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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Last night's lecture
by Joe Bauman 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

Brent, speaking of the ISS, I have wondered if it could be put into an orbit that continuously cruised between Earth and Mars. When it swung by Mars it could drop off and retrieved crews. I don't see how the radiation would be any worse than the ISS crews are already exposed to. ------------------------------ On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 8:18 AM MST Brent Watson via Utah-Astronomy wrote: >I attended the lecture last night on trajectories. It was really a good, stimulating talk. Thanks for passing the word along. >There were some interesting side comments made about our launch capabilities and the Mars One effort. Mr. Adamo was not at all enthusiastic about the Mars One effort. His opinion is that the effort is doomed because there is not really a way to assure that folks going there would be safe - primarily from radiation. He has done some work with a former flight surgeon on designing a spacecraft to go to Mars. Their result is that in order to get sufficient shielding (using a water jacket), the spacecraft's mass would be around 380 metric tons. That is for a small crew, probably only about 5 members. For a point of comparison, the ISS mass is 400 metric tons. He made the comment that an astronaut who made this trip could only go to space once in this craft, and then he would be at the limit of radiation exposure for his life. The NASA limit is an increased risk of developing cancer of 5%. >That brings us to our current launch capability. Our latest heavy lift rocket - the one we are currently developing - will have the capability to lift 130 metric tons to a very low earth orbit. So low, in fact, that it would burn up at perigee. The Apollo 17 Saturn 5 rocket lifted 140 metric tons into earth orbit -- higher than the new rocket will go. (I am sorry, but my mind will not allow me to recall the name of our currently being designed rocket.) Recall that it took several dozen shuttle launches to assemble the ISS. The Mars One vehicle would require either a hugely more massive launch rocket or a similar effort to build the craft. >As I mentioned, it was a very intellectually stimulating lecture and did involve several ordinary differential equations. They were nicely explained in English by Mr. Adamo. This was the first time I have seen some real math put to Kepler's laws. There were many charts showing what it takes to leave the earth and go to the moon or Mars. It was a very well done lecture. >The above is my recollection of the lecture, and may not actually represent the opinions of Mr. Adamo. It is only my interpretation of what he said. He knows his stuff, that is apparent. Thanks Patrick and Dr. Sohl for passing the word along. >_______________________________________________ >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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Moon position question
by Ed 04 Aug '15

04 Aug '15

Help! Can anyone tell me how, or where I can find out how, to use an ephemeris calculator (like ephemeris.com) for the Moon to figure this out? How many degrees north or south of due east will the Moon be when it is 10 degrees above the horizon on a specific date, at a specific lat/long location approximately 70 miles west of SLC, and at what time that will occur? An iterative solution method would be acceptable, if a direct calculation is not possible. I would appreciate any help that anyone can provide. Ed Stimpson

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Moon position question
by Bruce Hugo 01 Aug '15

01 Aug '15

Ed, Stellarium is a quick learing curve. Read (or at least skim) the manual so you can breeze through the software. There is a link to the manual on the Stellarium site. The manual is Wiki based but you can also download a PDF off the Wiki page. The program has a LOT of tweaks like adjusting the amount if light pollution shown, the magnitude star level, etc. so you can have a realistic view. I can even control my LX200GPS using Stellarium! It is an amazing program and is amazingly FREE! Have fun! Bruce

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Moon position question
by Bruce Hugo 31 Jul '15

31 Jul '15

Free planetarium software: I would recommend Stellarium. It is free and comes in 3 flavors (Windows, Mac, Linux). http://www.stellarium.org/ Clear skies!Bruce Hugo I gather a modern planetarium program will do the job, but I see that it would be used in an iterative manner as I suspected the calculations might be. There are probably many, but could you suggest an affordable one that is easy to learn and use? A free one would be nice as a learning tool even if it didn't have a lot of extra features. Thanks for your help and humorous mention of calculation accuracy as interpreted in the courts of the 1600's. Ed

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Touching story about a bucket list
by Thomas Sevcik 31 Jul '15

31 Jul '15

Saw this just a short time ago. The picture of a little girl looking through a telescope with the possibility of going blind in the near future. Sad. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/parents-give-daughter-5-visual-bucket-list… Tom Sevcik

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Summer slipping away
by Chuck Hards 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

This morning was clear enough at low elevations to see Orion's belt stars just clearing the mountains in the early dawn sky. This year it's coinciding with Venus slipping in front of the sun as it catches up to earth in it's faster orbit. Soon it will join the oncoming winter constellations in the morning sky. I find myself looking forward to the cooler nights and better seeing of fall.

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BSA astronomy merit badge star party following Orem Owlz game
by Richard Tenney 29 Jul '15

29 Jul '15

I could use some help if anyone wants to join me at the the Owlz game this Friday the 31st. I have two extra tickets, and we will be setting up some small scopes on the field after the game (I'm bringing two, a refractor and a reflector), and will be talking about some of the things the merit badge covers. There are expected to be 40 boys, rotated through in 3 groups. Yes, it's a full moon that night (I'm not the one that planned this!). Please call me if you are interested in helping. 801 380 3331 Thanks,/Rich Tenney

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Supernova Hunting
by Jay inUT 28 Jul '15

28 Jul '15

In reading tonight from James Kaler's book Extreme Stars, he makes the point that galaxies that are colliding, have collided or that are merging have increase star formation (which we know) and thus this new star formation will result in an increase in the creation of O & B stars. O&B stars live short lives and end them as supernova. Thus if one is supernova hunting it would makes sense that for that season to include on a regular scan, galaxies that are in the process of merging, colliding or have done so recently (in astronomical terms). Chances are greater that a SN will occur here. Is that reasoning making sense to anyone? Probably not and I'll go to bed since I have to train tomorrow. -- Thanks! Jay

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Tombaugh tribute?
by Chuck Hards 25 Jul '15

25 Jul '15

Patrick, what are the chances of you taking a couple of images of Pluto over a few nights, and combining them into an animated .gif file? It's the modern equivalent of a blink comparator. It would approximate what Clyde Tombaugh had to deal with during his search all those years ago. Thanks, C.

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Exoplanet names.
by Daniel Holmes 24 Jul '15

24 Jul '15

Now we can get on with our lives. Here’s a handy dandy chart for what exoplanets should be named… http://xkcd.com/1555/ Dan -- Daniel Holmes, danielh(a)holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin

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