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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Joe's collimation woes (was COSMOS 2)
by Chuck Hards 04 Jun '14

04 Jun '14

Joe, if you get the new knobs and can't get it collimated by then, definitely bring it to Mat's house for the next ATM session. Loads of ATM and engineering horsepower there and I'm positive you'll come away with perfectly-aligned optics. If Mat, Jeff, Josh, Jay, Charlie, and others, can't fix it- it can't be fixed! As I've been easing myself into digital imaging, I've been sticking with my ED refractors, even though I have larger SCTs and Newts at my disposal, mostly to eliminate one variable while I'm learning- collimation issues. On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 5:19 PM, Joe Bauman via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> wrote: > Hi Chuck, The secondary was crooked because I had screwed in one of the > adjustment bolts too far. I thought I could adjust it by fiddling with the > bolts but it didn't work. Then I took the corrector plate off, took out the > secondary mirror tube and adjusted the mirror so it was fairly even. > Finally I made a collimation mask and took all out to the desert again. But > I couldn't get the process working right and managed to get the mirror too > lopsided again. Now I've ordered a second set of collimation knobs (one of > the first set broke) and I'll try again. I am pretty sure it's something I > can fix, but it's been most frustrating. Thanks, Joe > > > >

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2 nice ISS passes
by Wiggins Patrick 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

CalSky is calling for two near vertical passes of ISS for N. Utah tonight and tomorrow morning. patrick Tonight: Appears 22h59m19s -0.3mag az:228.7° SW horizon Culmination 23h04m41s -4.3mag az:141.7° SE h:76.8° distance: 425.1km height above Earth: 415.8km elevation of Sun: -19° Disappears 23h10m06s -0.1mag az: 54.9° NE horizon Tomorrow morning: Appears 5h28m41s -0.4mag az:305.0° NW horizon Culmination 5h34m06s -4.1mag az:218.5° SW h:75.1° distance: 429.6km height above Earth: 417.2km elevation of Sun: -5° Disappears 5h39m30s 0.1mag az:131.8° SE horizon

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Cosmos2
by CenturyLink Customer 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

Personally, I'm lining up for the popcorn... BUT Astronomy is not an ivory tower. The very subject encompasses biology, geology, chemistry, climatology, physics, mathmatics and a host of other scientific areas. Astronomy is the shell under which all these other areas fit together to make the universe - or "cosmos." How can you look at Venus and not wonder about how the clouds formed (climatology), what the land is like and how it formed (geology), the possibility of life in whatever form, if it ever existed (biology). You can show people the planet Venus, even without a telescope, but that doesn't tell them very much. It takes the other scientific areas to give it con text. Like on Venus, Mars, Jupiter or the new mega-earth NASA has discovered, it takes all the other areas of science to make sense of it all. Science is not a chinese menu where you can take three from column A and none from column B. That is even more true in regards to Earth . Life on this planet is dependant on its existence and viability . How it functions and its future functionality is important to the human species. And whether we survive as a species, whether we deserve to survive, depends on a our full understanding of how this planet works and to fix it if we have screwed it up. No one should expect a supreme being to come and clean-up the mess we made. We should be taking responsibility for our own actions. Extra butter with my popcorn please.

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Collimation
by CenturyLink Customer 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

Joe, I'd take Mat up on his offer. He can check the collimation of your scope without the necessity of traveling to the west desert. Easier on you, easier on your pocket book and you just might have fun :)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cosmos2
by Joe Bauman 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

Yes we're all part of the cosmos, of course. That kind of goes without saying. But you could use that rationale to launch into any number of topics that have little connection to the cosmos or astronomy. We could segue into a bIg episode on auto manufacturing or the Israeli wars because, after all, they are part of the cosmic cosmos. It gets rediculous. This is one planet in the indescribably huge universe. I don't want to hear about fights over lead pollution on this one part of the cosmos in the supposed context of finding out about new research into the universe. A large portion of the series is padding, silly history animated cartoons and p.c. pontificating. The producers sold it as 12 episodes, so had to drag it out that long. If they didn't have enough meaty scientific material to fill 12 they should have reduced the number of episodes. ------------------------------ On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 7:08 AM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >Joan, you hit the nail on the head. > >COSMOS (both the original and this one) was never intended to be merely a >video astronomy course. Those desiring just black holes and galaxies are >bound to be disappointed. It is so much more. > >The message then, as now, is that we are a part of the universe. As Carl >Sagan said, we are here so the universe can know itself. We are as much a >part of space and time as a billion-solar-mass black hole, or an icy ring >orbiting a distant planet. Life is one of the more interesting properties >of hydrogen, if you give it enough time and the right conditions. To >fully appreciate the universe and our place in it, we have to shed old >habits such as greed, ignorance and intolerance of new, sometimes >uncomfortable ideas. The histories NdGT has presented give context to >where we stand today on the topics, and how we got there. How inspired >individuals have made a difference in how we see the universe, and our >place in it, often to their own personal detriment. Good stuff. > >I plan to purchase the DVDs, will keep them next to COSMOS v1.0 Insurance >against inadvertantly wiping them from the DVR (and no commercials to have >to zap through!). > > > > >On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 6:30 PM, CenturyLink Customer <jcarman6(a)q.com> wrote: > >> >> I hope it has reached a wider audience and left many thinking about how >> everything fits together from the atom to a galaxy and our precious blue >> white piece of cosmic dust so important to the sentient life residing on >> it. >> >_______________________________________________ >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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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cosmos2
by Joe Bauman 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

