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

Comet watch at SPOC tonight
by Chuck Hards 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Patrick/Rodger, will the gate at SPOC be open tonight? I'd like to bring my parallelogram and 70mm bino, but would rather not lug it all from the parking lot. Thanks.

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Comet PanSTARRS
by Chuck Hards 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

I was reading Joe's SLAS blast on the comet and have some thoughts. This isn't a "Great Comet", by any means, actually it's not even a "good" comet. I guess once you see a Great comet such as Bennett or West, others pale in comparison. Certainly Hale-Bopp was pretty spectacular, even if a bit shy of "Great" status, and Hyakutake was in a league of it's own. The longest comet I've ever seen, but ghostly pale and almost eerie. I'd even put Ikeya-Zhang above PanSTARRS. That said, we don't see naked-eye comets (or those verging on naked-eye visibility) very often (at least in the northern hemisphere lately- what's up with that?) so even these little guys are kind of special to us. I do think that we as a community tend to go overboard when dealing with the press, and especially so with comets. Anybody who's been doing this for a while knows that comet visibility predictions, even though based on data and carefully plotted brightness curves- are no better than rolling dice. I think press releases on things like this should wait until such time as a comet is actually big and bright enough for the general public to see and recognize as something special. As astronomers, we get excited over little nebulous puffs, but the general public do not. I wonder if sometimes we do ourselves and our hobby a disservice by promoting the average or below-par (from the public's viewpoint). Crying Wolf isn't really the right analogy, I think in the public eye we come off more like cosmic Dead-Heads. Fans who follow our band everywhere and are completely consumed by it. Well, most of us are, but a lot of what we get excited about just won't ever really infect 99.99% of the public the way it infected us. I plan on going to SPOC tonight because a comet is a comet, and these little ones have their own charms. Also I won't have to contend with the neighbor's patio lights until ten PM. A "Great Comet" is something that we only get to witness a very few times during a lifetime, if we are lucky. So I'll get my fix with this little guy and bide my time for the next really knock-your-socks-off comet. (Gets down off soap-box)

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PanSTARRS and crescent Moon yesterday
by Thomas Sevcik 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

I took this picture from Wastach Blvd near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon yesterday evening. Picked up the comet in between clouds by using my 8x40 Nikon binos. Set up my Canon 60Da with a 24-100mm lens, but the comet was barely visible. Switched to my 300mm Canon lens, and was barely able to fit both inside the viewfinder. Exposure for this one was 2.5 secs with ISO set at 3200 and using Auto White Balance (which I rarely use, but under the circumstances decided it was my best option). The link below leads to my Facebook account to the pic. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=587465317932193&set=a.5874656712654… Tom Sevcik

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PanSTARRS and crescent Moon yesterday evening
by Thomas Sevcik 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

The link below will lead you to my picture of Comet PanSTARRS and the crescent Moon yesterday evening. Was able to spot the comet first by using my Nikon 8x40 binos. Had difficulty finding it naked eye as layers of clouds passed over it, but it was visible through the clouds with the binos. First tried taking exposures with my 24-105mm lens, but the comet was too small. Switched to my 300mm lens and was just able to fit in the comet and the Moon within the frame. Exposure was 1.5 seconds at ISO 3200 and using Auto White Balance (which I rarely use, but under the circumstances I couldn't decide which setting would be best).https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/885566_587698394575552_57… Tom Sevcik P.S. hopefully this resend will open up the link! Not sure why the first one didn't.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] PanSTARRS and crescent Moon yesterday evening
by Joe Bauman 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

As you can from this photo -- which has not been enhanced by photoshop -- the comet is small and not much brighter than the earthshine portion of the moon. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 11:48 AM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >Great, Tom! That one works. Thanks! > >On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 11:44 AM, Thomas Sevcik <sfv1ts(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> The link below will lead you to my picture of Comet PanSTARRS and the >> crescent Moon yesterday evening. Was able to spot the comet first by using >> my Nikon 8x40 binos. Had difficulty finding it naked eye as layers of >> clouds passed over it, but it was visible through the clouds with the >> binos. First tried taking exposures with my 24-105mm lens, but the comet >> was too small. Switched to my 300mm lens and was just able to fit in the >> comet and the Moon within the frame. Exposure was 1.5 seconds at ISO 3200 >> and using Auto White Balance (which I rarely use, but under the >> circumstances I couldn't decide which setting would be best). >> https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/885566_587698394575552_57051737… >> Tom Sevcik >> P.S. hopefully this resend will open up the link! Not sure why the first >> one didn't. >> _______________________________________________ >> >_______________________________________________ >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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PanSTARRS and crescent Moon yesterday evening
by Thomas Sevcik 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

