August 2014 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Astronomy At Goblin Valley
by John R. Peterson 21 Aug '14

21 Aug '14

Can I get a guarantee that no childish scout leader's isn't going to push over my telescope? John R. Peterson -----Original Message----- >Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 16:33:03 -0700 >From: Richard Tenney <retenney(a)yahoo.com> >To: UVAA <uvaa(a)mailman.xmission.com>, Utah-Astronomy > <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Fw: Goblin Valley State Park - Star Party > Invite >Message-ID: > <1408577583.87622.YahooMailNeo(a)web140406.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > >If any of you are interested and/or have time to help out, feel free to contact Mr. Wells and let him know. ?I'm swamped with work, and would be unlikely to attend this year, but it sounds like a nice opportunity to be under some dark skies. >/R > >----- Forwarded Message ----- >From: James Wells <jameswells(a)utah.gov> >To: retenney(a)yahoo.com >Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 2:03 PM >Subject: Goblin Valley State Park - Star Party Invite > > > >Hello. My name is Jim Wells. I'm the park naturalist out here at >Goblin Valley State Park in southeastern Utah. Our park is currently in >the process of expanding its night sky activities as part of our effort >to eventually attain international dark sky certification. Our dark sky >is of exceptional quality, with light meter readings to date in the >21.5-21.7 range. Toward this end, we would like to invite the UVAA to host a public star party here at any time over >the next year. > >Our visitation is strongest from September through October, >and then again from March through June of each year, though we would be >happy to accommodate any day that works best with your schedule - especially as I see you're more of an informal organization. If >there is any interest in hosting a star party here, just let me know and we can discuss dates and logistics. Thank you very much for your time, > > >James Wells >Park Ranger >Goblin Valley State Park >PO Box 637 Green River, UT 84525 >435-275-4584 > >------------------------------ >

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Plankton
by Joe Bauman 21 Aug '14

21 Aug '14

How cool is this? http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/sea-plankton-discovered-outside-…

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How to download from YouTube?
by Wiggins Patrick 21 Aug '14

21 Aug '14

Anyone here know how to download a YouTube video? NASA has posted the video of last last week's ceremony but it's nearly two hours long. I'd like to download it and extract just my portion and repost just that. But no idea how to do that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYy_I3gNm6c&feature=youtu.be Help? patrick

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Fw: Goblin Valley State Park - Star Party Invite
by Richard Tenney 20 Aug '14

20 Aug '14

If any of you are interested and/or have time to help out, feel free to contact Mr. Wells and let him know. I'm swamped with work, and would be unlikely to attend this year, but it sounds like a nice opportunity to be under some dark skies. /R ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: James Wells <jameswells(a)utah.gov> To: retenney(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2014 2:03 PM Subject: Goblin Valley State Park - Star Party Invite Hello. My name is Jim Wells. I'm the park naturalist out here at Goblin Valley State Park in southeastern Utah. Our park is currently in the process of expanding its night sky activities as part of our effort to eventually attain international dark sky certification. Our dark sky is of exceptional quality, with light meter readings to date in the 21.5-21.7 range. Toward this end, we would like to invite the UVAA to host a public star party here at any time over the next year. Our visitation is strongest from September through October, and then again from March through June of each year, though we would be happy to accommodate any day that works best with your schedule - especially as I see you're more of an informal organization. If there is any interest in hosting a star party here, just let me know and we can discuss dates and logistics. Thank you very much for your time, James Wells Park Ranger Goblin Valley State Park PO Box 637 Green River, UT 84525 435-275-4584

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Bright object LOOK NOW!
by Chuck Hards 18 Aug '14

18 Aug '14

For the past ten minutes I've been watching an extremely bright object drift overhead. It is brighter than Venus, is drifting NNE to SSW, right now is due north and almost overhead from my location in North Salt Lake. I only have 10x25mm bino with me. It appears spherical with an appendage sticking out one side. I think it's in the atmosphere, if it's orbiting, it is very far, not a low orbit at all. Moving too slowly. I'll follow it for as long as I can. Check the time on this message. Probably only going to be visible for a little while longer. Still visible in a bright blue sky, the sun isn't up yet though. Any confirmations are appreciated.

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Comet / Flare
by Wiggins Patrick 18 Aug '14

18 Aug '14

I just saw what I think was the brightest Iridium flare I've ever seen. CalSky said it would be -7.4 but it sure looked brighter than that. Also, for those who may not have heard, CalSky has been alerting the past few days about a fairly bright comet visible in our skies, C/2014 E2 (Jacques). I saw it this morning with my C-5. Fairly easy to see despite the Moon being nearby. No sign of a tail. The coma overexposed on some test shots I took with only a hint of a tail registering. Tomorrow (Monday) morning look for it to be about RA 03 13 Dec +58. That puts it about 64 degrees up in the east at the end of astronomical dark (0500 MDT). Also for tomorrow morning, Jupiter and Venus really close together. Here from NASA: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/15aug_conjunction/ patrick

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Fun UFO story
by Joe Bauman 17 Aug '14

17 Aug '14

OK, tell me what this is. I vote for a meteor fireball, but it's strange. -- Joe http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/17/ufos-videotaped-canadian-wildfire_…

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Chrismo
by Chuck Hards 16 Aug '14

16 Aug '14

Looks like Chris' email account was hacked again. Anybody have his phone number?

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Updates
by Wiggins Patrick 15 Aug '14

15 Aug '14

For those who might be interested I'm putting award updates on my Facebook page.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Flocks of Birds While Observing
by Bruce Hugo 14 Aug '14

14 Aug '14

They did not seem to be geese. I'll try to make a more positive ID next time and try to follow them at low power. Whoa... unidirectional-airflow lungs? Did not know about that! Will have to look it up. Bruce

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