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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Image of SN in M101 from Fawkes North
by Jorge Gutierrez 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

I managed to take a shot at it, but its so dim its not worth posting it, glad I was looking at the right spot in the image though, also that dob I just bought kept distracting me (never had the urge to upgrade the focuser this bad before, also I desperatedly need a telrad) *crosses fingers for extremely nice weather soon* >On 2011-08-26 04:27, Jay Eads wrote: > >From Bad Astronomy Blog, here is an image of the new SN from the Fawkes > North Telescope. Hmm. . . that would be fun to image. > > http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/image.aspx?pkey=2550

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The joy of observing Saturn-more nostagia
by D P Pierce 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

As I was observing Saturn the last few nights with the $20 114mm Meade I recently bought at a yard sale I remembered how Saturn has changed my life. Seeing the rings of Saturn for the first time made me feel my life had been a waste up to that moment. Building a Bill Kelley 6" tweeked mirror scope came next. An over-the-hills hippie at Snow Canyon State Park looking at Saturn through that scope had a religious experience. (I don't think she was on drugs). I wish I had been running a tape recorder every time I was showing Saturn to someone. A women at Capital Reef shrieked "OH MY! OH MY!" several times almost as if she was having multiple orgasms as she looked at Saturn. I was in someone's living room who was almost crying as he was selling me his 13" scope when his very angry wife said "Once you have looked at Saturnonce why do you ever need to look at it again!?" She had given him a "It's the scope or me!" ultimatum. I felt guilty taking it from him. I've wondered how that decision worked out for him. Even the relatively poor view I have been getting the last few nights still gives me joy. Deloy Pierce

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Weekend Observering
by Jorge Gutierrez 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Ok, I give up, if I get super excited about heading out, bad weather happens, if I act like I don’t care, it does the same, im dying to take a pic of that new supernova in m101, that and the pleiades, im also in dire need to get chewed by mosquitoes and smell like deet, oh and don’t forget the allergies, and im being honest about all that. -Jorge G >On 2011-08-26 00:06, Jay Eads wrote: > Weather isn't looking promising on Friday. I may see how it is looking > before I head out. Sigh. > >

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Weekend Observering
by Jay Eads 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Weather isn't looking promising on Friday. I may see how it is looking before I head out. Sigh. -- Jay Eads

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Sept ATM session info needed
by Josh 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

I'm new to this email list and to the SLAS. I know there is a group of ATM'rs here and know that the next session is on 9-17 in the morning, but don't know the address to the Hutchings' optical shop. Any help? Josh

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Cool Mars pic
by Joe Bauman 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Folks with a sci-fi turn of mind and a wild imagination, like me, might see several organic-looking rocks in this Mars photo, which I found following Patrick's News link: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA14535.jpg There are a couple of fluted rocks to the right and center right that remind me of brain coral, from my years in the Pacific. -- Joe

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New Supernova in M101
by Daniel Holmes 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=3581 Type Ia in M101. mag 17.2 right now, expected to brighten to mag 11 or so. Dan -- Daniel Holmes, danielh(a)holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin

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Wolf Creek August 26th and 27th
by Jay Eads 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

On a local TV News station during the weather there was a picture of Wolf Creek where we observe and of the nice dry road that is up there (LOTS of beautiful wild flowers right now) so IF and that is a big IF for this year, the weather is good I am planning to observe up at Wolf Creek on the 26th and 27th of August. If you need directions here are some from my blog with pictures: http://jaysastronomyobservingblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/wolf-creek-utah-obse… Here is a map of how to get to the location from the Salt Lake Valley or Utah Valley http://www.slas.us/maps/wolfcreek.htm Here are the written directions from Salt Lake or Utah Valley: http://www.uvaa.org/sitedirections/WolfCreek.html IF someone wants to come up and use my 10 inch scope I have not problem bringing it and if your new, I'll teach you how to do some basic star hopping using the Pocket Sky Atlas, a Telrad and a finder scope. If you know how but are down a scope and send me an email at jayleadsatgmail.com (change the at to the sign) or reply here and I'll bring it. If I don't hear from anyone I'll leave it at home. Hope to see a bunch of people up there for new moon. Also, if anyone is interested, I am willing on Saturday to go out to Pit n Pole with the 10 inch and teach anyone how to use it and then I'll sit back and let you go to work and just answer questions if you have them. Again, I would like a response or I'll plan to do my own observing. -- Jay Eads

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Moon phase/weather correlation
by Chuck Hards 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Many of us have thought that it seems to be cloudy during new moon, more often than not. Is this really true, or just sour grapes on our part as astronomy enthusiasts? I haven't found anything about it on the Internet yet (albeit after only a few minutes of searching), but I can offer this: The late Dick Proenneke, who lived alone in a wilderness cabin in Alaska for 30 years and kept voluminous notes during that time, felt that there was indeed a relationship between moon phase and weather. He noted often that clear weather coincided with the days surrounding full moon. "Dark of the moon", as he called it, usually meant storms. In fact he was surprised on those few occassions when the conditions were reversed. He made reference to the native people's belief in the same relationship of lunar phase to weather conditions. I'd be interested in seeing some actual statistics for a given geographic location, if anyone wants to either pull the data together themselves, or find it already done on the Internet somewhere.

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SS Cyg outburst
by Canopus56 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

For those of you who want to follow a single short-period variable star, cataclysmic variable SS Cyg is starting an outburst, according to an AAVSO bulletin and AAVSO listserv chatter. SS Cyg, which should be GCRV 13641 in your Meade hand controller, is currently at mag 10, and should rise to mag 8 over the next few days. It will then take a few weeks to drop back to its base magnitude of 12. A small field photometry chart can be downloaded from: http://www.aavso.org/vsp Other background information on 75 Cyg can be found at: http://www.aavso.org/sites/default/files/vsots/0600.pdf SS Cyg is within two degrees of 75 Cyg ( SAO 51167 ), about midway celestial east between Deneb and the constellation Lacerta. http://www.starman.co.uk/book/apps/sscygmap.htm Clear Skies - Kurt

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