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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Great Basin for Annular Eclipse
by Thomas Sevcik 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Craig, if you're thinking of going to Great Basin for the eclipse, that's great! I plan to talk with Ranger Kelly Carroll this weekend while at the Annual Spring Star party on the subject. He already knows I'll be there to assist with the publlic in viewing this event before heading out to the Coast and British Columbia. Here is some data to consider: The eclipse will begin (rounding off to the nearest minute) at 5:19 p.m. (PDT) with totality beginning at 6:30 p.m. Maximun begins at 6:31 with totality ending at 6:35 p.m. It's all over at 7:36 p.m. This infomation can be found at; http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/ and under Eclipses and Transits, click on Solar Eclipse Computer. It'll have a box with 2012 May 20-21 (Annular) already listed. Right below is a box to fill in the "state or territory" and the bottom box will ask for the "city or town name." Then simply click, "submit" and you're there. It might be worthy to compare the data for Great Basin and Bryce Canyon. At Great Basin you get a duration of 2h 16m 44.3s of the eclipse, with a duration of annularity of 3m 14.8s. At Bryce Canyon the duration is 2h 12m 20.8s of eclipse with a duration of annularity of 1m 37.4s. The eclipse ends at 7:35 p.m. while sunset at Great Basin will be 7:51 p.m. (PDT), whereas sunset at Bryce is 8:35 p.m. (MDT) and is listed as such instead of the time listing when the eclipse ends. I plan to set up at the Baker Archeological Site which is approximatley 1 mile once you pass the Border Inn (one half is in Utah, the other half in Neveda - no kidding!) on Hwy 6 & 50. Keep an eye out for a sign pointing to "Archeological Site - Baker" and make a quick left turn after the flood water grating on the road. One night a few years ago, we had to cancel a star party due to a sudden thunder storm and I had to get a room at the Border Inn as the road was closed due to flash flooding. About another mile after the turn you'll see a small sign for the site as well being able to see the site's display overhang from the road. Be forwarned, you'll need to power your equipment either from your car battery or a portable power supply. There's no place to use the potty, so use it at the Border Inn if need be, or keep going to the end of the road, take a left, and stop in at the Visitors Center. >From Jay's earlier posting, it sounds like the Lower and Upper Lehman camp grounds on the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive will be available as well as the Grey Cliffs off the road from the Lehman Caves Visitors Center. It would really be a surprise if the Wheeler Peak camp ground is open this early. I haven't heard from Kelly latley, but I would think there shouldn't be any problem finding a campsite with schools still in session. Other than the Border Inn, there's some rooms available in Baker itself.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Great Basin for Annular Eclipse
by Thomas Sevcik 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Erik, the time listed in the second paragraph "The eclipse will begin (rounding off to the nearest minute) at 5:19 p.m. (PDT)" is referring to Great Basin, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. What you're referring to is obliviously the time for Bryce Canyon in the Mountain Time Zone. Am I correct? Tom Sevcik

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New Canon EOS for astrophotography
by Thomas Sevcik 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

For those who haven't heard as yet, Canon has just announced the new EOS 60Da with a modified IR cut filter able to achieve a hydrogen-alpha (Ha) light transparency of 656nm that is nearly three times higher than the standard 60D. Check out the specs at the B&H website. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/canon/announcements/canon-eos. I've already put in my pre-order and hope to share some of the photos at a future meeting. These are being released in limited quantity, at the price of $1,499.00, for the body only. No shipping date has been set as yet. Tom Sevcik

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Solar Eclipse at Great Basin
by Jay Eads 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

I emailed Kelly and this is what he shared with me about where they are observing at Great Basin: "We are doing our programs from the visitor center in Baker, NV. There we have a 10 degree obstruction to the west (Snake Range). We will have all but the last ten minutes or so of the eclipse. Down at the Baker Archeological Site, just outside of town, you'll get 6 degrees to the west. We will have a place for anyone to set up gear, plus easy parking, restrooms, and an open and a/c'd visitor center. At least two campgrounds will be open but with the low amount of snow we could have up to four open. Spread the word. I'm going to be at Bryce for the festival but I am coming back here Sunday morning." Sounds like I am going to head to Great Basin. I need to hear from the one person who wants to carpool if that will work for them but I'm pretty sure that is where I am going. I may head down Saturday, set up my 14 with the Zambuto optics and do an observing session Saturday night. Then camp and set up the solar scope on Sunday and head home on Sunday evening stopping in Delta for a snack. -- Jay Eads

