March 2005 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Friday night at the Wedge Overlook
by Brent Watson 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

I, too, made the trek to the Wedge. I dragged along the 10"f10 scope with anticipation of loking at some double stars. I saw the following doubles: Rigel (to get my eye calibrated), Sirius (Although I thought I saw the Pup, I cannot claim it for sure.) and the Trapezium. The A, B, C, D, E, and F stars were very easy, but I saw no sign of G and H. I took a peek at M46 and NGC 2438. A nice view. I have always liked this cluster/nebula combo, even more than the Lagoon. I also looked at NGC 2362 (Tau Canis Majoris cluster). I unfortunately left the leg supports for my tripod in Bountiful, so I experienced a fair amount of wobble in my views. I had a veru interesting optical illusion with NGC 2362. If you have looked at this cluster, you know that tau CMa is in the center of a nice open cluster that reminds me a lot of a very sparse globular. Tau is much brighter than the other stars. As the scope wobbled, it seemed as though the cluster would move in the opposite direction to tau. This gave the illusion of internal reflections, and a real three dimensionality to the view. I am certain that it has something to do with persistence of vision varying with brightness, but nonetheless it was interesting. I spent most of the night looking at Saturn. I had no trouble with detail at 272X, so I tried other eyepiece/barlow combinations out all the way up to 550X. The image was good even at those magnifications. I easily saw the Crepe Ring, and even glimpsed Enke's Division. Although I have sen spokes in the ring previously, there was no hint if it Friday night. I did not make it up for long - in fact I was asleep before 11. The night, however, was very steady and what I saw was great. Sirius showed the smallest disk of anytime I have ever veiwed it. I guess getting up for work early has made it difficult to stay up late. Oh well - still a great night. Brent P.S. I envoke the Samuel Clemmons spelling rule! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Make Yahoo! your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Last night at Rush Valley
by Tyler Allred 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Hi all. Rich, Daniel, and I enjoyed a superb night of viewing at the Rush Valley site. I spent my whole evening imaging two objects: M78 and M46 with its planetary nebula NGC2438. I also enjoyed many great views through the two big dobs that were there. Those big dobs are even more fun to look through when you aren't the one packing them around! :-) I have added the images from last night to my Utah Astronomy gallery. Take a look if you get a chance, and let me know what you think. Cheers, Tyler Here are the links: http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/M78_LRGB_2_filtered_PS http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/Utah_Astronomy_M46_LRGB

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Like galaxies?
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

This was just posted to the SBIG listserve: http://www.starshadows.com/MarkarianRGJHmaster.html Patrick

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Last night at Rush Valley
by Naz & David 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

These are superb Tyler. I enjoyed M46 and NGC2438 with the latter tucked in there, really nice. I'm gonna forget about getting a ccd and just look at you dso work from now on. Keep it up! Are you planning to work through all the Messiers and put them in the gallery? That would be a good.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Last night at Rush Valley
by astrodeb＠charter.net 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Great images Tyler, How many minutes did you image M46? I've been planning on imaging M46 and M47 with my DSLR camera but have been waiting for new equipment to arrive. I viewed NGC 2438 at 245X last night and saw the central star. It was up close and personal. Puppis is a target rich environment for astro photography. Debbie > > From: "Naz & David" <naz_david(a)msn.com> > Date: 2005/03/12 Sat PM 09:20:47 MST > To: "Utah Astro List" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Last night at Rush Valley > > These are superb Tyler. I enjoyed M46 and NGC2438 with the latter tucked in there, really nice. I'm gonna forget about getting a ccd and just look at you dso work from now on. Keep it up! Are you planning to work through all the Messiers and put them in the gallery? That would be a good. > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com >

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Friday's "Messier" marathon at SPOC
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Mar '05

12 Mar '05

With abut 25 folks showing up at SPOC last night one might say the turnout for the Messier Marathon was pretty good. Trouble is, an awful lot of those people were seen to quickly abandon their scopes shortly after setting up and crowding around the Big Scope looking (gawking? drooling?) at Saturn and other decidedly non-Messier objects. :-) We'll be out there again tonight, weather permitting. Y'all come! Patrick

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Three good nights (for March).
by daniel turner 12 Mar '05

12 Mar '05

The weather has been very good for astronomy in March. Even the moon was out of the way. On Wednesday I went to the U of U star party and looked at Jupiter, Saturn, the Trapezium and some double stars with Dan Burn. There was a large crowd of interested students. These Wednesday night events are at the Physics Building on the roof when the weather is clear. Thursday night Rich and Tyler met me at the Pit n pole in Rush Valley. These guys have their priorities straight. Up until midnight and then go to work the next day. Wind was a problem early but Mercury was very high and bright. Rich bagged another 27 objects towards his Herschel 400 and Tyler captured a nice view of M78. It was first light for the year for my telescope. Friday night was the Messier Marathon at Stansbury Park and the weather started great and stayed great all night long. I had only planned to stay until weather or fatigue made me quit, but things stayed great until sunup. This was my first attempt at a marathon. I caught the early ones except for M74 and M77. These were lost in the cirrus clouds to the west. Mercury punched right through the clouds and showed a very small half phase at 179x in a 17.5 telescope. Many of the winter objects were also visible in 10x50 and 20x80 binoculars. After 11:00pm I had finished everything west of Leo. I took a break on Saturn and Jupiter, and then plunged into the Comma and Virgo Clusters. Things got slow after 2:00am while the sky slowing turned around above me, but there were several bright meteors. Things became very busy as twilight took hold. The Mountains to the East and the sky glow from Salt Lake City made me wait until rising objects were very high in the sky before I could see them. At 6:00am the show was over as I struggled to find M16. Some day I will do this from a darker site with better south and east horizons. Final score 94 objects. Clear Skies Daniel Turner --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Friday's "Messier" marathon at SPOC
by Melana urianza 12 Mar '05

12 Mar '05

how do i get off this mailing list? Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)trilobyte.net> wrote:With abut 25 folks showing up at SPOC last night one might say the turnout for the Messier Marathon was pretty good. Trouble is, an awful lot of those people were seen to quickly abandon their scopes shortly after setting up and crowding around the Big Scope looking (gawking? drooling?) at Saturn and other decidedly non-Messier objects. :-) We'll be out there again tonight, weather permitting. Y'all come! Patrick _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Last night at Rush Valley
by Richard Tenney 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

I'd say you've got some serious talent, especially for a 2-month beginner. Some of the nicest photos in the gallery... Keep it up, please! Rich --- Tyler Allred <tylerallred(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > Hi all. Rich, Daniel, and I enjoyed a superb night > of viewing at the Rush > Valley site. I spent my whole evening imaging two > objects: M78 and M46 with > its planetary nebula NGC2438. I also enjoyed many > great views through the > two big dobs that were there. Those big dobs are > even more fun to look > through when you aren't the one packing them around! > :-) I have added the > images from last night to my Utah Astronomy gallery. > Take a look if you get > a chance, and let me know what you think. > > Cheers, > > Tyler > > > > Here are the links: > > > > http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/M78_LRGB_2_filtered_PS > > http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/Utah_Astronomy_M46_LRGB > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: > http://www.utahastronomy.com > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Observing?
by Olhomorto＠aol.com 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

Since Joe Bauman asked why the dirth of postings, here is one. Is anyone planning or interested in any pre-Messier Marathon observing sessions? Friday night looks like a possibilty for a few hours, and Sunday night looks like it has some potential, weather-wise. Does anyone know whether the pit-n'-pole is dry or muddy? Any other dry sites less light polluted than SPOC? Mike Bailey

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