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

Cosmic visitor to wizzz Saturday/Sunday
by Wiggins Patrick 06 Sep '14

06 Sep '14

Folks here might have heard that a small "house sized" minor planet will be passing within ~40,000 km of Earth a few minutes past noon MDT on Sunday. That's only about 1/10th the distance to the Moon. Obviously we wont be able to see it at noon. However, we in Utah do have a chance of spotting it on approach late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Happily there's a star party Saturday night at SPOC so the Grim should be available and using that we just *might* be able to see it. Here are the data calculated for SPOC by the Minor Planet Center: Date UT R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta V Object Sun h m s Azi. Alt. Alt. 2014 09 07 040000 22 33 32.8 -19 45 13 0.0034 15.1 316 +17 -24 2014 09 07 050000 22 34 11.3 -20 06 30 0.0032 15.0 330 +23 -32 2014 09 07 060000 22 34 50.9 -20 30 34 0.0029 14.8 344 +28 -39 2014 09 07 070000 22 35 34.7 -20 58 02 0.0027 14.6 000 +29 -43 2014 09 07 080000 22 36 27.3 -21 29 46 0.0024 14.5 016 +27 -43 2014 09 07 090000 22 37 35.6 -22 07 09 0.0022 14.2 030 +22 -39 2014 09 07 100000 22 39 09.3 -22 52 12 0.0020 14.0 042 +14 -32 BTW, for some reason (can anyone here explain?) MPC's idea of azimuth is 180 degrees off what I think most of us use. So subtract 180 for the azimuth numbers listed to get ones most of us are more used to (i.e. where is says 330, subtract 180 to get 150 in the SE). See t'all tonight (Friday) at the Brickyard Harmons star party and tomorrow night at SPOC. patrick p.s. I think SLAS is still looking for someone to stand for next year's president. Any takers? To qualify you have to have been a member on 1 September.

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Solar System Ambassadors Program Accepting Applications
by Wiggins Patrick 05 Sep '14

05 Sep '14

Solar System Ambassadors Program Accepting Applications The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassadors Program (SSA), a nationwide network of space enthusiast volunteers, will accept applications from now through September 30, 2014. Highly motivated individuals will be given the opportunity to represent NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as volunteer Solar System Ambassadors to the public for a one-year, renewable term beginning January 1, 2015. SSA hopes to add 100 new volunteers to the program in 2015. To learn more about the Solar System Ambassador Program, visit http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/. Links to the Announcement of Opportunity and Application form are available on the website’s main page. If you have questions about this opportunity, contact Kay Ferrari, SSA Coordinator, by email atambassad(a)jpl.nasa.gov.

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U of U & SLAS: Two Years on Mars: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
by Wiggins Patrick 04 Sep '14

04 Sep '14

The U of U and SLAS are cosponsoring the U's next Frontiers of Science lecture the evening of Wednesday the 24th of September. Entitled "Two Years on Mars: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" it will feature Dr. Kimberly Lichtenberg, a geologist and engineer on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover. Admission is free. Seating will be on a first come first seated basis. Details at: http://science.utah.edu/events/frontiers.php patrick

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NGC 6951
by Joe Bauman 02 Sep '14

02 Sep '14

Here's a view I took of the fascinating galaxy, NGC 6951, Monday morning from Lakeside, Tooele County. It's a barred spiral with crazy arms, a Seyfrut galaxy located about 75 million light-years away in Cepheus. The grayish material in the background is called the "integrated flux nebula" in our Milky Way Galaxy. Total exposure was in the order of three hours, but I haven't added up the subexposures. -- Joe http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=5967

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Moon, Mars, Saturn now
by Joe Bauman 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Lakeside was terrific last night. Four vehicles were there counting mine. A married couple arrived before me -- pleasant people -- they had a big camper home and some superb gear. The other two vehicles camep after sunset and drove farther into the field. In the morning I saw their telescope set up near their tents but they apparently were asleep so I didn't drive over to see them. The moon and planets were a nice grouping but not close enough together for me to photograph. The night was clear and the Milky Way was so bright that I took a walk almost entirely by its light, relying on my flashlight only a few times. I will post my pic of a beautiful galaxy later. ------------------------------ On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 11:52 AM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >My wife and I admired that last night from the backyard, it was a very >pretty sight. I can't help but wonder if there was an occulation of Saturn >by the moon earlier in the day, or at least a close pass? Saturn seemed >almost perfectly orthogonal to the north-south terminator line. > >The seeing wasn't bad last night, either. Too bad I couldn't stay up past >moonset or I would have been at Lakeside. > >With the worst of summer's heat behind us, hopefully the monsoon season >will die off and we'll have some fantastic nights in September and October. > >On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 9:22 PM, Wiggins Patrick <paw(a)getbeehive.net> wrote: > >> As I enter this the Moon, Mars and Saturn are forming a very nice triangle >> in the SW. >> >> patrick >> >_______________________________________________ >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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Great Basin National Park Astronomy Festival - September 18-20
by Carroll, Kelly 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Hello all, I just wanted to invite everyone to this year's astronomy festival at Great Basin National Park in Baker, NV - September 18-20, 2014. We are always looking for volunteers to help with the nightly star parties. We are again having our "astronomer's camp" this year and free camping will be provided. For more details you can contact me or see the event schedule at www.BestNightSky.com Thank you and we hope to see you here! Best regards and clear skies, Kelly Carroll Supervisory Park Ranger Great Basin National Park 775-234-7513 www.nps.gov/grba Experience your America Great Basin National Park Astronomy Festival - September 18-20, 2014 <http://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/greatbasinastronomyfestival.htm>

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Moon, Mars, Saturn now
by Wiggins Patrick 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

As I enter this the Moon, Mars and Saturn are forming a very nice triangle in the SW. patrick

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