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

Aurora
by Patrick Wiggins 11 Jul '12

11 Jul '12

Kelly Ricks just rang me to say she's seeing a beautiful auroral display right now. Of course she's not here she's in North Dakota. Still I climbed up on my roof only to see clouds. Grumble... patrick

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Patrick's latest
by Joe Bauman 11 Jul '12

11 Jul '12

Serene, beautiful pic by Patrick is NASA Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) -- or is it actually from a Mars orbiter image showing Phobos over Hellas Plainita? Congrats! http://epod.usra.edu/

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my ALCON trip
by Gary Vardon 11 Jul '12

11 Jul '12

I went to ALCON in Chicago last week. I stayed at the Lincolnshire resort where the event occurred. All told I had a gooood time and found the event worthwhile. I toured Fermi lab where they do particle physics and saw the Yerkes telescope. Yerkes is a huge refractor. July 4th I saw fire works and then went to a star party. I went to many interesting talks including those on light pollution, the phases of Venus, image stacking and measuring the size of features of Jupiter. Sincerely, Gary Vardon The book DO It Right will help you understand vital ideas leading to your greater success. GO to PublishAmerica.com Consulting For Profit is also available. Learn how to make money as a consultant. Jokes? is a wild and witty look at the world and the mbook Marketing can show you how to make good money selling goods and services. All books are available at PublishAmerica.com

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The heat wave is widespread
by Gary Vardon 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

I went to Chicago for ALCON. It went up to 100 F while I was there. I noted a lot of brown lawns in Chicago. Chicago land and other parts of the country are hit with drought. Sincerely, Gary Vardon The book DO It Right will help you understand vital ideas leading to your greater success. GO to PublishAmerica.com Consulting For Profit is also available. Learn how to make money as a consultant. Jokes? is a wild and witty look at the world and the mbook Marketing can show you how to make good money selling goods and services. All books are available at PublishAmerica.com

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the sun today
by Joe Bauman 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

Wonderful view from NASA's Solar Dynamics Laboratory: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

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Eastern view of the morning sky?
by Dion Davidson 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

I read this article and wanted to take advantage of these morning sights, but I don't know where to go to get a view of the early eastern sky. The mountains block everything to the east in Sandy. Any suggestions? http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/03jul_wakeupatdaw… The less driving the better. Dion

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Moon: 9 July 2012 ~0530 MDT
by Dave Gary 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

Joe, Here’s some Moon shots. Not as good as yours, but it’s my first time. I tried to get some photos of Venus and Jupiter, but I didn’t set the f-stop and shutter speed manually. As a consequence of this the photos are extremely bright and washed out. Live and learn. The last photo is a handheld view of Jupiter and Venus from my home in St. George. I didn’t process the photos at all because I was too lazy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157630494970316/ Dave

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Venus and Moon: 10 July 2012 ~ 0545 MDT
by Dave Gary 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

You can tell I got up a little too late this morning. It was too bright to get decent photos of Jupiter. http://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157630512097852/ Dave

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Higgs and Such
by Dave Gary 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

I’m a bit confused. First, in my understanding of the Standard Model the Higgs field is responsible for the masses of intermediate vector bosons (W-, W+, and Z0), quarks and leptons. That’s about it. The Higgs field does not even explain the origin of the Higgs boson’s own mass. Second, when I was younger I read the 27 September 1905 paper by Einstein entitled, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend On Its Energy Content?” That’s where m = E / c2 was, initially, formulated. Matter that we interact with on a regular basis is composed of nucleons and it is the energy of interaction between the constituent parts of these nucleons, not the mass of the parts themselves (which is very small), that is responsible for most baryonic mass. The Higgs field and associated boson has nothing to do with this. The Higgs boson is not a “God particle” and is not responsible for “most” mass. I don’t know where this came from? I guess physicists have to eat, too. These days you don’t get the big money if you don’t have some fluff around the edges. Third, as amateur astronomers, all of us have heard of dark matter. We’ve never observed it directly, only by its gravitational interactions. Obviously, if we can’t see it with any of our devices it has a very weak coupling to photons and is, therefore, likely to be non-baryonic. That means dark matter is very unlikely to couple to the Higgs field. As it stands now, dark matter represents a significant proportion of the mass in our Universe. Shouldn’t I be confused? Don’t get me wrong, discovering the Higgs particle is a great achievement. I think it’s just been a little over-hyped. Dave

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Tonight (Tuesday) at 11:00 on KUED: The City Dark
by Patrick Wiggins 10 Jul '12

10 Jul '12

http://www.kued.org/?area=programs&action=seriesDetails&id=20189#253070 The City Dark Is darkness becoming extinct? When filmmaker Ian Cheney moves from rural Maine to New York City and discovers streets awash in light and skies devoid of stars, he embarks on a journey to America's brightest and darkest corners, asking astronomers, cancer researchers and ecologists what is lost in the glare of city lights. Blending a humorous, searching narrative with poetic footage of the night sky, "The City Dark" provides a fascinating introduction to the science of the dark and an exploration of our relationship to the stars.

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