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Awful science pun
by Patrick Wiggins 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

Awful science pun on the radio yesterday. So what do you do when you hear a really bad pun? You pass it on, of course: Two atoms are walking down the street. One stops and says to the other, "I've lost an electron". "You sure?" asked his friend. "I'm positive."

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Power outages, new year, etc.
by Kim Hyatt 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

I do feel sorry for y'all who have been without power. I live on the same block as (former) Governor Leavitt, and I figure that's why we've never had such problems. Our street was even plowed, but I did see Mike shoveling his own driveway the other day. I think there was a Secret Service dude helping him, though. While thinking about the coming year it dawned on me that some time during the last 20 years or so I past my prime (whatever that is). I'm only in my 50th year, and I can't remember how or when this happened, but it's OK. I also realized that for some things in life (e.g. astronomy) there really is no prime time. We can have fun and do good work until we're either dead or senile - I'm not sure which comes first. Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! See y'all under the stars...

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[Utah-astronomy] Re: Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 10, Issue 17 (RE: Power Outage)
by John R. Peterson 31 Dec '03

31 Dec '03

My power went out at 1 am on Friday morning and finally was restored Monday night at about 9. The fireplace in my Liberty Park area bungalow has a gas log, but at one time the fireplace insert (you know, those old ornate cast iron/brass devices from when they probably burned coal) was removed, so the setup is far from efficient. Two down comfortors with a living hot water bottle (my cat) inserted in-between, directly above my torso, made sleeping comfortable, and the water heater was fortunately NOT electronically controlled, but let me tell you, getting out of the shower was no fun. Camping out inside gets old fast, really fast. Doc 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 > http://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: Lost Dog (Beagle 2) (Patrick Wiggins) > 2. Mars News (David Dunn) > 3. amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > 4. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Kim Hyatt) > 5. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > 6. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (UTAHDEB(a)aol.com) > 7. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (Patrick Wiggins) > 8. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (Chuck Hards) > 9. Re: C/2000 T7 LINEAR (UTAHDEB(a)aol.com) > 10. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Gary Liptrot) > 11. RE: amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages (Chuck Hards) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 21:30:38 -0700 >From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)trilobyte.net> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Lost Dog (Beagle 2) >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Message-ID: <3FEFADED.295FDFAF(a)trilobyte.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > >One ray of hope comes from the fact that Odyssey was not designed to detect >signals from Beagle. The Mars Express orbiter (the part of the mission that >continues to work fine and that the media continues to ignore) was designed for >that purpose. So hopefully, once it is in position early next month we'll >finally hear from Beagle. > >Patrick > >Chuck Hards wrote: > > >>Mars has a habit of eating space probes, there's no >>doubt about it. While there may still be slim hope >>for Beagle 2, it looks like the planetary equivalent >>of the "kite-eating tree" got the planetary scientists >>again. Taking Patrick's observations as a guide, I've >>tried to avoid getting my news from main-stream >>sources and stayed with those friendly to science. >>Less soap opera that way. >> >>The past few unsuccessful landers have just made that >>little Sojourner rover all the more remarkable, don't >>you think?... And those Viking landers still cast a >>long shadow, don't they? >> >>Keep your fingers crossed. There's an ID chip in this >>lost pup. >> >>C.o >> >> > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:36:05 -0700 >From: David Dunn <david.dunn(a)albertsons.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Mars News >To: "&Astro (utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com)" > <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Message-ID: > <99899D7E2E3BD411A9DB00508B665DF206ED6FE3(a)slcntdex01.albertsons.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >I happened across this article while browsing. This would be the kind of >luck I would have. > >http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html ><http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html> > >Thanks. >David Dunn > >

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages
by Josephine Grahn 30 Dec '03