The link below will lead you to my picture of Comet PanSTARRS and the crescent Moon yesterday evening. Was able to spot the comet first by using my Nikon 8x40 binos. Had difficulty finding it naked eye as layers of clouds passed over it, but it was visible through the clouds with the binos. First tried taking exposures with my 24-105mm lens, but the comet was too small. Switched to my 300mm lens and was just able to fit in the comet and the Moon within the frame. Exposure was 1.5 seconds at ISO 3200 and using Auto White Balance (which I rarely use, but under the circumstances I couldn't decide which setting would be best). https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=587465317932193&set=a.5874656712654… Tom Sevcik

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet PanSTARRS
by Joe Bauman 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Nice shot, Rich. I think the clear weather helped you. Maybe if it's clear tonight in northern Utah we'll get a good look. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 9:36 AM MDT Rich Allen wrote: >We got a pretty nice view of it down here near Kanab. I took a ton of pictures, put one of them and a crop on my site: http://www.ricosweb.net/PanSTARRS.htm > >Rich Allen > > >_______________________________________________ >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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Rover finds conditions on Mars might have supported life
by Thomas Sevcik 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

In case any of you might not have seen this, there's still hope for life in the pass on Mars. Neat article to read. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/12mar_graymars/ Tom Sevcik

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet PanSTARRS
by Joe Bauman 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Fine analysis, Chuck. It is interesting but certainly not a great comet and not even a very good comet. It's nice to see if you can. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 8:32 AM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >I was reading Joe's SLAS blast on the comet and have some thoughts. > >This isn't a "Great Comet", by any means, actually it's not even a "good" >comet. I guess once you see a Great comet such as Bennett or West, others >pale in comparison. Certainly Hale-Bopp was pretty spectacular, even if a >bit shy of "Great" status, and Hyakutake was in a league of it's own. The >longest comet I've ever seen, but ghostly pale and almost eerie. I'd even >put Ikeya-Zhang above PanSTARRS. That said, we don't see naked-eye comets >(or those verging on naked-eye visibility) very often (at least in the >northern hemisphere lately- what's up with that?) so even these little guys >are kind of special to us. > >I do think that we as a community tend to go overboard when dealing with >the press, and especially so with comets. Anybody who's been doing this >for a while knows that comet visibility predictions, even though based on >data and carefully plotted brightness curves- are no better than rolling >dice. I think press releases on things like this should wait until such >time as a comet is actually big and bright enough for the general public to >see and recognize as something special. As astronomers, we get excited >over little nebulous puffs, but the general public do not. I wonder if >sometimes we do ourselves and our hobby a disservice by promoting the >average or below-par (from the public's viewpoint). Crying Wolf isn't >really the right analogy, I think in the public eye we come off more like >cosmic Dead-Heads. Fans who follow our band everywhere and are completely >consumed by it. Well, most of us are, but a lot of what we get excited >about just won't ever really infect 99.99% of the public the way it >infected us. > >I plan on going to SPOC tonight because a comet is a comet, and these >little ones have their own charms. Also I won't have to contend with the >neighbor's patio lights until ten PM. > >A "Great Comet" is something that we only get to witness a very few times >during a lifetime, if we are lucky. So I'll get my fix with this little >guy and bide my time for the next really knock-your-socks-off comet. > >(Gets down off soap-box) >_______________________________________________ >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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No comet watching
by Kelly Ricks 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

...and no luck in Ohio either...sigh. Been cloudy all week, and likely to continue. You guys out west are lucky. ~Kelly > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:16:08 -0600 > From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Pan starts from spoc > Message-ID: <8ACC4AF3-A84E-44F5-97C2-A6E298122A58(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Looking ok in the Bogdan but hopeless naked eye, > > 4.5 degrees to left of Moon. > > patrick > > > >

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