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Eclipse Movie
by D P Pierce 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

I love the idea of an eclipse disaster movie. I see eclipse chasing planes and helicopters colliding and exploding in midair with burning debris falling on hapless ground observers. The name needs to be something worthy of the Sci Fi channel. I cant do anything clever with the words eclipse and holocaust but Eclipsageddon works or if we work in some wrestling Eclipsamania. Deloy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Government funded observing platforms
by Ed 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Patrick, In case you care, the coordinates you got from Google for Airway Beacon 57 SFO-SLC are for the Panoramio photo markers on the map, not for the arrow. The coordinates for the arrow are more like 40° 49' 35.37" N 112° 54' 20.81" W. The coordinates for the 61A arrow are 40° 42' 16.31" N 112° 15' 12.99" W. Panoramio photos are often placed by photographers on a Google map when the scale is rather large so a small miss-position at that scale maps to a really long distance when the map is blown up. Some are even placed where the photographer thinks he remembers taking the picture. Example: The 1200-foot Kennecott stack Panoramio photo placed a bit north of Seabase, northwest of Grantsville. Ed

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Government funded observing platforms
by Ed 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Patrick, Yes indeed, you have the right area. Using the scales on your screen shot, the concrete arrow is half way between F & G north & south, and about 6.1 east and west. You need to zoom in some more, and here is a modified description of what I posted June 5th at 10:36 pm MDT with a subject line of "Best place to see Mercury from SLC area?": Enable the Roads and Panoramio Layers in Google Earth. Zoom in until you can clearly see the I-80 emblem on the exit 62 bridge over the freeway. With a zoom that shows a scale ruler in the lower left of about 1200 feet or an altitude level of about 7400 feet in the lower right: Follow the line of the bridge to the northwest about 2.5 times the width of the interchange (as measured between the on & off ramps) to a pair of Panoramio photo markers just beyond a dirt road running SW to NE. If you see only one marker, zoom in a bit more. The photo in the left marker is looking east and the photo in the right is looking west. The photos are labeled Airway Beacon 57 SFO-SLC. The arrow shaped slab of concrete is barely discernible (it looks like a dumbbell) right beside the north side of the kink in the dirt road SSE of the right hand Panoramio marker. Interestingly, the concrete arrow is pointed more at Ogden than SLC. Close enough I guess for government work especially after the concrete sets up. It takes a pretty good 4x4 to climb up the hill just west of the bridge, so it probably is a poor site for observing. In addition to lights from freeway traffic and the glow in the east, the disposal sites to the southwest offer light pollution along with waste management. But the views to the north, overlooking SLAS's Lakeside site, are pretty dark. That should get it for you. If not, we'll just have to light up Google Earth sometime when we're both at the same place. I wonder how many of the other 56 still exist? Ed

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Bingham Canyon mine and the Moon's Aristarchus crater
by Patrick Wiggins 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Interesting Planetary Society comparison of Salt Lake's Bingham Canyon mine and the Moon's Aristarchus crater: The Walls of the Pit http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/bill-dunford/20130826-the-walls-… patrick

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Government funded observing platforms
by Patrick Wiggins 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Joe just alerted me to these. Looks like some would be ideal for setting up telescopes on. :) http://wchsutah.org/aviation/navigation-arrows.php Here is one near St. George: http://goo.gl/maps/iEV43 Anyone here know of ones closer to Salt Lake? patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Government funded observing platforms
by Joe Bauman 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

That's really nice, Chuck. ------------------------------ On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 12:02 PM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >My mom passed away about a year ago, yet in the Google Street View of her >house, there she is in the front yard, tending to her flower garden that >she loved so much. > >A sort of digital immortality. :-) >_______________________________________________ >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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Winchester Park ADA issues
by Chuck Hards 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Tell us exactly where they are, Erik. Sun party locations can be moved if the BOD decides to do it, and it's done before the next schedule is printed. In the meantime, if you ever tell me in advance that you're going to Winchester, and I can make it, I will set up on the asphalt again. I will help you set up and tear-down your own solar setup if you want to bring it, as well. My bino parallelogram is especially well suited to chair users. I have 15X and 20X 70mm units with Baader filters. I set up the PST on a small GEM and typically have the tripod legs adjusted for chair height. On Sat, Aug 24, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Erik Hansen <erikhansen(a)thebluezone.net>wrote: > > Deloy has different situation, small wedges do not comply with ADA > standards. The standard is one foot for every one inch of curb. it is > rare when anyone sets up on the asphalt. There are many spots on the > Parkway that are, I go by them everyday. > > > >

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Updating a 40 year old equatorial mount
by Chuck Hards 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

My old Jaegers 1" shaft GEM is solid as a battleship, but it came from the factory with a cast aluminum universal saddle that was meant to bolt-on tubes from 3" to 8" OD. Today we use dovetail plates to attach telescopes to German equatorial mounts, a much better system as it allows easily adjustable balance, and easier use of multiple OTA's on the same mount. This summer I converted that old Jaegers mount to use Losmandy style dovetail plates, just as my modern CGEM mount uses. It will breathe new life into that old mount. I plan further upgrades as time permits, such as a DEC slo-motion, and a better RA drive gear. But for now it's already much more user-friendly than it was, and more versatile. Here's the thread I posted tonight over on CN: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/6044004/pa… Comments welcome, both on this board and CN. Thanks for looking!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Stargazing spots
by Bruce Hugo 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Hey Danial. Interesting. I'm using IE9 and Yahoo too. But my Yahoo email shows both your and my posts full of question marks (see below). Probably some HTML formatting quirk. Guess eveyone will think I'm always full of questions. :-) Bruce Hugo ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 16:09:31 -0700 (PDT) From: daniel turner <outwest112(a)yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Stargazing spots Message-ID: <1377472171.49899.YahooMailNeo(a)web163804.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 I don't see any question marks in your posts.? ? Perhaps the problem is with your browser.? ? I use IE9 to access through Yahoo email.? ? DT ________________________________ From: Bruce Hugo <bruce.hugo(a)yahoo.com> To: "utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2013 3:41 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Stargazing spots *sigh*? My overly lit neighborhood in Sandy also did not make the list.? <surprised look> ? I have ran up Little Cottonwood Canyon before and set up at the Cathrine's Pass parking lot.? It gets you less atmosphere (9,500 ft), a decent 360 degree view?and less sky glow.? I've not ran up there in a while... me thinks me needs to head up there in the near future before the gravel road is closed for the season. ? Bruce Hugo ? PS... Any idea why I keep ending up with all the question marks in my posts? Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. ? - Edwin Powell Hubble

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Stargazing spots
by Bruce Hugo 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Ahhhh... IE10! Ok, I'll give myself an update. Pit and Pole eh? I've seen the site noted in the past. I will definately give it a try in the future! I noticed the "e" after I hit send. Sorry about the spelling error Daniel. Bruce Hugo ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 21:57:33 -0700 (PDT) From: daniel turner <outwest112(a)yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Stargazing spots Message-ID: <1377493053.76333.YahooMailNeo(a)web163803.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Bruce: ? My mistake, I'm on IE10 because of automatic updating it happens without my intervention?and I loose track of the version number.? ? You should try to hook up with Jay Eds or Mat Hutchings when they go out to the Pit and Pole?down south of?Stockton.? The site is?fairly good and the these guys are good company. ???????????????????????????????????????? Daniel (with an E) Turner?

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