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New adapter arrived...
by David L Bennett 07 Nov '03

07 Nov '03

Hi everyone, I just received my new 'C' type tripod adapter for my 16x70 binoculars and a Giant Mars Eye finder and have posted some shots of the set-up on the utahastronomy.com site. The whole rig works very nicely and stays fairly well aligned when adjusting for interpupilary distance. If you've got a pair of 11x80 or 15x70 or 20x80's, the 'C' adapter is a great investment...I'm very pleased. No more futzing trying to sight along the barrels. Dave B. http://www.utahastronomy.com/album11

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SLAS Winter Festival
by Kim Hyatt 07 Nov '03

07 Nov '03

For those of you who are SLAS members (and I guess for those of you who aren't, also) our annual winter party is on December 13th. As usual, there will be lots of food, games, fun, awards and door prizes. If any of you have spare astronomy stuff such as books, gadgets, eyepieces, etc. that are in like new condition, I invite you to consider donating them to SLAS for this event for awards and/or door prizes. We are a bona fide charitable organization, so any donation would be tax deductible. If you are interested, please email of call me to arrange pickup or delivery of your donation. Even if you don't care to donate anything, please be sure to come to the party! Kim A. Hyatt, AIA SL&A Architects 331 South Rio Grande, Suite 304 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 Tel: 801.322.5550 x122 Fax: 801.322.5557

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Cynthia, are you out there?
by Chuck Hards 07 Nov '03

07 Nov '03

Cynthia, can you contact me off-list? Thanks C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Lunar eclipse
by Kim Hyatt 06 Nov '03

06 Nov '03

For what it's worth, SLAS has a commitment to be at SPOC inasmuch as we have scheduled a public star party there for the eclipse. Of course no one is obligated, but if any of you have no preference, then please consider coming to SPOC to help support this public event. -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 9:34 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Lunar eclipse Actually I strongly disagree with this statement. A partially eclipsed moon in a twilight sky is a beautiful sight and very worthy of a photographic attempt, or a trip to just see it visually. A matter of taste that each observer must decide for themselves. >From the center of the Salt Lake valley, transit time to Little Mountain is identical to that for SPOC, assuming dry roads. C. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)trilobyte.net> wrote: > As for the partial phase leading up to totality one > should remember that at the > time the Moon reaches totality (18:06) the Sun will > be barely 10 degrees below > the opposite horizon so the sky will not be all that > dark, especially early in > the partial phase. So going somewhere higher (and > colder) to see the partial > phase might not be worth the trip. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Re: Lunar eclipse
by Patrick Wiggins 06 Nov '03

06 Nov '03

Chuck Hards wrote: > Has anyone determined if this weekend's eclipse will > be visible from SPOC? Totality is very brief for this > eclipse, and from Utah it rises already entering the > umbra (from a theoretically flat horizon). > Im wondering if it will be essentially over before > cresting the mountain ridge as seen from Stansbury. > Can someone with a planetarium program check this out? I went over to SPOC a few weeks ago and took a few measurements. Here's what I found. Trees will block the Ealing's and Brandt's view of the eclipse until well after totality has ended so they will be used for observing Enke, Venus and Mars. However, by walking just a few steps north of the building the trees are no longer a problem and I saw Gamma Geminorum, also known as Alhena, rise over the horizon at 12:57 a.m. At that time it was at azimuth 075 degrees and altitude 7.75 degrees. On eclipse night the Moon will reach totality when it is at 076 azimuth and 8 degrees altitude. Since Gamma rose over a slope running from upper left to lower right, the Moon rising to the right by 1 degree might be visible a minute or two before going total but certainly not early enough to have any significant portion of the partial phase being visible from SPOC. Still, a fully eclipsed Moon sitting on the snow covered mountains could make for some great pictures. As for the partial phase leading up to totality one should remember that at the time the Moon reaches totality (18:06) the Sun will be barely 10 degrees below the opposite horizon so the sky will not be all that dark, especially early in the partial phase. So going somewhere higher (and colder) to see the partial phase might not be worth the trip. Of course, judging from the weather reports, we're probably going to get clouded out anyway. Regardless of what happens with this eclipse, I'm looking forward to next October's eclipse which will be much better placed for Utahns. Patrick

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Mercury or Vulcan?
by David L Bennett 05 Nov '03