Thanks Chuck, but I have other writing projects. The only astronomical project going on with me is trying to get my telescope collimated. Since May 1, I've gone to the western desert and set up three times, only to have collimation problems foul up every trip. Then I would give up and try to sleep. Ever sleep on an umbrella? Turned out that my discomfort was because an umbrella was folded up in the Jeep, under the foam pad where I was trying to sleep. ------------------------------ On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 11:32 AM MDT Seth Jarvis wrote: >My 2 cents here: > >Seth MacFarlane said his goal was to reach an audience that _wasn't_ already enthusiastic about astronomy. His and Tyson's mission is to communicate the human connections to science, and science's impact on society. > >MacFarlane chose FOX because 1) he has a lot of pull with them, and 2) it's exactly the network/timeslot he needed to make the biggest impact on the general public. > >I hate the commercials. I don't like the animations. I wish there was more "meat." But that's OK - I'm not the intended audience. > >Cosmos' goal is to communicate to the widest possible audience the historical and contemporary significance of science to our society. It's succeeding; the show totally dominates the ratings on Sunday nights. > >Seth > >-----Original Message----- >From: Utah-Astronomy [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards >Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 11:21 AM >To: Utah Astronomy >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cosmos2 > >Joe, you are a writer and science journalist. I would ask you to consider writing a script that would fulfill your expectations for such a series. > Let me see what would have pleased you (and Siegfried). > >Or at least flesh out an outline, since it is a massive project. >_______________________________________________ >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".

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ATM session report and date for the next session
by Hutchings, Mat 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

We had a great ATM session last month with several people present. Notable happenings was that Eric brought an Orion 8" OTA that he got a great deal on. It needs a rocker box and so a plan for that was formulated. We checked out the overall mirror surface with a Ronchi screen and it shows usual and slight defects. The most major defect was a turned down edge, so we painted off the extreme outer edge of the mirror to reduce the TDE. We also shimmed the focuser to square it up with the tube and mounted the mirror in the cell with silicone cement. We also drilled new holes for the spider and moved it more towards the end of the tube since it was not possible to properly center the secondary mirror as it was mounted. Work will continue on this scope during the next session as Eric has a good plan for a rocker box. Jeff ingeniously came up with a design for altitude bearings that clamp onto the existing small bearings. Having much larger bearings will go a long way to improving the movements of this scope. Chuck brought some parts from the Hale telescope to show. It was amazing to handle parts from such a famous telescope. By looking at drawings of that telescope, Chuck believes that one of the parts is from the prime focus cage assembly. The part looks to be a rubber damper. Thanks Chuck for showing the parts! The next session will be on 6/14/14 from 09:00 to 14:00. Come and go as you like during those times. If you would like more information, send me an e-mail off list. Mat This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. The information contained herein may include trade secrets, protected health or personal information, privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your system. Thank you for your cooperation

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Cosmos2
by CenturyLink Customer 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

Thanks for the heads up Ed, I'd love to get the dvds and watch at my leisure. There has been so much information packed into each episode I only take a couple thoughts away with me after the hour. Sagan also wrote a companion book to his series and I have checked with Barnes and Noble and there doesn't seeem to be such a book for this one. Too bad. The book expanded on the subjects presented in each episode. Seth, the week before 5/25, there was a blurb at the end of the show saying the next episode would air in two weeks. Think the race pre-empted the airing of episode 12, which aired last night. The final episode airs next week. Whatever will I do on Sunday night between 7 and 8? A tip of the hat to Fox for airing all 13 episodes. I hope it has reached a wider audience and left many thinking about how everything fits together from the atom to a galaxy and our precious blue white piece of cosmic dust so important to the sentient life residing on it.

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Cosmos2
by CenturyLink Customer 02 Jun '14

02 Jun '14

Me bad - between Sunday night and 8 and 9 lol

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Cosmos2
by CenturyLink Customer 02 Jun '14

02 Jun '14

Anyone still watching? One episode left.

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