March 2007 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: 20 mw Laser for $79
by Wayne Sumner 14 Mar '07

14 Mar '07

Hi Patrick, I ordered one yesterday. If it comes as fast as the 5 mW laser I bought last month, it should be here early next week. I'll post my (subjective) impression of how big an improvement it is over the old one. Wayne Sumner Wayne A. Sumner Math/Physics/Astronomy/Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach Northridge High School Davis School District (801) 402-8610 >>> Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> 03/13/07 8:03 PM >>> That figures. No sooner do I finally break down and buy their 5mw model they start discounting their big gun. Still, I'm going to hold off for now but would be interested in seeing a 20 side-by-side with a 5 to see if there really is a huge difference. Anyone here going to buy one of these? pw On 13 Mar 2007, at 16:15, Michael Carnes wrote: > For those of you who aren't satisfied by a mere 5mw, you can now > roast a jackrabbit on the run... > > http://www.luckyduck.com/index.php?/forms/basement _______________________________________________ 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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20 mw Laser for $79
by Michael Carnes 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

For those of you who aren't satisfied by a mere 5mw, you can now roast a jackrabbit on the run... http://www.luckyduck.com/index.php?/forms/basement

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] West Desert last night
by Olhomorto＠aol.com 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

Coincidentally, I was pondering the possibilities of observing in the west desert later this week, and wondering who else might be thinking likewise. Mike Bailey ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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West Desert last night
by daniel turner 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

After telling a friend that I wouldn't be going out soon, I found an abandoned pile of fire wood and had a sudden urge for a campfire in the desert. As an afterthought I brought my binoculars along just in case. My apologies to Tho Dinh. I was wrong about the mud, there was none, but I was right about the cirrus clouds, it was a marginal night at best. DT Time: 2007 March 13 0300-0900 UT monday night tuesday morning Location:113W 41N West desert site in Puddle Valley. Variable cirrus clouding made most bright stars have a disk of nebulosity. Light wind shifted from direction all around the compass. Best transparency was straight up in a 30 degree arc. Later the clouds thickened to almost total. temp in the 30's F. New 20x80's to refresh my Messier finding. No charts. Brought a lawn chair but mostly stood or leaned against the SUV. A bright cheery campfire for warmups and for when it got cloudy. saturn's rings easily visable. m42 spread wings effect some fine structure m43 barely visable m78 easy double structure. m79 took several tries until I remembed the starhop through the center of Lepus. m41 wide and pleasant view m39 easy off the tail of the big dog. m46 m47 over the back of the big dog, one fully resolved bright stars, the other a thinner clummpy haze. m50 off the head of the big dog, and easy find just sweeping around. m48 took awhile until I remembered that it's half way from Sirius and Alphard which was a nice red color. m44 and m67 between Regulus and Gemini. m45 grand even with the cirrus haze masking and nebulosity from the cluster. m103 a dim clump near the gamma Cassiopea. m35 at the feet of Gemmini. m36 m37 m38 in a row sticking out of Auriga. m34 nice and wide off the foo of Pereus. m31 m32 m110 filled the field of view. much easier than the remembered view in 10x50's, no dust lanes visable. m33 supprised to find it a wide fuzzy direct vision patch. m52 between Cas and Cep with a bright embedded star. m81 m82 needed to wait for dark adaptation to bright these into view. m51 very easy both pieces, and a hint of spiral structure. m101 needed averted vision only got the central bright region. m109 suspected with averted vision and later confirmed it's location from charts at home. m3 big bright between Arcturus and Cor Caroli, with two bright companion stars. m65 m66 ngc3628 bright one came in first, waited and the second one showed up a minute later, and finally the dim one after staring for about 2 minutes. Also looked for but did not see: m104 suspected but can't confirm location, could just be a string of stars. m95, m96, m105 didn't have a good fix on the location and the sky started to cloud up m97, m108 chased them back and forth across the bottom of the big dipper's bowl but not seen. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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Cleaning Corrector lens
by Howard Jackman 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

