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

Heads-up: Observing/imaging opportunity
by Chuck Hards 06 Feb '13

06 Feb '13

Thursday and Friday evening shortly after sunset, Mars and Mercury will appear in the same telescopic field-of-view: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/Mercury-Meets-Mars-1892…

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ISON this eveing
by Joe Bauman 05 Feb '13

05 Feb '13

Excellent, Patrick! It's definitely sprouting. ------------------------------ On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 8:41 PM MST Patrick Wiggins wrote: >http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/C_2012_K5.2013FEB05.JPG > >I've been asked to provide a bit more information on where the comet is located in the image. > >Basically it's pretty much dead center, just above the very close pair of double stars, looking a bit fuzzy and sprouting a tiny, faint wisp of a tail to the right. > >As always, two 30 second exposures taken ten minutes apart. FOV is about 18' x 26'. > >It pops out using the cross-eye viewing method. > >BTW, I've been keeping an eye on the position of C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) but it's still too far south. Same for 2012 DA14. > >patrick >_______________________________________________ >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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Seen It?
by D P Pierce 05 Feb '13

05 Feb '13

Have any of you observed this? http://news.yahoo.com/tiny-japanese-satellite-beams-morse-code-messages-spa… Deloy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT - drving safety
by Joe Bauman 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

Really good point, Kim. We are sticklers for seat belts -- although there was a time when Cory was driving and I didn't feel like buckling mine. She refused to start the car until I buckled it. ------------------------------ On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 12:45 AM MST Kim Hyatt wrote: >All: > > > >Deloy was kind enough to forward to me a link from yesterday’s Tribune about a fatal car accident on Highway 12 that occurred yesterday just outside of town (I did not hear about it at all yesterday): http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55757123-78/richards-tropic-crash-culvert…. Our park superintendent emailed all employees today and confirmed that the victim, Greg Richards, is a park employee. I worked with Greg on occasion, but I did not know him well. Our park “family” is very close, and this loss will be felt keenly by all. Greg has a brother and daughter who also work in the park. > > > >The Tribune noted that Greg was not wearing a seat belt. Whether this contributed to his death was not clear. Just a couple of miles from where Greg was killed yesterday, a local teen was seen last August passing another car at high speed, while texting, then crashed seconds later. He died because he was ejected from the car. Had he been wearing his seatbelt he likely would have survived, notwithstanding his foolishness and inexperience. His father had just chided a neighbor earlier that week who had admonished him to have his family use seatbelts. In so many words he told the neighbor, “Stay out of our business - that’s something we just don’t do.” > > > >I feel for these families, but at the same time I am shocked that people continue to drive without using a seatbelt. I believe that the deaths of two drivers who didn’t buckle-up, from our tiny community of about 500, in less than a year’s time have to be statistically significant. There is no more excuse for refusing to wear a seatbelt than there is for pointing a loaded gun in a loved-one’s direction and pulling the trigger (unless you have homicide on your mind). > > > >With all of the long-distance, late night driving that we do as astronomers, I BEG all of my friends to be sure to buckle that seat belt. The two or three seconds that takes have saved me from serious injury or death on at least two occasions. (Alas, neither car survived.) Please, please, use that seatbelt and insist that everyone in your car does as well. > > > >OK – I’m off my soapbox. But still pissed off. > > > >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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OT - drving safety
by Kim Hyatt 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

All: Deloy was kind enough to forward to me a link from yesterday’s Tribune about a fatal car accident on Highway 12 that occurred yesterday just outside of town (I did not hear about it at all yesterday): http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55757123-78/richards-tropic-crash-culvert…. Our park superintendent emailed all employees today and confirmed that the victim, Greg Richards, is a park employee. I worked with Greg on occasion, but I did not know him well. Our park “family” is very close, and this loss will be felt keenly by all. Greg has a brother and daughter who also work in the park. The Tribune noted that Greg was not wearing a seat belt. Whether this contributed to his death was not clear. Just a couple of miles from where Greg was killed yesterday, a local teen was seen last August passing another car at high speed, while texting, then crashed seconds later. He died because he was ejected from the car. Had he been wearing his seatbelt he likely would have survived, notwithstanding his foolishness and inexperience. His father had just chided a neighbor earlier that week who had admonished him to have his family use seatbelts. In so many words he told the neighbor, “Stay out of our business - that’s something we just don’t do.” I feel for these families, but at the same time I am shocked that people continue to drive without using a seatbelt. I believe that the deaths of two drivers who didn’t buckle-up, from our tiny community of about 500, in less than a year’s time have to be statistically significant. There is no more excuse for refusing to wear a seatbelt than there is for pointing a loaded gun in a loved-one’s direction and pulling the trigger (unless you have homicide on your mind). With all of the long-distance, late night driving that we do as astronomers, I BEG all of my friends to be sure to buckle that seat belt. The two or three seconds that takes have saved me from serious injury or death on at least two occasions. (Alas, neither car survived.) Please, please, use that seatbelt and insist that everyone in your car does as well. OK – I’m off my soapbox. But still pissed off. Kim

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ATM Detective: The weird stuff you find on line
by Chuck Hards 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

Being an ATM, I'm always on the lookout for useful components and interesting bits of tech to re-purpose. But I'm just not sure what to make of this: http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm/scategory/NMT/term/squirrel/srch.fp/1 I think Kim should order a few for his "neighbors".

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The FOG
by Chuck Hards 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

I just received Orion's universal smart-phone camera adapter, so of course this morning it's like living inside a light bulb. The fog is obviously my fault today. Grumble...

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Orion smartphone camera adapter (was: The FOG)
by Chuck Hards 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

I got about ten minutes of reasonably clear skies this afternoon and hooked-up the smart phone to the PST. Totally cool! It also effectively turns the phone into a real-time color monitor. Unfortunately, the sun disappeared while I was fiddling with focus and tuning the PST. I'm looking forward to some white-light shots as well as planetary targets. Supposedly one can expect top-notch results if multiple exposures are stacked and processed. It's an 8mp camera on the phone, so there's no lack of native resolution. One thing I did to the bracket was add Nylon washers under the clamping knobs. Makes adjustments much smoother and easier than the knobs sliding and tightening directly against the painted metal parts of the bracket. The bracket can also be used sans telescope as a tripod adapter, for terrestrial scenic shots. On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 8:48 AM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I just received Orion's universal smart-phone camera adapter, so of course > this morning it's like living inside a light bulb. The fog is obviously my > fault today. Grumble...

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Better luck next time, Patrick (Nova in Cephus)
by Daniel Holmes 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2013/02/possible-nova-in-cepheus.html Dan -- Daniel Holmes, danielh(a)holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin

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Antelope Island sunset
by Patrick Wiggins 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

Headed into SLC last evening the sunset colors on Antelope Island and the background made for a very nice site. Really nice the way the distant mountains punched up into the clouds. Of course I'd forgotten to bring my camera so all I got were a couple of iPhone shots. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/antelopeisland.jpg patrick p.s. Note to self: Always have the camera handy when airborne...

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