February 2012 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

steve
by Mark Shelton 20 Feb '12

20 Feb '12

> > I re-enlisted in Utah Astronomy earlier today. I have to admit, I have > missed you all. (no flattery)Looks like I got here just in time.More later, > Steve Great to have you back.......... Steve Mark Shelton Indian Hill Middle School Tech Ed. Teacher Salt Lake Astronomical Society Board Member (School and Special Star Parties Coordinator)

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Pluto
by jcarman6＠q.com 20 Feb '12

20 Feb '12

Ditto on welcoming you back Steve. If you are with Del oy on this, "we need to talk" grins The society's headquarters are in England, probably just off campus from Cambridge. And you all thought only Utah had unique organizations.

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OT -- Patric could be driving either of these!
by Joe Bauman 20 Feb '12

20 Feb '12

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/chambliss_pilat_motorcycle_backflip_ov…

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L&O meeting tomorrow
by Chuck Hards 19 Feb '12

19 Feb '12

A reminder that the L&O subcommittee will be meeting tomorrow at noon at the Left Fork Grill, 68 W 3900 S, in Salt Lake. Bring something for show & tell, if desired. Hope to see you all there!

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Nice Vesta approach and rotation movies
by Patrick Wiggins 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003384/ patrick

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CalSky and Wx balloon sightings
by Patrick Wiggins 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

I just noticed that there's a CalSky option for sighting weather balloons which they describe as "experimental". Has anyone here tried that option and, if so, were the predictions accurate? patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Call for parts
by Chuck Hards 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

On 9/27/11, Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > Chuck > > I have a focuser from a Burgess 127, one side was damaged (knob broke > off but the R+P are good0 I replaced the R+P on my Burgess and gave > my unbroken focuser to my friend that broke his. In turn I have his > broken (damaged shaft) focuser. Yours if you want it. Thanks Rob! I'll foot the postage, want anything else for it?

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Porthole glass mirrors
by Chuck Hards 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Has anyone actually made a mirror from a porthole glass, ala John Dobson? The reason I'm asking is that I just grabbed a piece of glass on eBay, an old porthole glass, 8-1/2" diameter by 3/4" thick, for $29. I've made a few mirrors from both plate and Pyrex, but have never ground and figured an actual "port-hole" mirror.

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Joan's refractor fixation (lol)
by Chuck Hards 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:40 AM, <jcarman6(a)q.com> wrote: > Hmm Everybody seems to really want a refractor - could it be that views through refractors are best? Hmm that may be off topic - at least for this thread. No problem, new thread. ;-) And define "everybody", lol. Most people start with either a small refractor or small reflector, then aperture fever sets in. Face it: Aperture is King, and a 12" portable refractor is impractical (and horribly expensive). Everyone has owned multiple reflectors so once you have that light-bucket, naturally you begin to look to other designs. Later in life, many of us can afford to get that really nice refractor- as a secondary instrument. They have their advantages. Smaller aperture so not as susceptible to poor atmospherics (subject to debate). Lack of a central obstruction means lower over-all diffraction. For the planets and doubles, a nice refractor is hard to beat. But for the faint fuzzies, refractors lose out to light-bucket Newts every time. Aperture trumps the refractor advantages, assuming the optical quality being top-notch in both instruments. I'd much prefer to observe the planets through a 10" or 12" Newt than a nice 6" refractor, solely because the resolution will be much better and the image brighter. But, to each, his or her own. I prefer to own both reflectors and refractors. It's telescopes that get my juices flowing. Telescopes.

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Revolutionary War book -- way, way OT
by Joe Bauman 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Dear Friends, I disrupted our newsgroup last week to talk about my book DON'T TREAD ON ME: Photographs and Stories of American Revolutionaries becoming available on Kindle. Now I'm doing it again to let those might be interested, who have Nook, that it's there too. I know can get free software to emulate a Kindle from amazon.com, and I think you can with Barnes & Noble (which puts out Nook), but I don't know. The Nook site is: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dont-tread-on-me-joseph-m-bauman/1108814929… You can find it for Kindle at this site; note that Kindle allows you to preview the first section for free: http://www.amazon.com/DONT-TREAD-Photographs-Revolutionaries-ebook/dp/B0076… Thanks, Joe

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