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

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by Nate Jackson 14 Sep '11

14 Sep '11

<a tabindex="1" title="" name="iiydyuymdn" href="http://philipbaudoin.com/controller/lists/madtx.htm">http://philipbaudoin.com/controller/lists/madtx.htm</a>

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2012 Annual - Your opinion, please
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Hi all, Yesterday's thread about next year's annular eclipse got me thinking about conversations I've had with a few folks about their plans for the eclipse. Here are the variations I've heard so far: 1) Ride down to Kanarraville and back the same day on the bus(es) SLAS plans to charter for the event (with stops for lunch and dinner). 2) Attend the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival and stay there to view the eclipse. 3) Attend the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival and then leave there and drive to Kanarraville for the eclipse. 4) Drive their own vehicle from home to the eclipse and then either stay the night in the area or drive back home right after the eclipse. 5) Stay home and watch it on TV. Ok, I made that last one up. :) Which choices do folks here plan to pursue? No need to state a reason (though you are welcome to). Right now I'm just looking for numbers to take to next week's SLAS board meeting. Clear skies, patrick

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Request for help for reviewing lunar astronomy related checklist
by Canopus56 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Dear Group, This is to ask for your help on a undergraduate lunar research and science writing exercise. The task involves doing a ``user review'' of a procedure that I have prepared in order to download high-resolution Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images with one-half gigabyte image sizes through a NASA website. The assistance I am asking for relates to my science writing (WRT 3014) course. Basically, you would: 1) Read the procedure with a view towards the ``user edit review'' elements discussed below; and, 2) Send me an email at fisherka at csolutions dot net regarding any of the flaws in the procedure. My timeline is to close-out user reviews by Sunday, Sept. 18, so I can begin preparing a user review report. In the user edit review, a knowledgeable end-user reviews a checklist procedure in order to find: - Missing information; - Incorrect information; - Missing steps in a procedure; - Too many steps; - Ambiguous information; - Difficult terminology; - Usefulness of graphics, tables and other aids; - Usefulness of examples; and, - Lack of examples or poor examples. There are two ways to do a user review: 1) Simply read the document step by step; or, 2) Attempt to do the procedure using the checklist as a guide. The procedure that I have written can be found at: http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/LunarSFDDocs/20110912SOP1DownloadLROI… The procedure discusses how to download images from the NASA Planetary Data Systems (PDS) website and to record meta data about the image in a Microsoft Excel 3.0 spreadsheet, available at url: http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/LunarSFDDocs/00000000ImageCroppingSpr… Should any of you attempt to perform the checklist, there are several steps discussing preparing a thumbdrive with software in order to view the large one-half gigabyte files. Those steps can be ignored, and please omit performing the step of actually downloading the image. Background on my overall research project is available at url: http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/LunarSFDDocs/20110912ProposalPhase1.p… This short-term course related project supports a larger independent research project regarding the distribution of lunar impacts on the Moon's surface. Lunar meteor impacts are asymmetrically distributed because the Moon acts as a gravitational lens. New Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, some of which resolve one-half meter objects, allow measuring crater impact distributions for the smallest of craters between 10 and 100 meters in diameter. Questions can be directed to fisherka at csolutions dot net or call me at 801-831-4035. I will be at Marriott Library on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 8:00pm, if anyone would like to meet with me on this request. Thanks in advance for any time that you can put into this request. Clear Skies - Kurt

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2012 Annular Eclipse - photographing it
by J E CARMAN 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

