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China Shoots ‘Jade Rabbit’ Rover to the Moon
by Wiggins Patrick 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

Here is a segment from last week's Science Friday containing some interesting insight into the Chinese space program. patrick China Shoots ‘Jade Rabbit’ Rover to the Moon http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/12/06/2013/china-shoots-jade-rabbit-ro…

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Traffic Jam
by Dave Gary 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

Chuck, Yeah, I was in that little traffic jam on the freeway in St. George. The eighteen-wheelers couldn’t get up the slight grade on the freeway that’s before the exit to St. George Boulevard going north. I was taking my daughter to Dixie State in the 4X4 pickup (the red one in the snow photos) because we didn’t think she could make it in her little car. She had waited until the last minute to take a test. Go figure. It was a little before 18:00 when we left the house. The testing center closed at 22:00. Plenty of time. We got on the freeway (big mistake) thinking it might be clearer. As we got within one-half mile of the St. George Boulevard exit the traffic came to a complete halt. No emergency vehicles around, no flashing lights, nothing to indicate trouble. We sat there for some time (45 minutes) then decided we’d better redneck-it and go up the shoulder of the freeway and find out what was going on. We found out there was no accident. In fact, there was no traffic jam past the St. George Boulevard exit. There was a bunch of eighteen-wheelers chaining up (blocking both lanes) and it looked as if most of them were about half-way done when we got by them. People without 4X4s couldn’t go up that outer emergency lane because the snow was too deep. They just had to wait it out. Your delivery truck was, probably, in there some place. I later heard the line of traffic from that little affair stretched almost to the Gorge before those big trucks near St. George Boulevard started to move, again. Then Arizona shut down the Gorge because of the snow. Some of my daughter’s friends got caught in the Gorge. They were there most of the night. They got out of their vehicles and made snow angels in the freeway lanes. Texted her the photos. Kids. Dave

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Ed Byers
by Chuck Hards 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

Sadly, I learned over the weekend that Ed Byers' wife passed-away late last week. She had been ill for a number of years and in hospice care. Many of you know or have met Ed, a giant in the field of telescope drives and mounts for many decades. Ed has been selling-off his remaining stock of high-precision telescope drives at almost give-away prices, mostly on eBay. These are known as the most precise, periodic-error-free gear sets made. Some of you own or have owned Byers mounts, no more of those will be made. Ed is 86 years old and we've been lucky that he has kept making products for as long as he has, well past the age when most of us would be too happy to retire. He has no more employees and is running the shop solo until everything saleable is gone, and it's time to lock the doors for the last time. I've picked up 3 Byers drives in the last couple of months for future projects. The 10" Cave that I bought from Don Colton in June has a Byers drive retro-fitted to it and it is extremely precise. Ed also has some gear/worm combinations for those who want a full 360-degree DEC. gear, again at bargain prices. He offers all drives with your choice of either AC synchronous motor or stepper motor. His products have not just gone to amateur astronomers, but government, industry, professional observatories, NASA, and the military. People have been known to buy older, used Celestron and Meade scopes, just to scavenge the Byers gear sets from them, from the time when he was producing those gears under contract. If you have ever wanted a Byers drive for your mount, now is the time to get one since there will be no-more once his existing stock is gone. Our prayers and condolences go out to Ed at this time, for his tremendous loss.

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Solstice Party
by Chuck Hards 09 Dec '13

09 Dec '13

Does anyone know off the top of their head what the minimum age is at Golden Corral to be elligible for the Senior discount?

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Meteor activity
by Wiggins Patrick 08 Dec '13

08 Dec '13

This from Spacewather.com. patrick METEOR OUTBURST: The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar is detecting echoes from a meteor outburst in the constellation Andromeda, in progress on Dec. 8th. It appears to be debris from old Comet Biela, which broke apart in the 19th century. Observers in the northern hemisphere, especially Europeans, should be alert for Andromedid meteors on the night of Dec. 8-9. More information may be found athttp://spaceweather.com.

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Looking for testers
by Wiggins Patrick 08 Dec '13

08 Dec '13

I've put together an ics file containing data on SLAS's proposed 2014 public events (meetings, star parties and Sun parties) and I'd appreciate it if folks here could try it out. I made it on an iMac and have tried it on iCalendar on the iMac, an iPhone, an iPad2 and a MacBook so I'm pretty sure it works on iOS. But it would be nice if those running iOS would make sure it works on their devices just the same. And, while you're at it check the data for accuracy. The big question is will it work on non-iOS devices? Judging from what I've read on line I think it should work but wont know until someone tries it. Find it in a ZIP file here: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/slas/SLAS2014ICS.ZIP The unzipped file is called SLAS2014.ics. With iOS all I've had to do to install it is double click on it and the system asked where it should go. I told it and it went there. All of the events then show up on the calendar and can be clicked on for additional information. The only snag I've run into is when running it on the Cloud the Cloud complained if I already had the same event on the same day already entered manually. That was easily fixed by first removing the manual entries. If the installation procedure is different on non-iOS devices I'd like to hear about it. BTW, for those who may not be familiar with ics files, they are really handy ways to enter all kinds of data into electronic calendars. I found one that enters the dates and times of the starts of seasons, another enters the dates and times of the phases of the Moon and yet another shows holidays of the country of your choice. Some here will be happy to learn that all of the times are in local times (for many there that's MST or MDT as appropriate), not UT. Note that while the star and Sun party data contained in the file are accurate, the dates and times of the various meetings will be officially determined at next month's SLAS general membership meeting. Chances are there wont be any changes but this statement is meant to CMA. :) (No, not Country Music Awards...) patrick

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EPOD / APOD?
by Bruce Hugo 07 Dec '13

07 Dec '13

Hey Patrick, I got a photo on APOD back in 2004. My girlfriend (now wife) and I spent the night with Adam Block at Kitt Peak on their visitor scope. We took 3 great photos that night. The photo of NGC4565 made APOD. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040409.html Bruce Hugo Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. - Edwin Powell Hubble

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EPOD / APOD?
by Wiggins Patrick 07 Dec '13

07 Dec '13

It's been suggested that EPOD and APOD (and any other science related PODs) by current and former SLAS members be added to the SLAS history document. Great idea! Here's what I've come up with so far. Please let me know about any that I've missed. Thank you, patrick Mike Wilson Astronomy Picture of the Day A Quadruple Sky Over Great Salt Lake 13 September 2005 http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050913.html Brent Watson Earth Picture of the Day Sunset over the Great Salt Lake July 24, 2012 http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/07/sunset-over-the-great-salt-lake.html Great Salt Lake Causeway Sep 5, 2012 http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/09/great-salt-lake-causeway.html Kelly ricks Earth Picture of the Day Lake Michigan Ice Mar 21, 2012 http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/03/lake-michigan-ice.html Joe Bauman Earth Picture of the Day Window Glass Frost Crystals Apr 23, 2011 http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/04/window-glass-frost-crystals.html Reflection of Antelope Island in Great Salt Lake May 19, 2012 http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/05/reflection-of-antelope-island-in-great-sa…

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Web telescope deployment movie
by Wiggins Patrick 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

NASA video showing how JWST is designed to deploy: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/videos/09jwsta_depall_720x488_2mbps.mov Looks pretty complicated but less so than MSL's landing on Mars. patrick

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download the apod calendar (it's awesome and free)
by Richard Tenney 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

Here's the link. I believe kinkos or similar places can print it for you. Enjoy. http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=32474

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