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

Comet Lovejoy last night
by Debbie 14 Feb '15

14 Feb '15

I enjoyed a quiet evening with my buddy Dave for some winter stargazing. I set up my 15" Obsession at Ivins Reservoir for some fairly dark skies except for the eastern horizon. I found comet Lovejoy with Dave's phone app above Andromeda galaxy heading towards Cassiopeia. I viewed it in binos Thursday night and thought I saw a small tail. With the 27 Panoptic, it definitely showed off it's small tail. This is the best view I've had all winter. It is still bright although I think it has dimmed some since January. M81-M82 showed up well in the northern sky. It is high up in the sky and the views don't get any better than right now. M108, M109, and M97 (Owl Nebula) were viewed in the Big Dipper. I also viewed NGC 2841, a 10th magnitude galaxy near the constellation Lynx. NGC 2683 was a nice elongated galaxy known for it's UFO shape. It has a bright magnitude of 9.7. The other galaxies I viewed with my 12mm Nagler were NGC 1300, NGC 1232, NGC 1337, and NGC 1097 in Fornax. I viewed serveral open clusters in Canis Major, Puppis, Gemini, and Cassiopeia. The last one I viewed was M38 in Auriga. I really like that one under dark skies and it was fairly high when I viewed it. It was a nice Friday night under the stars. Hopefully the skies will be clear next week so I can do some more winter observing. Clear Skies, Debbie

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Happy 25th Pale Blue Dot
by Wiggins Patrick 14 Feb '15

14 Feb '15

Gad, has it really been 25 years? I'm feeling old... patrick http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4484

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Dr. Anil Seth
by Joan Carman 13 Feb '15

13 Feb '15

All SLAS meetings are open to the general public, you do not need to be a member to attend. February 18th is the next general meeting and the speaker will be Dr. Anil Seth from the University of Utah. His topic title is: Tiny Galaxies Big Black Holes." The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Warnock Engineering Building, Room 105. If you are new to SLAS meetings, you will have to register your car with Campus parking services and pay a whopping $2 to park for the evening. It is fairly easy to do, but it is a hassle.

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Search for a new listmod
by CJ Cottrill 13 Feb '15

13 Feb '15

Hello Listies! It's been some time since I've communicated officially from my post as a list moderator. For the past couple of years, I've grown busier and busier, and I am now preparing to leave Utah and embark on another cross-country adventure to start a new career. Anyway, this leaves a need for someone to assume my position as listmod. If you're interested, please fill out an application at this site: http://tinyurl.com/listmodapplication I appreciate your consideration of this matter. I hope to announce a decision on this by the end of February. If I am unable to reach a decision on my own, I will print all of the applications and lay them in random spots throughout my house. The one my cat sleeps on first will be named my replacement. Best Regards, Chris 'Chrismo' Cottrill

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Testing solar filter transmission characteristics
by Chuck Hards 12 Feb '15

12 Feb '15

Do any list members have access to metrology equipment that can be used to test the transmission characteristics of a few selected solar filters? I'd like to do some comparisons and demostrate quantifiably which wavelengths and what intensity these filters transmit. Any resulting publication will list the person doing the tests as co-author, if you like. I only have a broad-spectrum flux meter. I think we need a spectrophotometer for this. Please contact me if you can help me out. Thanks!

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FW: Earth Science Picture of the Day
by Joe Bauman 11 Feb '15

11 Feb '15

Congratulations, Patrick! Earth Science Picture of the Day /////////////////////////////////////////// Concrete Arrows and the U.S. Mail Posted: 10 Feb 2015 12:01 AM PST http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2015/02/concrete-arrows-and-the-us-mail.html Photographer: Patrick Wiggins Summary Author: Patrick Wiggins On August 20, 1920, the United States opened its first coast-to-coast airmail delivery route, just 60 years after the Pony Express ended operations. There were no good aviation charts in those days, so pilots had to eyeball their way across the country using landmarks. Of course flying in bad weather was a challenge and often quite dangerous, and night flying was just about impossible. The Postal Service solved the problem with the world's first ground-based civilian navigation system; a series of lighted beacons that would extend from New York, City, New York to San Francisco, California. Every 16 km, pilots would pass a 21 m concrete arrow on the ground that was painted bright yellow. At the center of each arrow there would be a 15.5 m steel tower, topped by a million-candlepower rotating beacon. Below the rotating light were two course lights pointing forward and backward along the arrow. The course lights flashed a code to identify the beacon's number. If needed, a generator shed at the tail (or feather end) of each arrow powered the beacon and lights. The remnants of two such arrows are shown above. By 1924, just a year after the U.S. Congress funded it, the line of giant concrete markers stretched from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Cleveland, Ohio. The next summer, it reached all the way to New York and then extended all the way to San Francisco by 1929. Around 1926, the new Aeronautics Branch in the Department of Commerce proposed a 650-mi air mail route linking Los Angeles, California to Salt Lake City, Utah, passing through Washington County, Utah. It was designated as Contract Air Mail Route 4 (CAM-4). Western Air Express, Inc. was awarded a contract to lay out the route and carry the mail. Their first flight was made on April 17, 1926, in a Douglas M-2 airplane. By 1928, the route had been marked with the cement arrows and beacon towers for navigation at night and in inclement weather. New advances in communication and navigation technology made the big arrows obsolete, and the Commerce Department decommissioned the beacons in the 1940s. The steel towers were torn down and went to the war effort (WW II). Today, only a few of the weathered cement arrows (less the yellow paint) remain. Coordinates Beacon 59 (top photo) located in Toole County, Utah: 40.750025, -112.648239 Beacon 61A (bottom photo) located above Lakepoint, Utah: 40.704554, -112.253626 Related Links Center Pivot Irrigation Near Utah Lake TV piece about this story More articles about arrow project Earth Observatory View of Great Salt Lake from Skylab -- You are subscribed to email updates from "Earth Science Picture of the Day." To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now: https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=HFbVwGF8d-D9JmjeuDrCkp… Email delivery powered by Google. Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

