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

Surplus Shed 46% Off Sale
by Chuck Hards 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

>From now until midnight on Friday, Surplus Shed is offering 46% off EVERYTHING. You must use discount code SS230113 at checkout to get the 46% off. They still have a fair selection of Jaegers objectives, and of course tons of other optics and items useful to the ATM and home-brew techie. I recently restored an old Unitron finderscope with chipped optics, using Surplus Shed lenses. http://www.surplusshed.com/

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ISON tonight, 2013 FEB 25
by Joe Bauman 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

I didn't realize it was that far out. It's impressive that it has a smudge of a tail. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 2:05 PM MST Seth Jarvis wrote: >Shoot - fingers typing too fast for my slow brain to track. > >I meant to say that ISON is currently about 4.6 AU from the Sun. > >Seth > >-----Original Message----- >From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Seth Jarvis >Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 1:27 PM >To: 'Utah Astronomy' >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] ISON tonight, 2013 FEB 25 > >Joe, > >ISON is still about 4.6 AM from the Sun. Perihelion isn't until late November, when it will get only about a million miles from the Sun. It's a Sun-grazer in every sense of the word! For contrast, Comet PANNSTARS, which we'll be seeing (we hope) in another couple of weeks has a perihelion distance of roughly the Sun-Mercury distance of ~28 million miles. > >As many images as Patrick is taking, he'll be able to stitch them together into a "movie" showing ISON's passage against the background stars and show the comet's gradual brightening and growth in the months ahead. Because it's a Sun-grazer, and it's an Oort Cloud object making its first approach to the Sun, it promises to be super-bright. > >Then again, always remember Kahoutek. > >The challenge for ISON viewing this late November and early December is that because ISON is a Sun-grazer, to see the head of the comet you'll practically need to be looking at the Sun. For most folks, I think our best bet is to look for the tail rising brightly in the east prior to sunrise, or if we're lucky, get a view of a _daytime_ comet. > >Seth > > >-----Original Message----- >From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman >Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 12:54 PM >To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] ISON tonight, 2013 FEB 25 > > > >It's not very impressive. When is it supposed to blossom? -- Joe > > >------------------------------ >On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 8:45 AM MST Chuck Hards wrote: > >>Focus seems a bit soft. Or was the wind really blowing? >> >>Thanks, hope it starts to leave the "smudge" stage behind soon. >> >>On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 2:38 AM, Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com>wrote: >> >> ISON tonight: >> http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/C_2012_S1.2013FEB25.JPG >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>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". > > >_______________________________________________ >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". > >_______________________________________________ >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". > >_______________________________________________ >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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Good-Bye Pentax XW
by Jay Eads 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

Over at CloudyNights and I called the Denver offices and its true. The Pentax XW line is being discontinued. The 30mm and 40mm are already discontinued. Now the 3.5, 5, 7, 10, 14 and 20 are also going away. Glad I have my copy of all but the 3.5 and the 30 and 40. It's a shame to see this line end as they are my favorite eyepieces. Thanks to Steve Fisher who turned me on to them several years ago. So if you ever wanted some, now is the time to get them.

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Rare Book Trip
by Joe Bauman 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

Dear fellow astro-fans, I've just posting a set of photos on both the SLAS Facebook site and my section of the SLAS gallery, showing views of a trip to the rare book section of Marriott Library, University of Utah, on Jan. 30. Thanks for taking a look and thanks to Patrick for arranging this visit. Although it wasn't an official SLAS excursion, nearly all of those present were SLASers, whom Patrick kindly allowed to accompany him. If you see any errors, please tell me immediately; also, I would like to hear any comments you have. For those not using Facebook, the SLAS gallery location of the album is: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=5517 -- Best wishes, Joe

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ISON tonight / Dilbert today
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Feb '13

23 Feb '13

ISON tonight. Same setup and settings as previous nights. http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/C_2012_S1.2013FEB23JPG Today Dilbert continued with the minor planet theme: http://www.dilbert.com/2013-02-22/ patrick

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Comic
by D P Pierce 23 Feb '13

23 Feb '13

http://www.gocomics.com/redandrover This reminds me of the Harmon's sp years ago where a kid was looking through a scope at the craters on the Moon. He said "People have been there and they brought back dirt and rocks, didn't they?" We assured him he was right and he then said "I can see the holes they left.? I think he thought the holes should have been filled in. Deloy

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ISON tonight, 22 FEB 2013
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Tonight's view of the comet through awful seeing: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/C_2012_S1.2013FEB22JPG patrick

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Today's Dilbert
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Seems appropriate considering recent minor planet related news: http://www.dilbert.com/2013-02-21/ Grins, patrick Sent from my iPad

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ATM report
by Hutchings, Mat 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Luckily, it warmed up slightly on Jan. 26 for our ATM session! Charlie, Chuck, Jay, Jeff and Josh all attended and made it a great session. No mirror work went on, probably because it was too cold to do any serious work with our hands. Charlie and I discussed a good method for using his grinding machine for his project. Chuck brought by a very cool 6" grinding tool that is a composite of ceramic and, I believe, polyester. I am looking forward to trying it out on an upcoming mirror. Very glad that Chuck attended and am hoping that he is able to make it again in the future, as he brings a wealth of ATM experience to the table. Jay shared ideas and plans he has for a nice wooden eyepiece case. Jeff made some collimation tweaks to his 12" Orion dob. I believe the views will be impressive through that telescope after the changes he made. In preparation for hosting some telescope making friends from California, Josh and I discussed some refinements to his bath interferometer. Those refinements will make getting repeatable images of fringes (igrams) more obtainable. I shared the dew heater and controller I recently built. It works very well and is a necessary accessory for cold, damp nights. Since the ATM session, I have completed a version using a printed circuit board I made, rather than perf-board. That version is much more durable. I am willing to share the plans and assist anyone who wants to build one. To make one is considerably cheaper than what you can buy. We were treated to a great lunch of "white chicken chili" made by my wife; it was awesome! The next session is on 2/23 and then another on 3/30. Sometime after that, we will likely be having a Friday evening and Saturday session again; stay posted! Mat This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. The information contained herein may include trade secrets, protected health or personal information, privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your system. Thank you for your cooperation

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Replay of yesterday's Mars teleconference
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

NASA has posted yesterday's Mars teleconference here: http://www.ustream.tv/new/explore/technology/all?subCategory=technology-sci… patrick

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