OK everybody, time to get this list a bit active I hope. I recently bought an ETX 90 for the tidy sum of $80. That's not relly necessary to tell you but I wanted to brag a little. I already have one but I'd like to give it to my son as a present since his interest in astronomy is increasing. Anyways it has a few very distinct fingerprints on the outer and <GASP> inner corrector lens surfaces!! I know I almost cried when I realized that they were inside. I've perused the web for cleaning tips solutions etc, specifically Weasners Mighty ETX site which is amazing by the way I've followed that site for over 10 years. I'd like to know of any local wisdom, tips, in this area and possible suppliesand/or ingredients to buy. Any and all help would be very welcome. Thanks! Howard ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cleaning Corrector lens
by cmh856＠aol.com 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

I thought you used a squeegee, Guy...? ;o) In a message dated 3/13/2007 5:16:35 AM Mountain Standard Time, diveboss(a)xmission.com writes: We use alcohol and cotton swabs, or, cotton balls to clean rifle scope lenses and for some some night vision equipment, we dilute it with distilled water as well. But if it's an $80.00 rifle scope we use Windex and paper towels. :D ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cleaning Corrector lens
by cmh856＠aol.com 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

Howard, I don't own an ETX, but I seem to recall reading that the corrector was designed to be easily unscrewed by the consumer for cleaning. Modern coatings are very tough, and if you use the same cleaning solution that the optometrist sells for, say, my $400 bifocals (grrrr), with some lens tissue, you should be OK. Just apply a dampened tissue and rub GENTLY, then dry with a fresh piece of tissue. You could also use one of those modern micro-fiber lens cleaning cloths. Any techniques used for camera lenses will be OK for the ETX as well. Just be very careful with the secondary. Aluminized coatings are not as forgiving as lenses and should not be rubbed. There should be quite a bit of owner's posts on the Web about this, as well. See if you can locate an ETX user's group. Great price, well-done! In a message dated 3/10/2007 12:02:03 AM Mountain Standard Time, sumoetx(a)yahoo.com writes: OK everybody, time to get this list a bit active I hope. I recently bought an ETX 90 for the tidy sum of $80. That's not relly necessary to tell you but I wanted to brag a little. I already have one but I'd like to give it to my son as a present since his interest in astronomy is increasing. Anyways it has a few very distinct fingerprints on the outer and <GASP> inner corrector lens surfaces!! I know I almost cried when I realized that they were inside. I've perused the web for cleaning tips solutions etc, specifically Weasners Mighty ETX site which is amazing by the way I've followed that site for over 10 years. I'd like to know of any local wisdom, tips, in this area and possible suppliesand/or ingredients to buy. Any and all help would be very welcome. Thanks! Howard ______________________________________________________________________________ ______ ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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Nowak fired
by cmh856＠aol.com 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

_http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=867413_ (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=867413) If she's a captain in the navy, isn't she getting saltpeter in her diet? Or does that only work for men? Or was that an old fable? This story still amazes me. For someone to throw all that away just boggles the mind. I hope she gets counseling, straightened-out, and learns to live with the consequenses of her stupid, stupid actions. More proof that intelligence and wisdom aren't always found in the same individuals... ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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Physics colloquia tomorrow (Thursday) at the U
by Patrick Wiggins 06 Mar '07

06 Mar '07

U of U's Dr. David Kieda's talk is entitled "VHE Gamma-Rays: the New New Astronomy". Dr. Kieda emailed to assure, "It will be only slightly technical; anyone with a science background should be able to get quite a bit out of it." 4:00 p.m. in room 102 of the James Fletcher ("North Physics") building. http://www.physics.utah.edu/~boehme/colloquium/coll-spring-2007.html pw

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] This makes me feel old
by Michael Carnes 06 Mar '07

06 Mar '07

Watch it, Sonny... > >Anyone born before the launch is considered a child of >the "Age of Flight" -which of course started with the >Wright Brothers "Flyer", the wood-and-fabric, 12 >horsepower symbol of Patrick's generation. >

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