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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Changes in SN 2011dh?
by jayleads＠gmail.com 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

One other note the SN site says the magnitude continues to rise so this is a great chance in a mid size scope to visually see a supernova. Sent from my LG phone Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> wrote: >Blinking my pictures of the SN on 4 and 6 June I think they show the SN brightened slightly between those two days. > >http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/sn.gif > >Then again, maybe it was just the seeing and focus. :) > >patrick >_______________________________________________ >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

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Coordinating star party presenting for child participants with USOE K-12 education objectives
by Canopus56 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

I have prepared a two page list of the general and astronomy specific core education standards, objectives and lesson plans for K-12 that are related to astronomy. http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/USOEAstroEducObjective… http://tinyurl.com/3l46epl (Short url) Taking a few moments to review these general and astronomy science education content standards suggests a number of appropriate discussion topics when volunteering at a star party. The grade level specific astronomy standards and objectives suggest heuristic questions that can be used to guide young person’s discovery, e.g. – when observing Saturn, a young person might be asked whether they think the atmosphere of Saturn is like Earth’s and whether they could breathe it. Such a question supports the learning objective of, ``Compare Earth’s atmosphere, solar energy, and water to those of other planets and moons in the solar system.’’ Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Supernova in M-51
by Canopus56 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

Nice image, Joe. Glad to see you got your gear working. - Kurt UofU Willard Eccles Obs. at Frisco Peak 6-4-2011 Image of SN 2011DH (Paul Ricketts) http://www.physics.utah.edu/weo/images/m51SN2011dh-800.JPG WEO gallery http://www.physics.utah.edu/weo/weoastrophoto.html#thumb

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Changes in SN 2011dh?
by jayleads＠gmail.com 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

Patrick, The reported current magnitude for 2011dh is now magnitude 13 so ir has brightened and they are classifying it as a TypeIIb SN. Sent from my LG phone Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> wrote: >Blinking my pictures of the SN on 4 and 6 June I think they show the SN brightened slightly between those two days. > >http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/sn.gif > >Then again, maybe it was just the seeing and focus. :) > >patrick >_______________________________________________ >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

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Harmon's Tonight
by D P Pierce 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

Greetings SLASings! I plan to be at Brickyard Harmons tonight. Will need ride to Advanced Training and then home. I live at Bangerrter & 6200 South. By the way, where do you go for AT in that area? Dark & CLEAR skies, Deloy Pierce

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Changes in SN 2011dh?
by Patrick Wiggins 10 Jun '11

10 Jun '11

Blinking my pictures of the SN on 4 and 6 June I think they show the SN brightened slightly between those two days. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/sn.gif Then again, maybe it was just the seeing and focus. :) patrick

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Stuff for sale
by Craig Smith 09 Jun '11

09 Jun '11

I'm selling my Astro-Tech AT66ED scope, mount, and some accessories. I also have a near-new truck and camping trailer I'm selling. If anyone is interested please email me directly (you should be able to pull my email address out of the header) or call at 801-878-9649. Thanks, Craig

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L & O
by bray＠aceweb.com 09 Jun '11

09 Jun '11

The L & O subcommittee hasn't met for a long time . . . Thanx, Ray

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Observing Notes - Visual sighting of SN 2011dh in M51 on June 8 4UT-10UT at SPOC
by Canopus56 09 Jun '11

09 Jun '11

Joe, Good hunting on getting your SN image. Since the light curve is increasing, we should all have future opportunities to see or image this SN. An S&T article notes the last SN in M51 was bright for over a month. This is the third SN in M51 in 17 years. - Kurt Current SN in M51 http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/123110228.html 2005 SN in M51 - Stayed at v14.1 for over a month http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3310451.html

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Observing Notes - Visual sighting of SN 2011dh in M51 on June 8 4UT-10UT at SPOC
by Canopus56 08 Jun '11

