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

Women in Astronomy (was Astro Apps)
by jcarman6＠q.com 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

I just want you all to know I have NOT posted a response to Chuck's post about girls and toys because it would most likely be XXX rated, but all of you would have laughed heartily if I had. :) The topic women in astronomy is a serious one and Rich touched on it. It would be easy to blame the male dominated attitude in Utah and there is blame to be placed, but it's not just Utah, a lthough I believe there are many more women in other states actively involved in amate ur astronomy. But I want to speak from my own experience. While my interest has been accepted by SLAS members and members of this board without challenge or condemnation (well, maybe a little - sort of), it is not so much true of the general public. I have done many public star parties and invariably, while I am standing next to MY refractor, if there is a man standing anywhere near my scope, a number of general public males will turn to the man and ask him questions, about astronomy and/or MY scope. Many general public women as well. After a while it wears a girl down. There have been other women with scopes who gave up on public star parties for this reason . Men simply do not have a foundation upon which to handle such experiences because it doesn't happen to you. No one in the club or on this board is to blame - it is not you. It is just the general population's assumption that astronomy and/or science is a boys club. That's why I am on this board, at least I can talk to all of you about my interests and not be slighted.

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5000 year old Egyptian jewelry with meteorite beads
by D P Pierce 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0820/Ancient-Egyptian-jewelry-came-fr… Deloy

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Women in Astronomy
by D P Pierce 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

About 10 years ago we went to an astronomy festival in Cheyenne, WY. It was co-sponsored by the local school district. The jr. high school had an astronomy club with a female membership of 90%! We were amazed! The district went to a lot of effort to let females know there were a lot of career options other than the traditional ones of housewife, secretary, school teacher and nursing. They brought in a successful women in a different field each year as a special speaker. That year Caroline Shoemaker spoke. Deloy

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astro apps
by jcarman6＠q.com 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Thanks for the recommendations. Several people named Skeye or Skyeye, so it got downloaded first. HOLY COW!!! A full planetarium program for free!!! and I paid hundreds of dollars for The Sky for my laptop. The only problem is the size of the screen - I feel you pain Chuck!!. But the view can be enlarged (call it zoom in) with the flick of two fingers. It's going to take me weeks to get the hang of it. Is Skymap Pro and Sky Safari similar? What is Skywalk and Astromist? Someone mentioned an app that calculates sunrise/sunset and astronomical twilight awhile ago. Does anyone recall the name of that app? Thanks to all who responded :)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Car pooling from UT County to SLAS meeting tomorrow
by John M. Craig 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Hi Folks, Anyone interested in combining for rides to the SLAS meeting tomorrow evening? If so, please feel free to contact me off the list. John

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Astro Apps
by jcarman6＠q.com 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

I REALLY appreciate everyone responses. N ot being the CEO of the Clark Planetarium, I probably won't need ALL of those you've mentioned (lol), but a moon map, phases and such are certainly on my list to get. The Jupiter and Saturn moon app is really neat . Patrick had that on a tablet at a star party about a year ago. A small screen like my android is a slight issue, but being able to say which moon is which as you look through a telescope is a very helpful . I have noted the Skeye l imitations - it only has 1191 stars (visual- close to 7th magnitude? ); all 110 Messier objects locations, all 88 constellations and a "time machine." Haven't really played with the time machine yet, but think you could show people the position of the north star today and in Egypt when the pyramids were built - the wobble of the earth over time and precession of the equinoxes - neat. Will have to spend some time really stretching the limits of the app. The guy who sold me the phone said I'd hate it for a week. Not true. It has been mine for slightly more than 48 hours now and I love it. They talk about boys and their toys - well they ought to talk about girls and their toys too - at least in the 21st century. Besides us girls have our own telescopes too. and I love it.

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Astro Apps
by jcarman6＠q.com 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Dear Mr. Jachmann: I do not have, nor have I ever had a telescope that belongs to you. Any telescopes in my possession were purchased by me - fair and square- and have been in my tender loving care since full purchase price was paid to the seller. Whether the seller was a business or a private party, the seller received full and complete legal tender for goods received. You appear to be under a serious long-term delusion and I strongly recommend psych iatric intervention as soon as possible.

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Astro Phone apps
by jcarman6＠q.com 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

I am now the proud owner of a smart phone (the last cell phone was a flip phone - much like Star Trek's communicators). The members of this board have discussed astronomy apps for cell phones previously, but I am requesting a few, at least to start, "free" apps for astronomy. Any suggestions?

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Naming Exoplanets.
by Daniel Holmes 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

I'd love to see the press release for Planet "New Jersey VI". http://xkcd.com/1253/ Dan -- Daniel Holmes, danielh(a)holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin

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Perseid Photo
by jcarman6＠q.com 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

Regarding the Perseid photo Joe posted - it should be noted it was a composite photo. Still an excellent example of the concept of radiants for showers. Tip o the hat to the person who did it.

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