January 2015 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Beagle 2 lander found
by Wiggins Patrick 16 Jan '15

16 Jan '15

Such a shame/frustrating that it came so close to success only to fail. Somewhat reminiscent of the Soviet's Mars 3 (only lasted a few minutes after touchdown). patrick UK-led Beagle 2 lander found on Mars https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-led-beagle-2-lander-found-on-mars

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Telescope for Sale
by Joan Carman 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

As a courtesy to a former SLAS member I am posting the following particulars about a telescope for sale. Meade 16" truss design dobsonian with Crayford-style 2" focuser and 1.25" adapter. One spec. says f/4.5 another says f5. Optical coating MgF2. Red Dot finder with adjustable patterns. Includes cooling fan (uses 8 AA batteries), Meade 26mm Series 4000 QX Wide Angle eyepiece, Meade AutoStar Suite Astronomer Edition Software. Asking price $2400. Inquiries contact mark.shafto(a)varian.com He said he posted on KSL. com, some of you may have seen it, and got one offer.

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"New" Tasco
by Chuck Hards 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

Some of you know that I recently acquired a Tasco 15TE. It's a 3-inch refractor on a motorized equatorial mount, the flagship of Tasco's lineup in the 50's and 60's. They also offered a pier-mounted 4", but only a few are known to have been made and none are known to still exist in this country. Tascos got a bad rap when the company abandoned their Japanese manufacturers in the mid-seventies and began to source them from China. The formerly all-metal designs gave way to plastic, and optics of lesser quality. The old Tascos have objectives of the highest quality and were serious telescopes in their day. I also have a museum-quality 7TE (60mm x 1000mm) and a 6TE (50mm x 600mm). Both of those have outstanding optics and are all-metal examples of Tasco at their finest. Only the eyepieces of the day had some serious drawbacks, that said, some of them were pretty good despite a narrow FOV. The 15TE has an interesting history. I am the third owner, having purchased it from a man who got it at the estate sale of the original owner. Patrick especially may find this interesting due to his affiliation with NASA. Here is a repost of my report on Cloudy Nights: I now have the backstory on my recent Tasco 15TE acquisition. It's pretty cool. It was formerly owned by Fred Ordway III (1927-2014), and kept at his summer house on Montesano Mt. in Huntsville, AL. Ordway's summer house was used by all the NASA German engineers on Von Braun's team as a place to relax and converse, and plan where the upcoming lunar lander would land on the moon. They built an observatory on the mountain to house a 16" telescope to aid in the landing decision. It is very possible that the Tasco was used for the landing spot research prior to the completion of the 16". Certainly it was used by Ordway for his own stargazing while at his summer house, and chances are good that his many guests (co-workers at NASA and their families, mostly) looked through it as well, including Von Braun. Ordway also spent three years working as technical advisor on Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", thanks to his friendship with Arthur C. Clarke. I'm currently scouring the internet for any photos of Ordway and his friends relaxing at the summer house, and hopefully a shot of him at the eyepiece of the Tasco. He is survived by 3 adult children. I'm trying to screw-up my courage enough to find and contact them, and let them know that I am the new owner of their father's telescope, and ask if they can contribute any photos or other details of it's history. Ordway's obit: http://quadcitiesdaily.com/?p=182794 Wikipedia article on Ordway: http://en.wikipedia....k_I._Ordway_III <http://en.wikipedia....k_i._ordway_iii/> I will post links to pictures of the scope once I get it fully assembled and restored. It has some cosmetic issues that I want to address. Paint chips, etc., the optics are in perfect condition. Here is a link to a .pdf copy of the 1968 Tasco catalog. My 15TE was made in 1962, going by the serial number. http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/classics/tasco/tasco1968.pdf I have a couple of other made-for-export Japanese refractors from the era, including a Penncrest 60mm x 1000mm (J.C. Penney house brand) and a Shrine Manon 60mm x 700mm, with optics made by Pentax, and a few others made by Towa and other makers, and branded for American companies. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has a fondness for these vintage telescopes. My very first telescope, brought to me by Santa Claus, was a Tasco 60mm alt-az in 1965. I found all the Messier objects with it over the course of about a year. Some of them were darn hard, as I recall, and took many tries before I was sure I had bagged them! But it sure was fun.

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Star Party
by Mark Shelton 14 Jan '15

14 Jan '15

Hi All, There is star parties still happening in Souther Utah. We are having a star party this Friday the 16th. If you northern Utah star gazers are down this way please drop by and enjoy. Mark Shelton144 Lilly LaneToquerville, Ut. 84774 This star party is sponsored by the............. St. George Astronomy Group We are expecting a high around 58 and a low in the lower 40's. Mark

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Tycho Kepler Debate
by Joan Carman 14 Jan '15

14 Jan '15

I was considering Dean Howarth for a club meeting or something like it - just thinking, and Howarth provided this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW7JPGTKkHM Howarth is a physics teacher who portrays historical astronomers. The guy who portrayed Kepler kept looking at the script :(, but Howarth was rather good. Thought everyone on this board would enjoy it. Be forewarned, the video is 17 minutes long, so set aside some time to view it.

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Minor planet flyby later this month
by Wiggins Patrick 13 Jan '15

13 Jan '15

NASA's is predicting a relatively close (1.2 million km) and fairly bright (mag 9.0) pass of 500 meter wide minor planet 2004 BL86 later this month. Weather permitting folks around here could have a good chance of spotting it even in some binoculars. The Minor Planet Center has it moving about 125 arc seconds per minutes and high in our sky during closest approach on the late night/early morning of the 26/27. patrick p.s. Really nice night tonight.

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Messier Logs
by Jay inUT 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

Here is a link to a nice Messier Log that will fulfill the AL requirements. http://www.astronomylogs.com/pages/book/messier/Messier%20Log%20Book.pdf If your looking for something to use in the field. -- Thanks! Jay

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Star Party
by Joe Bauman 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

Hi Mark, How's the humidity? Thanks, Joe ------------------------------ On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 12:42 PM MST Mark Shelton via Utah-Astronomy wrote: >Hi All, >There is star parties still happening in Souther Utah. We are having a star party this Friday the 16th. If you northern Utah star gazers are down this way please drop by and enjoy. >Mark Shelton144 Lilly LaneToquerville, Ut. 84774 >This star party is sponsored by the............. St. George Astronomy Group >We are expecting a high around 58 and a low in the lower 40's. >Mark > > > >_______________________________________________ >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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Messier Logs
by william baker 10 Jan '15

10 Jan '15

This is a general questions to anyone, what is the best type of log (book, sheet, workbook) to use while keeping track of Messier objects. Bill

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Orion Nebula 01/09/2015 ˜22:00
by Dave Gary 09 Jan '15

09 Jan '15

Quick and dirty photo of Orion Nebula this evening. https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/15623205633/in/photostream/ Dave

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