November 2013 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Venus
by Chuck Hards 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

Go out and look at Venus shortly after sunset. I can't recall ever seeing it so far due south near Greatest Eastern Elongation before. Kind of took me by surprise, I guess I haven't looked at it for a few weeks now.

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Seth Jarvis on KSL re: Comet ISON
by Chuck Hards 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27497775&nid=148&title=great-comet-could-dazzle-or-…

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Commercial Telescope
by Brent Watson 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

Most folks on this list build or have built their own telescopes. There are some who use commercial telescopes. I have to admit that I am not as well acquainted with the commercial market as I have been in the past, and that, in fact, I have never owned a commercial telescope. Herein lies the problem. My brother has asked me what commercial telescope he should consider purchasing. I know all of you have a much better idea about commercial scopes than do I, so I thought I'd ask some advice. He is looking to spend around $1k, and will use the scope for general viewing. He has no special requirements such as planetary or double star observing. Portability is a plus, but not absolutely necessary. Automation may be more important than portability, although they may come together in some cases. I'd really like to hear comments from you about your favorites, or good suggestions. Thanks, Brent

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Mike Clements on Channel 13 news tonight
by Chuck Hards 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

2-Meter Mike will be on Channel 13 news tonight sometime during the 9:00 PM edition.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Commercial Telescope (Brent Watson)
by John M. Craig 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Hey Brent, As a low-cost, general-purpose scope, I think it's hard to beat the Celestron 102 OTA. I have one and for general viewing, I think it's great. Yes, smaller aperture and less chromatically corrected than you'd get with a reflector (see my reasoning on this below). I don't know about getting any kind of decent automated mount along with a scope for $1K, but then if you go for an inexpensive OTA like the C102, the iOptron ZEQ25GT mount is available for around $850 and has gotten rave reviews and would certainly carry a larger scope also, if he went with a larger OTA later. (That puts the balance way in favor of the mount rather than the scope, at the budget specified.) The EQ mount requires a fair amount of setup and may be more trouble than it's worth--I think a person who mostly wanted to visually observe might do better with an automated alt-az mount (simpler conceptually). A lower-cost option for an EQ mount would be something like the iOptron Smart EQ Pro (~$500) or, for non-automated, the Astro-Tech Voyager Alt-Az (~$300). The iOptron Mini-tower 2 is a computerized Alt-Az and is ~$900. I have an iOptron iEQ45 and one thing I can tell you is they have superb customer support. If he wanted to go a bit higher in price, the Celestron 6" Advanced VX on a go-to mount (again EQ, though) is ~$1,300. You might be able to get the OTA by itself and a different mount. Why am I suggesting refractors? Just for simplicity's sake. Not having to fuss with collimation and so on is a big plus, IMO. I think you can see an awful lot (and very enjoyably) with a C 102, but it's got a degree of chromatic aberration and a relatively small aperture; the 6" would also have a degree of CA but you'd spend a long time looking before you got to things you couldn't see w/ that aperture. (I've never used the C 6".) Frankly, I don't think a bit of CA bothers novices as much as it does us purists, but that's just my take. The best scope, as a friend once chided me, is not the one with biggest aperture for the budget, but the one you will use the most. For a novice, I'd recommend sticking with something simple and inexpensive at first. I'd also be inclined to buy from Cloudy Nights classified or Astromart. You can get a good deal on things that have been well cared-for but cost a substantial amount less than something bought new. You can also get answers about what kind of observing the person enjoyed with the scope. Good luck. That's a tricky problem! John

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Ideas for my presentation - November 20th General Meeting
by Tyler Allred 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Hello SLAS, I thought I would start a thread to "test the waters" regarding topics for my presentation at the November 20th SLAS General Meeting. I am looking for input, so please let me know what you would like to see presented. I have given talks before that offer a very basic summary of the ways to break into astrophotography and the techniques that one can use, from the moderately cheap to the very expensive. I have also given talks where I present images I have made of various objects and discuss the interesting aspects of each. Either of these approaches could work and my previous talks could be used as a backbone and updated with the latest and greatest information. However, I am considering trying out a different approach this time. Is there any interest in a less formal and less constrained format where I bring a complete dataset and simply show how I process an image or two from start to finish? People could ask questions and we could keep it very loose and informal. It may not be of interest to everyone, but then again, maybe no topic is of interest to everyone. In the past, there have been many requests to hold a mini image processing workshop where people could to bring a laptop and try some processing steps on their own. I am open to this idea but I am unsure about such a session working out on a weeknight with serious time constraints. A workshop seems like a better activity for a weekend with a 4-hour time window (or more). I think the time allowed would be better spent if I just processed an image or two, and allowed others to watch and ask questions as they occur. I think people learn more with such an approach rather than holding questions until the end. Please let me know your thoughts on the matter. Perhaps I could begin with a brief slide show on the design and build of my backyard observatory and/or my homemade astrograph... if anyone is interested. The scope is no 1.8 meter monster, but does produce nice images, and building an astrograph has its challenges. Thoughts? I appreciate whatever feedback you can provide to help me focus on something useful and interesting to the group members. I want to hear from all the usual folks, but also from the lurkers, so please chime in one and all. Thanks, Tyler

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] APOD eclipse submissions
by Kelly Ricks 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

...though I just noticed that the request is specifically for the Nov 2013 eclipse, which didn't make it to Utah. Anyone travel east to catch sunrise? I suppose it may have just been visible here in Ohio, but for the cloudy skies. Sorry about that. I should read things more closely before I share them. Best, ~Kelly On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 8:09 AM, Kelly Ricks <kellyalenericks(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Most of you probably already noticed this, but APOD is requesting > submissions of solar eclipse pictures, the best of which it will post as > tomorrow's feature. I know there are a few on this list serve who have some > great shots! > > ~Kelly >

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APOD eclipse submissions
by Kelly Ricks 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Most of you probably already noticed this, but APOD is requesting submissions of solar eclipse pictures, the best of which it will post as tomorrow's feature. I know there are a few on this list serve who have some great shots! ~Kelly

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Observing Nov. 1st 2013 Vernon
by Jay Eads 01 Nov '13

01 Nov '13

Jeff, Mat and I will be out at the Vernon sites on FR006 to observe. Just depends which one is available.

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Observing Tonight & Mat Hutchings
by Jay Eads 01 Nov '13

01 Nov '13

I know that Mat and I are planning on heading out tonight at either 5 Mile Pass or hopefully Vernon (Vernon is looking good but cool, in the 20's for an evening of observing). If you want to join us, feel free to contact me at JayLEads@ g m a i l d o t c o m. Put it together. Seth, I sent you an email and will post it here. If Mat is filtering you to death, you can send it to me and I can try as I know my email gets through or I can print it off and bring it to Mat while we are observing tonight. Jay

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