I’ve “snagged” a map of the center line from the NASA website. It shows the center line crossing US Highway 91 just south of Kanarraville. There is a specific longitude and latitude . Then a “pop-up” widow appeared, showing the duration and event times. Much to my dismay, the event times show the date 2012/05/21. The time was listed in UT, so I’m thinking the “date” is based on UT and not local time. But I don’t recall how much of a difference there is between UT and MST. The UT for maximum eclipse was 01:33:48 0. Is there that much difference between UT and MST? I guess it really is only about 7 hours. Also, someone mentioned that the coverage would be 92%. That still leaves a lot of sun around the edges, although substantially reduced. Do I need a solar filter for the camera? I don’t think so, but I am posing the question. Also, if the eclipse is taking place at about 10 or 11 degrees – that’s above the horizon, right? Even if there are mountains to the west in the distance, won’t that affect what we see if we are just outside of Kanarraville. Don’t we want to be higher – i.e, in the mountains to the east of Kanarraville (not sure that is even possible) I was thinking Cedar Breaks has a pull out (10,000 feet, clean low western horizon, but not near the centerline) Easy to drive to. If you are there – probably slightly north of Cedar City, how much is the eclipse impacted? Would you still get the ring of fire (centered)? As the moon is passing in front of the sun, even if you are at Cedar City, won’t you still get a reasonably centered ring of fire? Opinions please Joan .

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Future of James Webb is Controversial Depending on the Group of Scientists
by Jay Eads 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Phil Plait on his blog Bad Astronomy has a really good article on the controversy of the James Webb Telescope. Here is the link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/09/13/the-watershed-mom… -- Jay Eads

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Fw: NASA, ATK NEW COMMERCIAL CREW ANNOUNCEMENT ON NASA TV and Call-in number
by Joe Bauman 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Hi all, I have a feeling this will be very, very good news for crewed space exploration in general and Utah's role in space in particular. Let's keep our eyes open tomorrow! -- Joe ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Patterson, Trina" <Trina.Patterson(a)ATK.COM> To: Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 1:29 PM Subject: NASA, ATK NEW COMMERCIAL CREW ANNOUNCEMENT ON NASA TV and Call-in number MEDIA ADVISORY - Update For immediate release: NASA, ATK NEW COMMERCIAL CREW ANNOUNCEMENT ON NASA TV CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) announcement of an agreement that could accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities at 3 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 13 will be carried live on NASA Television. The announcement will occur at the Press Site auditorium at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The participants are: -- Ed Mango, Commercial Crew Program manager, NASA -- Kent Rominger, vice president, Strategy and Business Development, ATK Aerospace -- John Schumacher, vice president, Space Programs, EADS North America Reporters may ask questions in-person from Kennedy or using a phone bridge managed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. To use the phone bridge, journalists must call the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 2:45 p.m. EDT. For NASA TV downlink information, Video File schedules and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/ For information about ATK, visit: http://www.atk.com/

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L & O subcommittee meating
by Larry Holmes 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

We had 11 total, 2 of which did not sit in our room, but took a booth about as far away as was possible (she is pregnant and does not want to give the baby ideas about L & O), maybe 4 of the rest did not partake of the delicacy of the day. There was a lot of good fellowship (and two gallowships--hard as I try, I still cannot top Patrick's uncanny), and banter around the table. Chuck showed an interesting focuser, and Joan had beautiful pictures of the total solar eclipse at La Paz. And, homemade pie for dessert! Come next time, when the summons goes out, & enjoy yourself! They even offer schotterdecke (come on, Zig) foods such as a cheeseburger w/fries....... 73, lh

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Near miss
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

While trolling for SN this evening I accidentally imaged NGC 6952 twice. Kind of glad I did as I caught something (I'm guessing something humans put up there) swoop[ing by: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/NGC6951.JPG I like the nice, regular, repeating pattern. patrick

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Free slide viewer
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

I finished scanning and cataloguing all my slides a while back (all 5,000+ of them) and so now have no need for my desktop slide viewer: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/SLIDEVIEWER.JPG Anyone want it? It's free. If anyone does want it I can have it at tomorrow's (Tuesday) SLAS board meeting at the downtown Denny's for pickup. I've also got about 70 unused Kodak Carousel slide trays I'd love to unload. patrick

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Article on 30 Years Chasing Eclipses
by Jay Eads 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada posts their old issues of their journal at their site. In their April 2010 issue on page 58 is a nice article on chasing eclipses over the last 30 years. I thought some might be interested in it. Here's he link to where the journals are. http://www.rasc.ca/journal/backissues.shtml Even if that doesn't tickle your fancy on nights when you can't observe the journals usually make good reading. -- Jay Eads

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