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

SLAS loaner eyepieces
by Chuck Hards 14 Aug '11

14 Aug '11

Patrick or Roger, can the club use more eyepieces for the loaner program? I know we have a few scopes, but was wondering if eyepieces are in short supply. I have a 9mm University ortho that needs a new home. Free to SLAS if it's not horribly redundant. I may have a couple of different focal lengths in deep storage as well, that the club can have if I find them.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] A Plea for SAO Numbers ST Sept 2011
by Canopus56 14 Aug '11

14 Aug '11

> That said, I'm not it the camp that believes everything > must be streamlined and made easier for the sake > of novices or the new "typical" modern amateur. As amateurs, we enjoyed many technological advances in the hobby over the last 20 years. The cost of quality optics, both in telescopes and eyepieces, the increase in automation, and the dramatic change in camera technology have revolutionized the hobby. But the benefits that we have enjoyed are not only technology driven: they are also result of economics. If there is no market, then the advances will not continue. Even with these advances, amateur astronomy participation, at least at telescope use level, continues decline, as evidenced by the continual aging of club membership. Conversely, given rising light pollution, one of the most frequent uses of our state and national parks by citizens is stargazing, without telescopes. One way to increase participation is to streamline everything for new market entrants. The editor deleted portions of my letter to the ST editors, concerned that if since they changed ST to better appeal to new entrants, the editors should also take the simple, common sense step of making their articles easier to use with GOTO telescopes. I also noted in a deleted sentence that if the ST editors can't act, their advertisers should advocate for the change. > If they are too entrenched in "instant" gratification, > they will fall away, sooner or later. While some young people are engrossed in the cultures of personality and consumer technology, for most potential new entrants and myself, it is more a matter of available leisure time. For example, you periodically leave and return to this listserv claiming that work is taking up all of your time and that you have no leisure time for astronomy anymore. Setting up, tearing down and checking out a couple of objects takes an hour after work. Anything that streamlines things and cuts that time down will help the hobby. It's about being practical in an economics driven world. > I suspect there is an online SAO cross-reference table > available anyway. If not, there's your winter project, Kurt That was last winter's project. http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/cat/LX200SAOXRefTable.pdf Clear Skies - Kurt

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Astro photos
by Steve Fisher 14 Aug '11

14 Aug '11

I do Astro Photography also. Not as good as yours but I spent very little time processing. (it shows) I have got to upgrade to 1080p Video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PrZgJ3wCuM

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Sun party tomorrow
by Chrismo 13 Aug '11

13 Aug '11

Is anyone going to SLAS sun party tomorrow? I am planning to go, the wife is off doing girl stuff.

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Best of the Beehive
by Ann House 13 Aug '11

13 Aug '11

Each year the Salt Lake Magazine honors the city's best. Did any of you notice that our own Patrick Wiggins was named as one of the ultimate camping crew - one of the best for his skills, talents and sense of humor to have along on a camping trip? Congratulation Patrick! Have you been asked on any camping excursions lately? -A

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ISS tonight
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Aug '11

13 Aug '11

Nice ISS pass on tap for tonight. Per CalSky: Appears 22h09m35s 0.1mag az:236.5° WSW horizon Culmination 22h14m43s -4.0mag az:324.6° NW h:73.1° distance: 396.9km height above Earth: 382.1km elevation of Sun: -18° Disappears 22h16m43s -2.4mag az: 47.5° NE h:20.1° patrick

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Two images of Shuttles Nose to Nose
by Jay Eads 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

I saw this over at Bad Astronomy and here are the links to the images . . . something that won't be seen again, two shuttles Endeavor and Discovery nose to nose as they are prepped and cleaned. http://yfrog.com/z/hsm8kufj http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/180842main_nosetonose.jpg -- Jay Eads

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Websites on roster
by Patrick Wiggins 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

Just doing a bit of musing here. While this is not an official SLAS list there are a number of SLASers here so I'd like to toss out an idea. With so many folks having personal websites these days I'm wondering if any (many?) might like to be able to have their URL listed as part of their data on the SLAS roster. I'd still need to check with the SLAS webmaster to see if adding a field for URLs would be hard to do. But in the event it's not hard, how do folks here feel about the idea? Would you like to have your URL listed? ??? patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] My best planetary image yet. Jupiter 8.10.11
by Canopus56 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

Congrats, David. That's an amazing result for a 39 north observing point and up in Damian Peach's league, considering your latitude - Kurt

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Reminder for the August ATM session
by Hutchings, Mat (H USA) 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

Fellow ATMers, here is the reminder for the August ATM session at the Hutchings' optical shop in Riverton. We will be meeting next Saturday, August 13th from 9:00 to noon (I can go later than that also). If you have any questions about what ATMing is, or would like to discuss telescope making in general, please e-mail me off list at mat.hutchings(a)siemens.com <mailto:mat.hutchings@siemens.com> Also e-mail me for directions to my house. Dew zappers are on the list of things to do, as is Jay's observing chair, and I have the 8" mirror that will need polishing. Of course since these are open sessions, bring any mirror or telescope project you have and would like to work on. For the dew zappers, I have soldering irons and plenty of solder, but you should bring all other supplies (resistors, wire, etc.) you may need. The following link that Jay previously sent is a very good resource: http://www.dewbuster.com/heaters/heaters.html <http://www.dewbuster.com/heaters/heaters.html> This site should tell you what value resistors you will need to obtain. You should be able to get the resistors from Radio Shack, or any other electronics parts house. Mat

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