January 2003 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Harper quarry condition?
by Grahn Family 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

Has anyone been up to the quarry in the last few weeks? Is the set-up area open? We were thinking about heading up there tonight, but I hate to go and find it closed.... Jo Grahn

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Jupiter now
by Patrick Wiggins 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

The seeing is much better tonight than it was last night (at least here in Stansbury). As I enter this there is a double transit of both Io and Europa and their shadows on Jupiter. Patrick

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Saturn watch
by Larry Frisk 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

OK, I know that the Saturn watch is Friday night but I have deleted the e-mail telling the place. I think that it was one of the Harmon's stores but which one? Larry

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Saturn Watch
by Ziggy943＠aol.com 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

I think it was someone else who thought it would be a good idea to bring the Clark out of retirement. I don't remember that being my idea. My idea was to bring out the 8" MAK. Do you remember who suggested the Clark Patrick? Weather permitting I think this is a good idea. Brent & I used to do a number of star parties mid winter at the old Harmons. I still have pictures of us set up there wearing our down-filled parkas. Siegfried

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Bowling ball meteors, a third way
by Patrick Wiggins 05 Jan '03

05 Jan '03

I just learned that there's a guy in Tooele who has a cannon that he uses to shoot bowling balls "out of sight". Just guess we ought to make sure Brent's plane is not overhead when we fire the cannon... :-) Patrick BTW, with the skies clearing, remember that Saturn is passing through M1 tonight.

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Saturn watch
by ELyrae＠aol.com 04 Jan '03

04 Jan '03

I think it was someone else who thought it would be a good idea to bring the Clark out of retirement. I don't remember that being my idea. My idea was to bring out the 8" MAK. Do you remember who suggested the Clark Patrick? Weather permitting I think this is a good idea. Brent & I used to do a number of star parties mid winter at the old Harmons. I still have pictures of us set up there wearing our down-filled parkas. Siegfried

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Terminal calculations
by Patrick Wiggins 04 Jan '03

04 Jan '03

Hi, Here's an answer I just received regarding the bowling ball drop: ***** Hi Patrick, For what it's worth (maybe not much; success in finding meteorites this way _does_ seem unlikely): Your 20-cm sphere would have a volume of about 4.2 liters. A mass of 7.5 kilos would give a density of 1.8. Seems low to me. http://courses.washington.edu/hydclass/Cive474/fallex.pdf describes how you compute terminal velocity, giving an example for an 8.5-inch, 16-pound sphere (yuck! English units!). They get a terminal velocity of 480 feet/second at an altitude of 10,000 ft, dropping to 412 feet/second at sea level. This terminal velocity scales as sqrt( diameter * density), so a two-inch object would have about half the terminal velocity, and so forth. Still, taking 450 fps as a ballpark figure, you would reach that in (450/32) = 14 seconds in a vacuum, and would come close enough to it in Real Air, for practical purposes, in (pessimistically) 30 seconds. 30 seconds at an average speed of (roughly) 450/2 = 225 fps gives a needed altitude of 6750 feet. A lot of "ballparkisms" there, I realize, but that's probably all you really need anyway. ***** 6750 sounds a lot more realistic than 20,000. Patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Another way
by RStmarie＠aol.com 04 Jan '03

04 Jan '03

In a message dated 1/4/2003 13:34:37 Mountain Standard Time, dlbennett(a)mac.com writes: > http://www.skydivingstunts.com/Pages/chuteless.html Whoa! Now I see what you say. Insane. Recreational Darwinism. Natural selection should keep this from becoming a big sport.

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go outside now!!
by karen vanderhule 04 Jan '03

04 Jan '03

If any one is still awake you need to grab your scope and some high power eyepieces and check out the planets. The sky is steady and they are solid as a rock at high power. Now !!!! Ron

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Skydive
by Patrick Wiggins 04 Jan '03

04 Jan '03

Since the bowling ball drop has developed an off topic (albeit fun) skydiving thread, I thought I'd address all of those with a single reply. Skydive Arizona is the west coast Mecca for skydivers. Many of the jumpers from this area go down there during the winter (back east they have a similar thing but only for one week a year, where the pull is the availability of all manner of A/C, from balloons, to choppers, to WW 2 aircraft to a Boeing 727 to jump from). Down there at SA just about anything goes. I've seen guys ride ATVs off the tailgates of largish A/C, deploy a big canopy, ride it all the way to the ground and then drive it back to the airport. Fun! Another fun thing is freefall in inflatable boats. Unlike cars they tend to be stable in freefall. And just recently the world record of 300+ skydivers linking up in freefall was set. Oh, and let's not forget the "buff dives"... But one thing they do not do is jump without parachutes. Most of us who fling our bodies into the air are all too aware that the federal government is just waiting for an excuse to regulate jumping even more than it does and few, if any, of us want to do anything that could bring in the feds. So, no, the pictures of the guys (and gals) that seem to have them with no chutes are just optical illusions (some planned, some not). Everyone has a chute. In all of my nearly 40 years in the sport I've only heard of one guy who intentionally jumped from an airplane without a chute. Rod Pack was his name back in the 60s. He did it for a magazine spread, with the plan being a friend would jump with an extra chute and pass it to him in free fall. Fortunately for all in involved they pulled it off but then the feds stepped in and, thankfully, said "no more". I've got pictures of the jump, BTW, if anyone's interested. Cheers! Patrick Member, Parachutists Over Phorty Society (POPS #3007)

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