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

Wanna buy a name?
by Patrick Wiggins 28 Dec '13

28 Dec '13

Those who have been on this list a very long time might remember that back in 2007 I spotted a little dot on one of my images that moved from picture to picture that turned out to be an unknown minor planet. I gave it the temporary name UOFU08 (for Univ. of Utah find #8). The Minor Planet Center checked and when they decided it was in fact a new find they called it K07V08N / 2007 VN8. Going through my correspondence from back then I saw I'd posted to this list that it would probably be a couple of years before I'd be able to name it. Turned out to be longer than that. However, a couple of hours ago I received my second cosmological birthday present (the first being the GRB) in the form of an email from MPC giving my little rock a number: 361690 So, what am I bid for naming rights? :) Just kidding as the rights were gone long ago. Some here might also remember that following my (with wife Holly) first find back on 03 November 1999 and my solo find a couple of weeks later I was thinking this was going to be easy. So easy that I gave naming rights to my next find to KCPW to auction off during one of their telethons. And from what I remember, they got a handsome sum. Little did the winner (or I) know that next find would be 8 years later. And that the ability to name it would come 6 years after that. So I just sent the winning bidder an email to the address I had for him in 2007. So far it has not bounced. I'm really interested to see how he'll respond. Clear skies, patrick

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Frontiers of Science tomorrow (plus Mayan & Bernson)
by Wiggins Patrick 15 Nov '13

15 Nov '13

Frontiers of Science talk tomorrow (Thursday) https://www.facebook.com/events/106708762820137/ Evidence that the Mayan calendar does not end this year: http://www.zazzle.com/the_2013_mayan_calendar-158713461120501542 And now we know where Dave Bernson arrived on Earth: http://nationexplorer.com/feature/1448512 Clear skies! patrick Sent from my iPad

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Mars and ISON
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Oct '13

01 Oct '13

Looks like ISON will be just over 2 degrees away from Mars this morning. 6:00 has the two about 26 degrees in altitude and pretty much due east as seen from northern Utah. By mid-October they'll be a few degrees higher and a bit further south at 6 but less than one degree apart. patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Zeta Aquarii
by Bruce Hugo 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

Hey Daniel, Thanks for all the help last night! I was trying to split them at low power. That would explain my not seeing the pair. I'll head back out on a clear night this week and see if I can do some splitting. I'll also check out M2 and the Helix nebula! Thanks for the suggestions and the star hopping pointers. As I noted last night, my first scope was computer controlled so I didn't learn star hopping and object locations. Now the Dob is forcing me to learn learn the sky! Which... is fun! LOL! Bruce Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. - Edwin Powell Hubble Last night at SPOC I was mooching photons from Bruce Hugo and his excellent 10 inch dob. ? I had remembered seeing a nice double in the water jar of Aquarius. ? Bruce:? I was right and it was the first one we tried to look at called Zeta Aquarii. It's listed in my Bright Star Atlas as 2.0 arc seconds.? You may have missed splitting it because of low power or perhaps the seeing was choppy. ? As an aside, the water jar asterism is an excellent pointer to the M2 globular cluster.? Draw a line through the jar and extend it one jar length to the west an you are right on top of M2. ? Another nice pointer set is farther south next to the bright start Fomalhaut.? Three star in the vicinity, delta, gama, and epsilon form a sharp spear point pointing northwest.? The Helix nebula lies on spear point length off the end of the spear point tip.? It's an easy starhop even in 10x50 binoculars at a descent dark site. ? DT

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Russian Meteor Update
by jcarman6＠q.com 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

We were all agog last February http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2387639/Meteor-crashed-Russi…

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Utah Star Party
by Jay Eads 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

Lets see if this link works . . . http://darkskyastronomyinutah.webs.com/utah-star-party-2013

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ASOD submission accepted
by Kelly Ricks 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

I was excited this morning to discover that ASOD accepted one of my drawings for today's feature. Check it out... http://www.asod.info/ ~Kelly Ricks

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ASOD submission accepted
by Kelly Ricks 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

Thank you to all of you who commented on my message! As far as how many ..ODs are out there, I only follow APOD, EPOD, and ASOD, but a quick google search turns up a whole host of additional options. There's the Kodak Picture of the Day http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2549&pq-locale=en_US&_… Wikipedia picture of the day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Picture_of_the_day National Geographic claims to have the "Best" photo of the day http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/best-of-photo-of-the-… For another astronomy related option there's LPOD: the Lunar Picture of the Day http://lpod.wikispaces.com/September+30%2C+2013 Optics picture of the day, Geology picture of the day, Old picture of the day... ...and I imagine this could go on for quite some time. ~Kelly

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] ASOD submission accepted
by Bruce Hugo 30 Sep '13

30 Sep '13

Wow! I too did not know ASOD existed! Congrats Kelly! Bruce Hugo

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Zeta Aquarii
by daniel turner 29 Sep '13

29 Sep '13

Last night at SPOC I was mooching photons from Bruce Hugo and his excellent 10 inch dob. I had remembered seeing a nice double in the water jar of Aquarius. Bruce: I was right and it was the first one we tried to look at called Zeta Aquarii. It's listed in my Bright Star Atlas as 2.0 arc seconds. You may have missed splitting it because of low power or perhaps the seeing was choppy. As an aside, the water jar asterism is an excellent pointer to the M2 globular cluster. Draw a line through the jar and extend it one jar length to the west an you are right on top of M2. Another nice pointer set is farther south next to the bright start Fomalhaut. Three star in the vicinity, delta, gama, and epsilon form a sharp spear point pointing northwest. The Helix nebula lies on spear point length off the end of the spear point tip. It's an easy starhop even in 10x50 binoculars at a descent dark site. DT

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