05 Nov '03

Hey Folks, Can someone help me confirm my suspicions about something? The following links are mpegs from SOHO's (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/) LASCO C3 instrument. I'm curious as to what the bright object moving off to the left of the Sun is. I'm pretty confident it's Mercury but, as I don't have a Nov Sky & Tel, I can't confirm that. Any clue? This vid had several CME's including the X17+ from yesterday. The first link is for a 691k mpeg and the second for a 3.5mb one. http://150.144.30.101/data/LATEST/current_c3small.mpg http://150.144.30.101/data/LATEST/current_c3.mpg Thanks for your help in advance, Dave Bennett

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse
by Griffin Louis A Civ OO-ALC/MAKGBA 05 Nov '03

05 Nov '03

I just got off the phone with Snowbird Ski Resort - I am looking into the feasability of renting the Tram for an "Eclipse Party" I recieved a quote from an "unofficial source" for "about $500" What do you guys think of the possibility of splitting the costs up for the event? Is there anyway we could get an estimate of interested parties? Do you think the weather would be too prohibitive? -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 2:09 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse 13.2 degrees high isn't very high, just going from memory, I'd say the moon will barely be clearing the mountain, if at all during totality. I'm going east instead. Thanks, Jim. C. --- Jim Cobb <james(a)cobb.name> wrote: > Here are computations from xephem > > > In SLC the moon will rise at 5:13 pm MST, already > partially > > eclipsed. The Moon will be 8.6 degrees above the > horizon when > > totality begins, at 6:06 pm, and will be 13.2 > degrees above the > > horizon at 6:31 pm when totality ends (this is an > unusually short > > total phase time). > > So the question is, how high is the eastern horizon > at SPOC? The moon > has azimuth 69 degrees when it rises; 76 degrees > when totality begins; > 80 degrees when totality ends. > > Jim > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 11:14:28 -0800 (PST) > >From: Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com> > >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse > >To: Utah-Astro > <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > > > >Has anyone determined if this weekend's eclipse > will > >be visible from SPOC? Totality is very brief for > this > >eclipse, and from Utah it rises already entering > the > >umbra (from a theoretically flat horizon). > > > >Im wondering if it will be essentially over before > >cresting the mountain ridge as seen from Stansbury. > > > >Can someone with a planetarium program check this > out? > > > >Thanks > > > >C. > > > > > >__________________________________ > >Do you Yahoo!? > >Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard > >http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Utah-Astronomy mailing list > >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > -------- > Jim Cobb > james(a)cobb.name > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse
by Jim Cobb 05 Nov '03

05 Nov '03

This reformats my previous message to make it more readable Time Altitude Azimuth Moon Rise 5:13 - 69 Begin Totality 6:06 8.6 76 End Totality 6:31 13.2 80 Eclipse times are from an eclipse web site (I forget which). Positions (and rise time) are from xephem. Jim -------- Jim Cobb james(a)cobb.name

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse
by Jim Cobb 05 Nov '03

05 Nov '03

Here are computations from xephem > In SLC the moon will rise at 5:13 pm MST, already partially > eclipsed. The Moon will be 8.6 degrees above the horizon when > totality begins, at 6:06 pm, and will be 13.2 degrees above the > horizon at 6:31 pm when totality ends (this is an unusually short > total phase time). So the question is, how high is the eastern horizon at SPOC? The moon has azimuth 69 degrees when it rises; 76 degrees when totality begins; 80 degrees when totality ends. Jim ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 11:14:28 -0800 (PST) >From: Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse >To: Utah-Astro <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > >Has anyone determined if this weekend's eclipse will >be visible from SPOC? Totality is very brief for this >eclipse, and from Utah it rises already entering the >umbra (from a theoretically flat horizon). > >Im wondering if it will be essentially over before >cresting the mountain ridge as seen from Stansbury. > >Can someone with a planetarium program check this out? > >Thanks > >C. > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard >http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree > >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy -------- Jim Cobb james(a)cobb.name

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse
by Kim Hyatt 05 Nov '03

05 Nov '03

Patrick and Bruce Grim did check this out. As I recall, the mountains won't interfere much. You may want to call one of them for details. -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 12:14 PM To: Utah-Astro Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Lunar eclipse Has anyone determined if this weekend's eclipse will be visible from SPOC? Totality is very brief for this eclipse, and from Utah it rises already entering the umbra (from a theoretically flat horizon). Im wondering if it will be essentially over before cresting the mountain ridge as seen from Stansbury. Can someone with a planetarium program check this out? Thanks C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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