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

Science funny
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Sep '12

14 Sep '12

Just saw a guy wearing a t-shirt reading: "When all else fails, manipulate the data." Grins, patrick

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Strange sighting
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Sep '12

14 Sep '12

Hi all, I received the following yesterday. I did not see it. Did anyone here see it or know what it might be? Too slow for a satellite. Maybe a high altitude research or weather ballon? > I went out for a walk this morning a little before 6:30am. At that time, it was fairly dark, but the sky was starting to light up. In the eastern sky, I could see the crescent moon and Venus in fairly close formation. > > I looked up about 15 minutes later and saw a third object (about the same magnitude as Venus) in the same vicinity as Venus and the Moon—forming a triangle. At first, I thought it might be Mercury, but then I realized it was moving, but very slowly. After another ten minutes it vanished. Oh and here's another weird sighting: http://www.tampacriminals.com/Mugshots/Patrick_wiggins/962817-906ceece3a27b… It wasn't me, judge. :) patrick

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Zodiacal lights
by Kim Hyatt 14 Sep '12

14 Sep '12

I just went outside to check out the zodiacal light. It is very bright and obvious in the east this morning, extending well past the Milky Way to the Pleiades. I then walked around the house to see if it is as visible in the west, and I've never seen it so bright in the opposite part of the sky as this morning! While I couldn't say with certainty that I could see the Geggenschein as a distinctly brighter region, the zodiacal band itself is very bright. From my home the western sky has a rather high horizon. Combined with my eyes having not been fully dark-adapted, I'm thinking that's why I couldn't clearly see a brighter region of the band where the Geggenschien should be. However, I was shocked to see a very bright shaft of light extending above the horizon, at the same angle as the ZB right in the middle of it. I've never heard of or observed this phenomenon before. Then I realized that the ZB just happens to extend directly above Bryce Point and the light had to be from a car arriving to watch the sun-rise from there. Sure enough, that shaft of light soon blinked off. I plan to make some images tomorrow morning of the ZB and I'll share if they're any good. Kim

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old Moon
by Kim Hyatt 14 Sep '12

14 Sep '12

After composing that last post, I again went outside to watch the rising Moon. It's a very beautiful sight today, just a bit over a day from new Moon, if I'm correct. Kim

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this weekend
by Chrismo 14 Sep '12

14 Sep '12

so I'm now available on weekends, at least for a while... is anyone going to Capitol Reef this weekend? anyone going out locally? I was thinking of Lakeside or Wolf Creek tomorrow.

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2012 QG42 is on approach
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Sep '12

13 Sep '12

Newly discovered minor planet 2012 QG42 will be passing within about 2,840,000 km of Earth in a couple of days but it's already bright enough at magnitude 14 or so to be an easy target for many astroimagers here in Utah. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/2012QG42.JPG http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/2012QG42.GIF (~11 MB) I shot the images through a red filter this morning (12 September) between 0526 and 0607 UT when 2012 QG42 was about 3,441,000 km out and moving across the sky at 35"/min. FOV of the image is 18 x 26 arc minutes. Closest approach is tomorrow night into Friday morning. To get observing data go to http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html and enter 2012 QG42 in the search box. You can enter your longitude, latitude and altitude or if you're in northern Utah you can just enter my observatory code 718. Clear skies, patrick

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Jupiter impact video
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

From the IOTA list: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19299984@N08/7976507568 Much discussion about it but no one has reported seeing anything in the area where it impacted. patrick

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Venus-Moon 12 Sep 2012
by Dion Davidson 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

I'm glad I got up to see Venus and the Moon get together this morning. Glorious! http://500px.com/photo/13702543 Dion

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NASA Highlights 50th Anniversary of Kennedy 'Moon Speech' and Looks Ahead
by Patrick Wiggins 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning on NASA TV: NASA Highlights 50th Anniversary of Kennedy 'Moon Speech' and Looks Ahead http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/sep/HQ_M12-177_Kennedy_Rice_Speech_50t… Hard to imaging that tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of the speach that set the US on a course for the Moon. And maybe a bit harder to believe that we've not had humans outside of low Earth orbit, let alone back to the Moon, in 40 years. Alas, we may have to cede that goal to the Chinese or Indians. Sigh... patrick (speaking for myself and not for any group, institution or agency I might sometimes represent)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Sun Tunnels and (OT) Lucin/Central Pacific RR
by Joe Bauman 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

Amazing story, Kim. It also sounds like a dangerous undertaking. Thanks for sharing. ------------------------------ On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 9:04 AM MDT Kim wrote: >I have had some experience with both "observing" at the sun tunnels and >driving the old Central Pacific RR grade, which was eventually abandoned >after construction of the Lucin Cutoff. > >On December 21, 1991 I went to the tunnels with VonDel Chamberlain. It was >particularly interesting because there was a partial lunar eclipse the night >of the 20th/21st, so the Moon was also aligned in the opposite pair of >tunnels, both at sunset and sunrise. I've got pics of the event buried in a >moving box - somewhere. It was a bitter cold night, at least -20F, and the >only other people nuts enough to be there were some dumb college kids >without warm clothing who arrived pre-dawn for the sunrise. Still, I enjoyed >the experience. I also went there with the family the following June for the >solstice. There were a few more people there in June. ;-) > >The Lucin Cutoff (the old Great Salt Lake trestle) was built because by >about 1900 it had actually become cheaper than continuing to run trains over >Promontory Summit. By around 1940 the rails had been removed from the UP and >CP grades, roughly between Odgen and Lucin - hence, the "Lucin Cutoff". The >Central Pacific grade is now maintained by the BLM and is supposedly >drivable, except for bypasses at all of the wooden trestles. I've tried >driving the CP grade between Lucin and Promontory on three occasions, and >each time I've ripped open a tire on old RR spikes still buried in the soil >on the grade. Finally, I determined one year to do the whole thing by >bicycle. My plan was to stay on the grade as much as possible, even across >the wooden trestles. > >I left Promontory in the morning one day in October and pedaled to Lucin, >then from there to Montello where my wife met me, a total of about 120 >miles. It took three days and about 15 liters of water, that I carried on my >bike all the way, until I ran out. I saw no one else the entire trip until I >was well past Lucin headed to Montello off-grade. The second night I camped >at the cemetery at Terrace, but I neither saw nor heard any of the ghost >trains that have been reported in the area. I only had to leave the grade >once or twice to bypass missing trestles, otherwise I was able to bicycle >the whole thing, even on the wooden trestles that are blocked to car >traffic. It was one of the best trips to which I've ever treated myself. >Fascinating history and desert scenery. Well worth the time and effort, but >my joints all suffered for a few weeks afterward. Guess I'm getting old(er). > >Kim > > >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >Send messages to the list to >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. > >To unsubscribe go to: >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

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