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Speaking of science
by Dave Gary 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

Speaking of science, I still haven’t signed up with the Flat Earth Society. Oh, excuse me, the International Flat Earth Research Society. Dave

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Eclipse viewing options
by D P Pierce 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

If I were going to Kanaraville I would take a 1000 eclipse viewing glasses bought for 40 cents each and sell them for 2 or 3 bucks. If I were going to Bryce I would find an interesting bristle cone pine to put in the picture. A picture of the eclipse through the Parowan Gap sounds interesting. Too bad there aren't any natural arches to frame it in. I am staying the night in the Cedar City Day's Inn. The next day I will spend lots of time looking at the ancient solar and lunar calendars in Parowan Gap adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-1-s&va=parowan+gap+petroglyphs<http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-1…>. There are lots of motels in Cedar City and St George. Parowan has 3 or 4 motels Days Inn being the best. Enterprise has a small motel called either E Motel or Motel E. and that's close to Newcastle. Deloy Pierce

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Sigh...
by Patrick Wiggins 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

I listened to a BBC broadcast that has me a bit put out but not surprised. It was a science based show and one of the topics was that new claymation movie about pirates. And what's that got to do with science? Seems that elsewhere the title is "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists". But it's being released in the US as "The Pirates! Band of Misfits". Why? Because with all of the anti-science going on here the producers feared the word "science" would keep people from seeing the movie. Sigh... patrick

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SLAS solar event
by Steve Fisher 08 Apr '12

08 Apr '12

Utah Astronomy List Members, sorry if we missed you. SLAS officially started the 2012 observing season this morning. We would love to have even more members of UA join us at our events. This year SLAS has its own Youtube channel and I posted a couple of videos of this mornings event. You can see the sedate version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRiR8G3YQ2Y Or if you like it a little more upbeat and crazy you can check out this version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pCdHr2L1_A Have you got video of an astronomy event? We would welcome your submissions. Contact me, Steve Fisher off list. Clear skies rule

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Great Mars views at SPOc last evening
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Apr '12

08 Apr '12

I stopped by SPOC last evening to drop some stuff off in the Refractor House. It was so cloudy I really didn't expect anyone to be there so I was surprised to find Dave Bernson, Nate Goodman and Dave and Kevin Hays there with the Grim Scope open. About the only thing showing through the clouds was Mars and that's what they were looking at. And the view was great! North polar cap and a lot of other surface features plainly visible (hopefully Dave B will chime in here with the names of those features). They kept pushing the magnification up and eventually topped out at 550. I really didn't think the seeing would support that kind of magnification but I guess the clouds and lack of wind made for a very steady atmosphere as even at 550 the view was steady and clear. At Advanced Training after Dave talked about maybe trying again tonight (Sunday). Dave if you decide to do that be sure and send out a SLAS Blast. And if we do get in some Mars viewing tonight I'll be better prepared as I just downloaded this really spiffy program to my iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mars-atlas/id303482394?mt=8 Clear (albiet mooney) skies! patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Canon EOS for astrophotography
by Thomas Sevcik 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

Thanks, David, for the correction on the link. I need to slow down and start to proof read what I write again. Chuck, as to your question, I have no experience with the Canon 60D (in this case, the 60Da). It is powered by a LP-E6 lithium-ion battery pack, which I would imagine should be adeqauate for a number of "Bulb" exposures of 5+ minutes each. However, I'm planning on adding the LP-E6 battery pack which has 1.3x more capacity than the one supplied with my 5D Mark II and 7D Canons, and which is compatable with the 60Ds. While in British Columbia this June I plan to do some all-night photography, particularily in hopes of capturing some nice aurora displays. In addition, one of the cameras will be fitted with the TC-80N3 remote control time which I'll use to make a movie should we get lucky with a nice auroral display. I'll be able to let everyone know the results of how time exposures affect battery life of the two battery packs at the June meeting for those interested. Tom Sevcik

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