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SPOC funny
by Wiggins Patrick 10 Feb '15

10 Feb '15

One of the newer SLAS members, Pamela Almoustine Magee Bradford, posted this about a certain "post SPOC tradition" to her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204262311930985&set=a.10653721475… Grins, patrick

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Jupiter 02/07/2015 ~00:23
by Dave Gary 09 Feb '15

09 Feb '15

Photo of Jupiter taken 02/07/2015, a little after midnight. Closer moon to the left of Jupiter is Io. The moon to the left of Io is Europa. This is about the best detail I can get with my current setup and considering my skills with image-manipulation software (virtually nil). If you squint really hard you may be able to see detail in the brighter bands. Considering Jupiter’s distance (650 million kilometers or about 400 million miles) I find it astonishing that one can get this sort of detail from one’s driveway setup in just a matter of minutes. The light-travel time from Jupiter to Earth is much longer (about 36 minutes) than the time it took me to acquire the 600 exposures I used to assemble this image. > https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/>

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 144, Issue 5
by Stephen Peterson 08 Feb '15

08 Feb '15

The current solar filament is impressive, about a quarter or third the diameter of the sun. A second thinner one joins and extends almost to the limb. If you have a solar scope don't miss it. Steve Hurricane On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 12:00 PM, < utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com> wrote: > Send Utah-Astronomy mailing list submissions to > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > utah-astronomy-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Utah-Astronomy digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Jupiter 02/07/2015 ~00:23 (Mark Shelton) > 2. Re: Jupiter 02/07/2015 ~00:23 (Dave Gary) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2015 13:56:28 -0700 > From: Mark Shelton <astroshelton(a)yahoo.com> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jupiter 02/07/2015 ~00:23 > Message-ID: <D4F1600C-9E5C-4B96-8527-8A53C81198E5(a)yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > That is way cool > > Sent from my iPhone > > > On Feb 7, 2015, at 11:15 AM, Dave Gary <davegary(a)me.com> wrote: > > > > Photo of Jupiter taken 02/07/2015, a little after midnight. Closer moon > to the left of Jupiter is Io. The moon to the left of Io is Europa. This is > about the best detail I can get with my current setup and considering my > skills with image-manipulation software (virtually nil). If you squint > really hard you may be able to see detail in the brighter bands. > Considering Jupiter?s distance (650 million kilometers or about 400 million > miles) I find it astonishing that one can get this sort of detail from > one?s driveway setup in just a matter of minutes. The light-travel time > from Jupiter to Earth is much longer (about 36 minutes) than the time it > took me to acquire the 600 exposures I used to assemble this image. > > > > > >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/ < > https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/> > > _______________________________________________ > > 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". > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2015 14:11:15 -0700 > From: Dave Gary <davegary(a)me.com> > To: Mark Shelton <astroshelton(a)yahoo.com>, Utah Astronomy > <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jupiter 02/07/2015 ~00:23 > Message-ID: <7EF83CB4-9180-4CD5-B5AF-D6F6FD952EAC(a)me.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Thanks, Mark. Tonight (weather permitting) I hope to get another shot of > Comet Lovejoy. It?s moved into the northwestern part of the sky at this > time. I looked at it last night, but didn?t take any photos. I haven?t seen > 15P Finlay, yet. Maybe tonight. > > Dave > > On Feb 7, 2015, at 13:56, Mark Shelton via Utah-Astronomy < > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> wrote: > > > > That is way cool > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > >> On Feb 7, 2015, at 11:15 AM, Dave Gary <davegary(a)me.com> wrote: > >> > >> Photo of Jupiter taken 02/07/2015, a little after midnight. Closer moon > to the left of Jupiter is Io. The moon to the left of Io is Europa. This is > about the best detail I can get with my current setup and considering my > skills with image-manipulation software (virtually nil). If you squint > really hard you may be able to see detail in the brighter bands. > Considering Jupiter?s distance (650 million kilometers or about 400 million > miles) I find it astonishing that one can get this sort of detail from > one?s driveway setup in just a matter of minutes. The light-travel time > from Jupiter to Earth is much longer (about 36 minutes) than the time it > took me to acquire the 600 exposures I used to assemble this image. > >> > >> > >>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/ < > https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/16277812778/> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> 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". > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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". > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php > > ------------------------------ > > End of Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 144, Issue 5 > ********************************************** >

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Jupiter 02/05/2015 A couple of photos of Jupiter...one with the Great Red Spot
by Dave Gary 06 Feb '15

06 Feb '15

> https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157650660543071/ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157650660543071/>

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