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RE: [Utah-astronomy] sunshine!
by Lambert, Aaron 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

How do you go about making a home-made spotter? I had a lot of fun last summer showing my kids and some scouts the sun using my binos and a cardboard box, but it was a little awkward. Searching around I found a Keplarian(?) one for sale on the net but it was over $300. Is there a way to build a cheap spotter that gives you a decent image? I had wondered If I could buy one of those little ~$30 radio shack 50mm plastic scopes and take it apart to see if I could build my own, but I really have no idea what I am doing. Aaron > -----Original Message----- > I'm using a 50mm f/9 home-made spotter at 41x with a > Baader filter and home-made eyepiece, through my > office window. >

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sunshine!
by Chuck Hards 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

What's that bright thing in the sky that hurts when you look at it? ;) There is a very large sunspot group visible, a smaller one not too far away, and two dots between them. I'm using a 50mm f/9 home-made spotter at 41x with a Baader filter and home-made eyepiece, through my office window. Check it out if you get a chance. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com

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Best space/sci-fi movie ever
by Chuck Hards 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

Memory Lane time again. Looking at the Cassini Website over the weekend while nursing the flu, I was reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey (in the book ,Discovery goes to Saturn, not Jupiter), so this morning I am watching the movie on the little DVD player in my office. Even after all these years, and nit-picky little details aside, I consider this movie still to be the best Space/Science-fiction movie ever made, bar none. Nothing else even comes close. I sure am glad of my age, for once. I saw this movie when it first came to theaters, on the big screen. I was about ten or eleven and the country was in the middle of the Apollo program as well. What a great time to be a kid with your head in the stars. Anything and everything was possible. You just had to be there. You folks 45+ know exactly what I'm talking about. Any other great movie suggestions? Inspirations? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Moon/temperature relationship?
by Chuck Hards 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

Right now I'm reading "One Man's Wilderness - An Alaskan Odyssey" (there's that word again!) by Sam Keith, from the jounals of the late Richard Proenneke. (Excellent book, highly, highly, highly recommneded, as well as the companion DVD "Alone in the Wilderness"...some of you may have seen it on PBS) In it, Proenneke claims a relationship between the coldest temperatures and full moon in winter. Anybody else notice this? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Best digital SLR for astro imaging
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

I've had a few conversations off list about using digital SLRs for astro imaging. So far I've heard from those who like the Canon 10D, Canon Rebel, Nikon 70 and Nikon 100. Anyone care to chime in with their opinions? Patrick

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Re: Best Si Fi Flicks.
by Nathaniel Goodman 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

Is there nobody but me out there who can remember these two classic Science Fiction Movies, "Destination Moon" 1950 produced by George Pal, a realistic look for the time on a rocket trip to the moon,no creatures from another world, just realistic travel based on a Robert Heinlein juvenile novel "Rocketship Galileo" done almost documentary style with background moonscape artwork by famed space artist Chesley Bonstell,unfortunately the cracked lunar surface would prove to be less that accurate after we went there but still a classic flick. Then there is "When World's Collide" from 1951another George Pal production directed by Rudolph Mate, more artwork by Chesley Bonstell a Noah's Arc epic tail of earth faced with an impending impact, and mankind's race to build a ship and escape Earth before the Star Bellus collides and destroys the earth which it does in the end leaving a rocketship full of travelers headed to a new world Zyra which is shown in the end to be Earthlike..The ship in this movie looks alot like the Destination Moon ship,but it it takes off on a fantastic launching ramp. Then there is that favorate from 1953 when War of the Worlds was also released "Abbot and Costello Go to Mars" plus Miss U.S.A. 1952 Jackie Loughery.The boys while headed to Mars crashland on Venus where they find an all female population including many minuature(small) large busted Venetain women, and of course Venusla Baloons (you'll have to se that part to believe it) the cabin of their ship has unique acceleration couches that rotate like squirrel cages to maintain a level position while the ship takes off vertically. I suggest everyone track down a copy of the book "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies" by Phill Hardy which covers everything up to 1985.Wow! Nato. Who reciently replaced his Flash Gordon VHS Tapes with DVD's. For an interesting Web Site go to www.rareserials.com where you can buy all kinds of cool movie adventure flicks.

