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

Science article in the Chronicle
by jcarman6＠q.com 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

I don't think we are in disagreement. The graph misrepresented the facts, but the lay public isn't going to fact check . It's published ergo it's true. The point I was trying to make is the graph is attractive and simple, easily understood . Accuracy is beside the point. The actual science article wasn't. The public is more attuned to sound bites, not really thinking things through. The graph was simple and easily understood. It's always been the same, it takes 5 seconds for someone to make a claim and 5 minutes to explain why the claim is wrong. Who is going to hang around for the full five minutes? Whoa, look at that bright object in the sky, must be a UFO! Well, no, it's really something easily explainable - in five minutes. You're singing to the choir on this one. I was long ago convinced about global warming.

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Yesterday's L&O
by Chuck Hards 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

A somewhat smaller than usual group, but no less interesting and enjoyable. A big Liver & Onions welcome to first-timer Steve Nielsen! Ray, did you reset your clock the wrong direction last month? ;-) Rodger is done skiing for the season so he promises to attend more often. Our youngest member Dylan Holmes is growing like a weed, and gives the Left Fork french fries a big thumbs-up. We didn't get to look at the sun due to solid overcast. But we were compensated a bit by some delicious pie. My blackberry creme was out-of-this-world! As usual, the conversation ranged from what some of us did to pay the bills, to composite telescope construction, solar filters, binoculars, and of course Phil Plait, plus lots of other topics. I've got to try and look ahead on my work schedule, but the consensus was to hold another session sometime in May. I'll try and toss-out a couple of dates for consideration in the next week or so, with an eye on the SLAS calendar to try and avoid conflicts. My immediate concern is to get out of the office (yes, I'm working on a Sunday morning) and get home in time to look at the sun before the seeing deteriorates and the clouds roll back in. See you next month!

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Someone seeking Hansen Planetarium Posters/Postcards/Slides
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

Hi all, I received the following from a fellow in the Netherlands who heard that I used to be with the late, great Hansen Planetarium. I told him I had nothing that he's looking for but offered to post his request here in case someone on UA might have some of the things he's looking for. If you can help please contact him directly at ator2338ATxs4all.nl (he asked that I post his address that way and to note that to make it a working address you'll need to change the "AT" to "@".) Cheers, patrick +++++ When I was a kid over here in the Netherlands I once bought from our local dutch astronomy association a few sets of postcards, Appolo set (12 cards), Solar Systen (12) and Deep Sky if I recall correctly. There were also a few posters featuring Voyagert images from Jupiter and Saturn. Today, I am still an astronomy enthusiast, member of the board of the Royal Dutch Astronomy association and I give numerous lectures on all kinds of astronomical subjects in The Netherlands, I guess it sticked! As time went by, the got lost or were thrown away. Out of youth sentiment I would be very happy to acquire somewhere these original sets of postcards, and posters too. This seems to be difficult. I want to stress that I am not a professional collector trying to get some items cheap. My question is purely one out of youth sentiment. I learned that you are a public outreach member, and originally attached to the Hansen Planetarium. You might be able to help me out on my request. Your help would be enormously appreciated! Best regards, Klaas-Jan Mook +++++

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Comet Panstarrs
by Dave Gary 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

Looked at Comet L4 Panstarrs early in the morning the last couple of days. It appears to be getting quite dim. Didn’t see much of a tail. No photos.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Bryce Canyon in Tribune
by Joe Bauman 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

Great! ------------------------------ On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 6:09 PM MDT Patrick Wiggins wrote: >Nice mention of the Bryce Canyon star parties and this year's astronomy festival in today's Tribune: > >http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55874828-78/bryce-park-canyon-shuttle.htm… > >patrick > >Sent from my iPad >_______________________________________________ >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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Anticipation
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

Remember the old ketchup commercial where folks waited a long time for the ketchup to come out of the bottle while the song "Anticipation" played in the background? I've got kind of a similar feeling today. When I first got up this afternoon I could see a skinny sliver of blue sky all along the west and NW horizon. As the hours have passed the sliver has grown in size to where now I can see clear skies from the horizon up to about 10 degrees. And the clear area continues to grow larger but only every so very, very slowly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ Anticipation... patrick (whose first name is not Michael http://www.justmugshots.com/california/oroville/13053498 )

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Bryce Canyon in Tribune
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

Nice mention of the Bryce Canyon star parties and this year's astronomy festival in today's Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55874828-78/bryce-park-canyon-shuttle.htm… patrick Sent from my iPad

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Phil Plait
by erikhansen＠thebluezone.net 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

Found this article by Phil Plait, is relevant to editorial about science, papers please! http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/12/11/climate_change_denial_w…

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L&O reminder
by Chuck Hards 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

The L&O Subcommittee will be meeting next Saturday, April 13th, at noon. Left Fork Grill *68 W 3900 S*, SLC. I believe there is a SPOC cleanup day planned for that morning, but it was organized *after* I scanned the SLAS calendar for conflicts with the L&O meeting and posted the 13th as the date for L&O. It's not even on the SLAS calendar so maybe it was moved or scrubbed. If it's still going to happen, you could put in a few hours in the morning at SPOC and work up an appetite for lunch at the L&O meeting. Bring something science or astronomy related for show & tell and be prepared for some great conversation and fellowship. If the sun is out, I may bring the PST double stack for some solar views after lunch. Hope to see you there!

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Science editorial in the Chronicle
by jcarman6＠q.com 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

Rich, you have posted a perfect example of the problem. Look at the newsmax article. It contains a pretty and simple graph. The gray area is where the temperature is predicted to be and the black line is where the temperature actually is. Anyone, especially members of the lay public, can understand it. (Whether the graph is accurate or actually reflects the findings is beside the point). Now reread the first paragraph of the actual science article. Do you think any member of the lay public got past the first paragraph? Scientists are between a rock and a hard spot, they have to write their findings like that in order to get accepted by their peers. They have explain in minute detail their method and findings. But if they write it like that the lay public won't get past the first paragraph. That is probably how those 14,000 articles were written. Science and the general population are disconnected. We need another Carl Sagan to bridge the gap.

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