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

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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H-alpha sun
by Dunn, David 28 Jul '12

28 Jul '12

There are a lot of prominences this evening in my pst. The also appears to be a couple of sunspot groups. I haven't looked yet with the white filter. Dave

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Blimp seen at Lakeside
by Chrismo 12 Jul '12

12 Jul '12

So I went out to Lakeside Monday with some friends, and on the way out, we spotted this dark object on the horizon. It never moved and all the way we kept wondering just what it could be. It was easily visible from 30 miles or further away. Upon arrival, I quickly set up a telescope and in the remaining daylight could see it was some sort of blimp-shaped balloon. The balIoon was tethered and had a flashing light on it. I went again lastnight and it was there again! I had arrived a little earlier so I could catch a little sunset and Mercury action. As I snapped some photos, I noticed it started going down, being taken in for the night I supposed, or maybe they saw me taking pictures, LOL. Here's the pictures: http://photobucket.com/blimp20120614 I posted these photos on my facebook gallery and John DuCrest was hooked. He managed to locate this article from the D News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700024520/Missile-detection-airship-make… The page is painfully slow to load, so here's the text of the article: DUGWAY — The first Utah flight of a system that uses radar mounted on blimp-like airships to detect cruise missiles and other threats was conducted about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The Army's Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, made its first test flight from about 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday above the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range north of the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground. The JLENS system is managed by the Army's Cruise Missile Defense Systems Project Office, at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Soaring at up to 10,000 feet above the testing range, the versatile dirigibles or aerostats can be placed nearly anywhere they are needed, including being tethered to a ship at sea, and they are difficult to shoot down because they are inflated at such low air pressure. Raytheon, headquartered in Waltham, Mass., was awarded the development of the aerostat-borne radar and communications system. In 2007, the Army and Raytheon finalized a $1.4 billion contract modification for the JLENS project. In addition to being less costly to operate than aircraft-mounted radar, the unmanned dirigibles can stay aloft much longer, and the risk to human life is greatly reduced, according to a Dugway news release. The 242-foot-long aerostats may be raised, lowered or moved in weather conditions that would ground conventional aircraft. The Utah test was conducted through the cooperative efforts of the Army at the Dugway Proving Ground and Hill Air Force Base. "Dugway is proud to lead and support this important test that will protect American warfighters, civilians and their allies around the globe," said Dugway's commander, Col. William E. King IV. "Not only will it expand the view well over the horizon, but it will do so at least cost to the taxpayer. This is a critically needed capability as we continue to prosecute the global war on terrorism." Dugway and the testing range were selected for testing because of the remoteness of the area and its resemblance to the mountainous, arid geography and climate of Afghanistan, where American and allied troops are fighting the Taliban and other insurgents. The JLENS system consists of two aerostats, with radar and communication equipment, tethered to mobile mooring stations that are connected to ground-based communication and processing equipment. Each aerostat carries a specific radar system — one for fire control and the other for surveillance — and may be aloft for up to 30 days. The aerostats are inflated at a pressure not much more than the exterior air pressure, making them difficult to shoot down. Operational and other tests are ongoing, and tests during the next three years will train Army soldiers to become the nation's first JLENS battery. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700024520/Missile-detection-airship-make… -- Chrismo I fix things, all kinds of things... (801) 897-9075

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The Sun
by D P Pierce 01 Jul '12

01 Jul '12

It's pretty boring up there. http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html Deloy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Herriman fire
by Jay Eads 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

The fire is a little more west than the Machine Gunn fire. Steve and Cindy should be okay, the are farther south and west, unless the winds pick up. Fire is moving to the northeast and has 200 plus acres burned. Yes, it looks. Like from my standpoint that several homes went up and several barns. Sad day here in Herriman. On 2012-06-29 23:18, Chuck Hards wrote: > Anybody heard from Steve and Cindy? Hoping their house isn't in the danger > area. Deja-Vu, it's the Machine-Gun fire all over again. > > Anybody living close to the fire, please report. Hoping you are all well. > > I heard a report on KSL that it was caused by a car fire. > Sent from my iPad

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Comics
by D P Pierce 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

http://www.gocomics.com/theargylesweater Deloy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Herriman fire
by Jay Eads 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Last update. On the evac map Steve and Cindy Are on the evac area. Fire is heading south to southwest but it can change. Still homes and properties in the danger zone. Besides Steve and Cindy there are other SLAS members in Rose Canyon and we Ned to remember them also. On 2012-06-30 00:41, Jay Eads wrote: > Update. Wind is from the northwest and the fire is going south, south-east now, back up the hill. > > > On 2012-06-29 23:18, Chuck Hards wrote: > > Anybody heard from Steve and Cindy? Hoping their house isn't in the danger > > area. Deja-Vu, it's the Machine-Gun fire all over again. > > > > Anybody living close to the fire, please report. Hoping you are all well. > > > > I heard a report on KSL that it was caused by a car fire. > > > > > Sent from my iPad > Sent from my iPad

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Herriman fire
by Jay Eads 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Update. Wind is from the northwest and the fire is going south, south-east now, back up the hill. On 2012-06-29 23:18, Chuck Hards wrote: > Anybody heard from Steve and Cindy? Hoping their house isn't in the danger > area. Deja-Vu, it's the Machine-Gun fire all over again. > > Anybody living close to the fire, please report. Hoping you are all well. > > I heard a report on KSL that it was caused by a car fire. > Sent from my iPad

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Herriman fire
by Chuck Hards 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

Anybody heard from Steve and Cindy? Hoping their house isn't in the danger area. Deja-Vu, it's the Machine-Gun fire all over again. Anybody living close to the fire, please report. Hoping you are all well. I heard a report on KSL that it was caused by a car fire.

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Report from the Wedge
by Chuck Hards 29 Jun '12

29 Jun '12

The Seeley fire is visible from much of highway 10 from Price to Castle Dale. Price is full to bursting with firefighting crews, both government and private contracted commercial help. While we were there, the southerly wind took most of the smoke north into Helper. Driving through Helper reminded me a lot of Samuel R. Delany's novel "Dhalgren". It felt like we were driving through the town of Bellona. Thick smoke, a dark reddened sky. Awfull. Much of the smoke was eventually settling into Utah valley. On our return trip, you couldn't even see the block "Y" on the side of the mountain from i-15. It cleared-up quite a bit by the time we hit the Salt Lake Valley. Kelly and I both suffered sinus trouble from the poor air quality during the drive. Glad I had a new cabin air filter installed in the Kia a couple of weeks ago. That said, from Castle Dale, the sky to the south including the Wedge area was remarkably clear- totally untouched by the smoke. It's still about three weeks from new-moon weekend, and anything can happen between now and then, but anybody who was down there this week for some late-night dark skies wouldn't have been affected by the fires and resultant smoke at all.

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