierrez <gotfoxx(a)hotmail.com> >To: "Utah-Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight >Message-ID: <BLU151-ds217A7EEAFE218F458EA5A7BA600(a)phx.gbl> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >Beautiful night indeed, did most of my observing with some cheap 10x50 binos, while imaging the trifid and the lagoon nebulas for the first time >On 2011-06-06 05:44, Craig Smith wrote: >> It's a beautiful night tonight; hopefully someone out there it taking >> advantage of it. >> > >------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >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 > >End of Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 100, Issue 17 >***********************************************

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funnies
by erikhansen＠thebluezone.net 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur

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Great Night
by Steve Fisher 06 Jun '11

06 Jun '11

Yes, it was a great night finally! I wanted to give the 8" a shakedown for the season so I set up in the front yard under the street light for a little "sidewalk astronomy". The neighbors were over, my 14 year olds friends were amazed and it was a GREAT NIGHT! http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4349

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Sun 6-6 three large midsized prominences
by Canopus56 05 Jun '11

05 Jun '11

There were three large midsized prominences on the Sun today. Here is PST imaging effort: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4345 The southwest hedge prominence was fantastic. Imaging could not do it justice. Masters' images at: http://solardatabase.free.fr/tableau.php Clear Skies - Kurt

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Whose NOT able to attend ALCON?
by Jay Eads 05 Jun '11

05 Jun '11

Well, this month's window for DSO observing is quickly closing and the weather doesn't lok good for tonight. So, I am one of the few unlucky ones that cannot attend ALCON due to work. I cannot take time off during the last week of school. So, since several of my observing friends will be at ALCON, I am planning on going out IF the weather is good by then probably to Lakeside. Anyone interested in going on July 1st or July 2nd? Just planning ahead. Jay Sent from my iPad

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Jupiter visible at dawn 5:00am
by Canopus56 04 Jun '11

04 Jun '11

At about 5:00am, Jupiter is visible rising over the eastern Wasatch. Although it's -2.1 mag is not much different from its average apparent magnitude throughout the year, it particularly attractive against the nautical twilight sky. It can be easily mistaken for Venus, which rises later in the morning. - Clear Skies - Kurt

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Supernova in M51
by Jay Eads 04 Jun '11

04 Jun '11

>From the AAVSO: AAVSO Special Notice #241 Supernova in M51 June 3, 2011 A new supernova in M51 was discovered by A. Riou and confirmed by several sources, including the Palomar Transient Factory (Silverman et al., ATEL 3398). It is located at 13:30:05.08 +47:10:11.2 J2000 and has a magnitude of about 13.5. Nice images of the supernova can be found at: http://6888comete.free.fr/fr/imageSN.htm PTF also obtained a spectra from Keck, indicating that this is a type II supernova with a relatively blue continuum with P-Cygni profiles in the Balmer series. This is a unique event, because it occurs in a galaxy that is imaged almost constantly. There must be many photos available that show the rise of this SNe, so the data-mining opportunity is obvious. It is transiting at local twilight and should be observable for northern hemisphere observers for several months. A new APASS sequence should be uploaded soon. We recommend taking nightly monitoring images in B and V for CCD observers, along with visual estimates, until the supernova is no longer visible. Here is an excuse to take the 10 millionth image of M51! Arne Yes, great opportunity to image it or to view it. I'll be going for it tonight. -- Jay Eads

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