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drilling needed?
by Chuck Hards 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

Paul, I deleted your posting accidentally; did you find someone to drill your parts yet? Contanct me off-list if you still need help. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com

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TV ad features Mars rover
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

This is funny. If you have not seen the new Pepsi TV commercial featuring the Mars rover you can find it on the Pepsi site. http://www.pepsiworld.com/ads_and_history/index.php Click on the Rover ad. Patrick

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Speculating is fun
by Dale Hooper 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

Some may say that this prediction is...all wet...(pun intended), but, I would be very surprised if they didn't announce that water in the soil has been found in some form. > -----Original Message----- > From: Patrick Wiggins [mailto:paw@trilobyte.net] > Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 2:59 PM > To: utah astronomy listserve > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Speculating is fun > > > I don't want to read anything into this (well, ok, yes I do > <grin>) but let's > see if anyone else is intrigued by this. > > Last Thursday NASA said the next MER briefing would be this > coming Thursday, > originating from JPL (all MER briefings have been out of JPL). > > Then yesterday I saw this piece on SPACE.COM which I included > in this morning's > News, > http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_040 229.html , which included a lot of speculation about stuff found on Mars and scientists unable to agree on how to break the news. And now I've received a news release from NASA Headquarters saying the next MER briefing has been moved up to tomorrow and it will originate from NASA Headquarters. Per chance a big announcement in the works? We'll find out tomorrow. Patrick

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Speculating is fun
by Patrick Wiggins 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

I don't want to read anything into this (well, ok, yes I do <grin>) but let's see if anyone else is intrigued by this. Last Thursday NASA said the next MER briefing would be this coming Thursday, originating from JPL (all MER briefings have been out of JPL). Then yesterday I saw this piece on SPACE.COM which I included in this morning's News, http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_040229.html , which included a lot of speculation about stuff found on Mars and scientists unable to agree on how to break the news. And now I've received a news release from NASA Headquarters saying the next MER briefing has been moved up to tomorrow and it will originate from NASA Headquarters. Per chance a big announcement in the works? We'll find out tomorrow. Patrick

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Re: Orion 80mm ED apo review
by Naz_David 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

Chuck, I'm considering this as a second OTA to my M715DX, which is back at the vendor at the moment :( Any chance I can drop my N31mmT5, N22mmT4 and N13mmT6 in your OTA some time convenient to see how it handles these occulars? Cheers David

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Off-Topic Question
by Paul Witte 29 Feb '04

29 Feb '04

I am working on a science project with my son and need to drill a hole through the center of some nylon & teflon rod. I don't have the equipment to do this properly, is there anyone out there who could help me with this? I figured I'd check the list since so many of you seem to have nice shops at home. :) I'd be happy to pay you for your time, if so please email me off list: paul(a)linkrealms.com Thanks... --Paul

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An "ahh" moment
by Richard Tenney 29 Feb '04

29 Feb '04

I got home late last night to find that my wife was still at school working on a paper and that the horses were still not fed. I changed and went outside, and found myself under a canopy of wonderful, glorious stars -- I timed it well; at close to 10pm in Utah County the clouds parted for a time and it sure was nice after all these wintery weeks to see my photonic friends again in full splendor. I didn't even mind the moon -- the sky was crystal clear and wonderful. Slogging through the semi-frozen mud was therapeutic for a change. Did I mention that the horses were also grateful? :o) Amazing how weeks of cloudy weather can help you appreciate the little things in life... -Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools

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Eyepieces
by Paul C Johnson 29 Feb '04

29 Feb '04

I am looking to upgrade my eyepiece collection this year. Last year, I bought an 8" Nexstar. I love it so far but I bought the set of eyepieces that came with it for an extra $100. I am starting to think these eyepieces aren't going to give me very good images. I was wondering if anyone would be able to recommend a better alternative to me. I am a bit poor, especially after buying the Nexstar, and am looking for some nice mid range type of eyepiece. I have considered the Meade 4000 and Celestron Ultima eyepieces. Any recommendations out there? Thanks, Paul.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Regulus Transit
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Thanks James and Jim. I went to the Sky and Telescope Interactive Sky Chart and my results were close to James. I will try to observe NGC 3132 at about 10:30 to be sure I'm not too late. This time I hope to crank up the magnification to at least 345X. This planetary has high surface brightness and takes magnification well. This time I won't use the OIII filter. I want to see every blue photon of this nebula. I think Kohoutek 1-23 will transit at about the same time as Delta Corvi. It rises 9 degrees above the horizon so it will be a challenge. Usually I try to stay above -40 in Dec. Maybe I'll have clear skies by March 20th. I've never seen so much rain in St. George. Debbie

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Laser pointer and imaging "basically" an urbanlegend
by Dale Hooper 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Good questions. It wasn't specifically stated, but, looking at Chris Peterson's observatory instrumentation (www.cloudbait.com) I would assume it was narrow field imaging . His scope is a 12" LX200 (~3000mm fl). It would probably be good to also do a widefield experiment. But, generalizing from the various comments (as I'm prone to do <g>) I would think the results should basically be the same. In other words, for a widefield image I would expect: 1) If the laser is very close to the imaging scope pointing at the same location (for a long time) there would be a background gradient caused by the laser. This could probably mess up the image to some extent. 2) The greater the distance from the scope to the laser - both pointing at the same location in the sky - the slighter the gradient. The image should be okay. 3) If the laser is "zipped" across the location where the telescope is pointing, it would probably be no big deal. It would be a fun experiment. Clear skies, Dale. > -----Original Message----- > From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] > Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 3:04 PM > To: Utah Astronomy > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Laser pointer and imaging "basically" an > urbanlegend > > > > --- Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper(a)sdl.usu.edu> wrote: > > There was a discussion on the SBIG CCD yahoo group > > over the past couple of days about laser pointers > > and whether they really do mess things up for > > imagers. There was some really good empirical data > > presented that says it is basically much ado about > > not much. > > What was the system focal length for the test shots? > Was this for through-the-scope, high powered imaging > only, or was wide-angle imaging tested also? (50mm & > shorter e.f.l.) > > C. > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. > http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com > >

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