30 Dec '03

Our power was off for 56 hours. We had a battery back up for our boiler pump, and keeping the house at about 60 carried us for more than 48 hours. The camping gear allowed us to cook and heat water. The real downside was that we had guests coming into town on Saturday, and the only bathroom in the house was all prepped for painting the night before the power went out. You just can't paint without good lighting, and I really could have used one of those old-fashioned hoovers that clean a carpet without electricity... :) Other than that, we had fun. In the 28 years that we have lived here, this is the first outage that lasted more than 8 hours. Jo Grahn At 04:52 PM 12/30/2003 -0700, you wrote: >I have a 8000 watt natural gas backup generator with a transfer switch so it >comes on automatically 30 seconds after the power goes off. It is also >relatively quiet, 70 decibels. It has come in handy many times but I only >needed it for a few hours during the current power problems. > >Clear Skies >Don Colton > >I hear ya C.H.. I installed a free standing wood stove in my old Condo. It >was great, I would build two fires a day and put a small lump of coal on >top. You had to open windows it was so hot in there. Today the coal idea >may not be too good considering the inversions etc but it sure worked good >back then. > >Generators, hummmm. We should have asked Santa for a 500 gal fixed propane >tank and a 10KW self start generator in a sound proof shed with auto-sensing >cut-over panel. Well, I guess we may have to settle for a 5KW and an >extension cord to just run the heater and one wall circuit eh? > >Or just wall paper the house with those little hand warmers, then when the >power goes out you can just bang on a bunch of them with a hammer to mix the >chemicals and warm the house. That would work for 4 or 5 storms... B) > >Tnx es 73 de n7zi >Gary > >"Why buy something for ten bucks when you can make it for a hundred.", J.R. > > >Hi Gary: > >I've already worked a generator and wood stove into >our '04 budget...never again! > >C. > >BTW, the new carbon-fiber tube Celestrons cannot be >used for deep-frying turkeys. Only use the older >models with aluminum tubes. ;) > >--- Gary Liptrot <n7zi(a)comcast.net> wrote: >> Saturday was our day for power fizzle. It went off >> at 04:30 and came back >> on at 21:30 that night. Yes the temp was getting >> low. I was shopping for a >> better heat source than my fireplace and found a >> thingy called DynaGlow at >> Walley World for about 80 bucks.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] C/2000 T7 LINEAR
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 29 Dec '03

29 Dec '03

Yes, it would be sweet now that I have the equipment to photograph it. I didn't see either comet. My first comet was Halley's comet. That's what really got me into astronomy. Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] C/2000 T7 LINEAR
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 29 Dec '03

29 Dec '03

Jim, I went to the library today and looked at the recent Jan. edition of Astronomy magazine to get coordinates for the T7 LINEAR comet. Since the weather forcast doesn't look good until sometime after New Year's day, I won't get out to find until sometime in January. Anyway here is the table I copied. Date R.A. DEC Jan 1 1hr 09.2m 25 45' Jan 6 0hr 57.8m 23 57' Jan 11 0hr 48.1m 22 17' Jan 16 0hr 40.0m 20 46' Jan 21 0hr 33.2m 19 23' Jan 26 0hr 27.6m 18 10' Jan 31 0hr 22.9m 17 04 According to these coordinates, the comet should enter Pisces and head southwest towards Gamma Pegasus at the end of the month. Also, for those of you that don't know it yet, this comet should reach 1st magnitude by May if the predictions are correct. Hopefully it won't fizzle out like the infamous Kohoutek comet of '74. Debbie ps I finally got my Jan issue of Sky and Telescope today.

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages
by Kim Hyatt 29 Dec '03

29 Dec '03

OK, Chuck - I give. How did you happen to discover the fire-resistant properties of truss poles? -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 4:35 PM To: Utah-Astro Subject: [Utah-astronomy] amateur astronomy, zen, & power outages If anybody is checking their email on a cell phone or laptop, huddled in the cold & dark, just say the word and we'll get you some relief somehow. We lost power Friday morning at 9, didn't get it back until Saturday night at 7, 34 hours. House internal temp was about 48 degrees by then. Isn't it amazing how your spirits can soar just from the sight of a lightbulb lighting up? BTW, truss poles don't burn, and the shroud makes a lot of stinky smoke...same with laminated atlases. Only use the plain paper ones. ;) C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ 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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Mars News
by David Dunn 29 Dec '03

29 Dec '03

I happened across this article while browsing. This would be the kind of luck I would have. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html <http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/031229crater.html> Thanks. David Dunn

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Lost Dog
by Chuck Hards 28 Dec '03

28 Dec '03

Mars has a habit of eating space probes, there's no doubt about it. While there may still be slim hope for Beagle 2, it looks like the planetary equivalent of the "kite-eating tree" got the planetary scientists again. Taking Patrick's observations as a guide, I've tried to avoid getting my news from main-stream sources and stayed with those friendly to science. Less soap opera that way. The past few unsuccessful landers have just made that little Sojourner rover all the more remarkable, don't you think?... And those Viking landers still cast a long shadow, don't they? Keep your fingers crossed. There's an ID chip in this lost pup. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/

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C/2000 T7 LINEAR
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 27 Dec '03

27 Dec '03

Hi, I found this on my TeleVue yahoo group. When there is a break in the weather maybe I'll find this comet. http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm Clear Skies, Debbie

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