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: War of the Worlds
by Lambert, Aaron 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

I thought the movie Independence Day was already a modernized version of War of the Worlds. I wonder why another is being made. As much as I enjoy the classic stories, I wish the film industry would be a little creative and come up with some new stuff. Aaron > -----Original Message----- > > The fact that they are modernizing it in this version scares me. There > is an independent version being made in Britain that is > staying true to > the book, taking place in Victorian England. I suspect it > will turn out > better. http://www.pendragonpictures.com/WOTWKEY.html > > dave

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Fwd: Call for Observations January 13-14
by Richard Tenney 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

--- jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov wrote: > Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:01:58 -0800 (PST) > From: jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov > To: retenney(a)yahoo.com > Subject: Call for Observations January 13-14 > --------------------------------- Hello Richard Tenney, I received this message today, and some of you who do CCD imaging may be interested. If you have questions, the contact is at the bottom of this email. CALL FOR OBSERVATIONS: SATURN'S MOONS Saturn reaches opposition on the night of January 13-14, 2005, which is close to the time when the Cassini spacecraft's Huygens probe should touch down on Titan. At every opposition the Sun, Earth, and Saturn are nearly aligned in space, but this opposition is special. An observer at Saturn would literally see Earth transit the disk of the Sun -- something that has not happened since 1990 and won't take place again until 2020. While no one can be there to see the transit directly (and the Sun is too bright for Cassini to image), the near-perfect alignment gives Earth-based astronomers their only chance in many years to truly measure the "opposition effect" -- a dramatic brightening expected to occur in the Saturnian system as the solar phase angle approaches zero. Measurements should reveal important clues to the surface composition of such moons asTethys, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus. (Mimas and Enceladus are probably too close to the rings to be considered reasonable targets.) Anne Verbiscer (Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia) and Richard G. French (Department of Astronomy, Wellesley College) are coordinating a NASA-funded, worldwide campaign to measure the brightness of these moons as close as possible to the time of the alignment. Ten ground-based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope are involvedalready, and they are seeking even wider participation. "We ask advanced amateurs with CCD-equipped telescopes to observe this event," Verbiscer writes, "not only on the critical night of January 13, 2005, but for two nights on either side of opposition, weather permitting. "I am most interested in obtaining visible-light (UBVRI) CCD images whose exposure times are long enough to get usable photometry of the brighter moons. With these long exposures Saturn and its rings will be saturated, so we are not looking for 'pretty' CCD images of the planet and rings. Almostany size telescope will be sufficient, but the image scale should be such that a point source is recorded across several pixels for adequate sampling. Scattered light from Saturn and its rings will be the most significant complication, so a telescope with clean optics, few elements, and minimal diffraction will produce the best results. "Since good photometry is our goal, multiple exposure times are needed to make sure that each satellite, in turn, is not saturated and not underexposed. At each exposure time several images should be taken, both to improve statistics and to protect against contamination from cosmic rays. Observations should alternate between the Saturn system and a nearbycalibration field defined by our project." Those wishing to participate can find detailed instructions athttp://www.astro.virginia.edu/~av4n/SatOpp05.html Please send any questions about observing Saturn at Opposition 2005 to verbiscer(a)virginia.edu. Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 Phone - 818-393-6435 Fax - 818-393-4495 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: War of the Worlds
by David Moulton 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

The fact that they are modernizing it in this version scares me. There is an independent version being made in Britain that is staying true to the book, taking place in Victorian England. I suspect it will turn out better. http://www.pendragonpictures.com/WOTWKEY.html dave On Tue, 2005-01-11 at 20:42 -0700, utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com wrote: > > Several folks have mentioned WoW, and I must agree, > the George Pal version is a winner. I hear it's been > redone, for release later this year? I hope they > don't screw it up. >

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Re: Swap meet: ATM stuff?
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Bob, you sure know how to stroke my ego. Funny you should mention the Weightless mount, I just refurbished one for a friend; his kids broke it accidentally while he was on active duty in Iraq last year! If there's room in the Explorer I'd be happy to bring it and set it up for demo, but it most definitely will not be for sale. I'd also like to talk to you about possibly machining some eyepiece parts one day. My old Sherline is about on it's last legs and I'm short of time these days anyway, plus you have real equipment as opposed to my hobbyist's stuff. If I remember I'll bring some of the eyepieces I've made. Bob Grant wrote: > I'm interested in atm supplies, but don't load up > the car on my account - my > hobby budget is still very restricted this year, so > I'll be doing more > looking than buying at the swap meet. If there > isn't enough interest to > justify toting everything, perhaps a list of your > surplus items would be > helpful. I've got an itch to create something, but > haven't decided yet just > what it will be. One priority is your Weightless > Mount, though, and if it > is not too inconvenient, I'd like to eyeball yours. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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