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Kane Creek Petroglyphs
by Dave Gary 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

Humped it up to these, today. Man, am I getting old. In a few more years I'll have to haul a telescope along just to take the photos from the road so I don't have to walk so far. I know this isn't astronomy-related, but it's cloudy here in Moab and there's nothing better to photograph. https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157643480251085/ Dave Gary

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Super accurate atomic clock
by Thomas Sevcik 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

Chuck and Dale. Very useful information! Thanks! Tom Sevcik

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Could these volcanos affect eclipse?
by Thomas Sevcik 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

I have a question for the geological/meteorological savvy on this list. I just read a couple of short articles on MSN were Peru's Mount Ubinas and Ecuador's Tungurahua volcanos have had recent eruptions. Mount Ubinas has been active since September of 2013 and Tungurahua has been active since 1999 with the last major eruption happening on February 1 of this year. My question is; can the ash clouds from either, or both, migrate to the mid-northern latitudes as they circle the Earth? Is there a web site that posts the predicted/actual paths of these ash clouds? And last of all; what, if any, effect could one expect as far as the Danjon scale of lunar eclipse brightness (say L=3 as opposed to a L=1 level of brightness)? Would it be safe to say, "the darker your location, the better," for this eclipse? Just curious. Tom Sevcik

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Planets on eclipse night
by Wiggins Patrick 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

During SLAS's 2 eclipse watches for this month's eclipse we will have Mars at its closest to Earth that night and just a few degrees from the Moon. Plus just as the umbral portion of the eclipse is starting at midnight we will have Jupiter over in the SW and Saturn in the SE. And as an added bonus (4099) Wiggins will be rising in the east. :) For those who've not heard about the eclipse watches (which I'm still wondering if any public will show up to) one will be at the Walmart in Sandy from 2200 MDT Monday to 0200 Tuesday while the other will be a SPOC from midnight to 0200. Weather permitting, of course. patrick Sent from my iPad

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Skydiver almost hit by meteorite?
by Ian Glenn 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

Here is a video from a helmet cam of a rock falling past a skydiver. I promise this is not a rick-roll, but also very likely not a meteorite. Still an interesting video. I thought some on this list might have some alternate explanations? It's not likely to have come from the plane since the divers are wearing wing-suits. Could he have accidentally packed the rock into his chute? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzYJaQ0h4Dg

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Super accurate atomic clock
by Thomas Sevcik 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

The NIST-F2 is stated to be accurate to within one second in 300 million years! Now if they'd only come out with digital watches to come close to matching that. Does this put amateur crater immersion and emersion timings for the next series of lunar eclipses a thing of the past? (apparently my computer's dictionary doesn't know how "emersion" is spelled). I would presume that if one is recording the eclipse on video it would be best to record the atomic clock signal from Denver via a external microphone for accuracy? http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/new-super-accurate-atomic-clock… Tom Sevcik

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Astronomy Software (For Learning Beginners)
by Ryan Simpkins 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

It is so much fun learning the night sky! One of the tools I've been using is Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org) because it is a free & open source. Any planetarium software would work. It allows someone to learn during the day (or cloudy weather). Turning off all the labels and removing the horizon leaves only the stars as guides. Simulations like this enhance observational efficiency and removes some of the guesswork. Planetarium only software is very useful, but it is obvious that there are limits to this kind of software. Stellarium doesn't have any observational planning features. It just draws stars. If the name of the game is enhancing efficiency and tracking progress, more is needed. When reviewing astronomy related software it is quite difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. For someone like myself who is used to using very complex software, Stellarium doesn't cut it. Does the group have any recommendations for quality astronomy related software? Is there a clear leader in the industry for something that combines observation planning & logging, planetarium features, and perhaps more? Red Shift (http://www.redshift-live.com/en/about-redshift.html) seems to have a lot of marketing going on, but that isn't always a good measure of quality software. Any and all advice appreciated. -Ryan

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And it begins...NASA and Russia
by Dale Hooper 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

I'm not sure where this will lead, but this appears to be a first volley... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nasa-suspends-relations-russia-cri… I appreciated the info that Patrick shared about SpaceX and Falcon9 the other day - it is good to know that we may have some options. Clear skies, Dale.

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Lot of great observing guides
by Dale Hooper 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

http://www.faintfuzzies.com/DownloadableObservingGuides2.html I saw the above site mentioned in Astronomy Technology Today (Mar-Apr 2014) and remembered that I had come across it a while ago. It has a really great variety of downloadable observing guides. If you haven't already visited this site before - you should check it out. Clear skies, Dale.

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Where can I purchase those seeds?
by Brent Watson 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

Congratulations, Patrick. Your tongue placed appropriately, very nicely in cheek on today's EPOD.

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