08 Jun '11

On the night and morning of June 7-June 8 local time, I used the SPOC 16 inch Ealing to visually acquire SN 2011dh in M51 (distance-then of about 27 million light-years). Also at SPOC last night were Roger Fry, using the 32 inch Grim scope for a training session for two attendees (I do not have my slip of paper with their names on it with me), one visiting family, and Joe Bauman, using his personal Meade LX200 10 inch. All reported being able to see SN 2011dh in M51 at the location illustrated in Tyler Allred's recent image at url http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html . Visually, the supernova appeared as a distinct, but unusually small, stellar point source within one of the nebulous arms of M51. Although seeing was excellent, at times this stellar point would dissolve into a fuzzy nebular patch between mag. 13 and 14. There also is a bright HII nebular area and star cluster 4 or 5 arcsecs celestial southeast of this supernova - designated L2000-899 and 911 in the Simbad system (Larsen 2000). Other designations for these bright regions include 2MASXi J1330024+470948. Visual 15.03 magnitude star 3UC 275-121849 is almost near the nova's position. Both of the cluster-HII regions can be easily seen in the Hubble M51 reference image, url http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Messier51_sRGB.jpg . The nova could be seen even under skies partially washed out by a waxing crescent moon. After moon set and between between 1 and 2 am local time, Patrick stopped by for a visit. On examining the Ealing eyepiece view, he properly questioned whether we had actually seen the supernovae since recent reports placed the nova at magnitude 14 and below the current limiting magnitude of the Ealing. The supernovae was very faint pinpoint of light much less visually distinct than suggested by Tyler's infrared light sensitive CCD image. On comparing a planetarium program chart with a UC3 catalogue down to magnitude 18, the eyepiece view and Tyler's image, I concluded that we were visually seeing the supernova, based on the following: 1) Checking the AAVSO light curve for SN 2011dh this afternoon, the nova has brightened to visual magnitude 13.3. 2) Nearby (within 30 arcminute) 12.1 magnitude star TYC 3463-348-1 and visual magnitude 13.74 star 3UC 275-121870 were visible in the eyepiece. A Milky Way foreground star in M51, 3UC 275-121833, at V magnitude 13.58 was also a visible. 3) Nearby 14.3 magnitude star 3UC 275-121833 was not visible. I prepared a chart of the above stars for reference at url - http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4363 . The AAVSO photometry chart for sn2011dh can be found at url - http://www.aavso.org/vsp/chart/pl/4931BMM . A general photometry reference chart by the Supernova Network by Odd Trondal is available at url - http://www.supernovae.net/snimages/reference/n5194.jpg . Updated AAVSO photometry reports for sn2011dh can be found through the AAVSO ``Quick Look'' table by entering ``sn 2011dh'' into the first question box ``WHAT IS THE NAME, DESIGNATION, OR AUID OF THE OBJECT?'' at url - http://www.aavso.org/ql - and hitting the ``Search'' button. 27 million years ago during the Oligocene period, Utah was undergoing a period of active volcanoes and uplift of the Unita basin and Colorado Plateau region. http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/geo/geohistory2.htm . On closing the Ealing around 2:00am, I spent some time star hopping with 10x50 binoculars. All clouds cleared out except a small band on the northeast horizon, atmospheric moisture dropped, and the skies above SPOC reached down to the point where distinguishing constellations became difficult. The disk of the Milky Way had risen to about 45 degrees altitude - its autumn position - and stretched perpendicular from the southern to northern horizons. The Cygnus dark cloud lanes were easily seen. My estimate is this was a mag. 5.6 to 5.8 sky. I spent 45 minutes reviewing a basic Messier series from the southern horizon with GC M4 and Ptolemy's cluster (M7), through M24 and M11 in Scutum, across Alberio, and ending with Perseus Double Cluster and the alpha Perseus OB Association low on the northern horizon. It was a magical morning that allowed me to due a quick annual binocular all-summer-sky review, and I was grateful not to have pending work obligations would prevent me from staying up all night. Joe and I separately noticed two or three bright meteors around mag 2-3 between 2 and 3am, which corresponds to the general Antihelion shower on the IMO current meteor activity report. Clear Skies - Kurt Larsen, S.S. 2000. Young massive star clusters in M 51. MNRAS. 319:893-901. L2000-899 in http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=[L2000]++899&NbIdent=1

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