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

Sunspot
by Kurt Fisher 01 May '07

01 May '07

Ann Blanchard wrote, Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Sunspot > I wanted to thank Kurt for giving the heads up about the sunspot. > We looked at it yesterday around 6 p.m. . . . . In an unscientific > mode, we all decided the pattern inside the spot looked > suspiciously like at duck face grinning at us. How long do > sunspots typically stay visible? Your are welcome. I can see a little Daffy Duck in Pete Lawrence's image. (Lawrence is a British amateur with legendary astrophotography skills). http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/01may07/Pete-Lawrence-2007-04-30_13-15-26… http://spaceweather.com/ Per Chuck the solar period of rotation at the equator is 25 days - 1/2 is about 12 days. Usually you get a frame of about a week of good seeing. Here's an mpg movie of a large sunspot crossing the entire solar disk. You've probably got another five days left on sunspot 953. http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/gongmag4.mpg Per the Spaceweather.com site, sunspot 953 is shaping up as a potential X-flare class producing region. X-flares are the most powerful class of solar flares. The process works similar to a torus fusion reactor on Earth. Magnetic lines eminating from the white filament below the group of small brown sunspots trap solar gas above the surface of the Sun. The magnetically trapped gas accrues solar radiation and heats up from the Sun's surface temperature of about 5785 Kelvins, past the several million Kelvin temperature of the lower density corona, to 10s of millions of Kelvins. At those temperatures and gas densities, fusion ignition can occur. When these trapped gases undergo a fusion ignition, an X-class flare explodes with the force of equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs. While images of these explosions are usually captured by the professionals with the SOHO satellite, I have heard of the actual flare explosion being seen by lucky amateurs armed with a Cornado PST. Here's an animated movie of sunspot similar to 953 made with a PST. http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/07dec06/Paquereau.gif - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Fwd: Surveying women amateur astronomers
by Richard Tenney 01 May '07

01 May '07

--- Laura Danly <Laura.Danly(a)lacity.org> wrote: > Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:37:05 -0700 > From: "Laura Danly" <Laura.Danly(a)lacity.org> > To: "Laura Danly" <Laura.Danly(a)lacity.org> > Subject: Fwd: Surveying women amateur astronomers > > > > >>> Laura Danly 4/23/2007 4:59:51 PM >>> > Dear Amateur Astronomer and/or Astronomy Educator: > > We are seeking to distribute the information below > to a wide range of female amateur astronomers. Can > you help us by forwarding this email to members of > your amateur club, amateur club officers, or other > amateur astronomy organizations or networks, so that > they can invite the female amateur astronomers they > know to complete this survey. > > Thank you! > Judy Koke, Institute for Learning Innovation > Laura Danly, Griffith Observatory > > ***** ******** > ******* > > > Dear Amateur Astronomer: > > We are actively seeking your input! As part of a > research project in public astronomy education, two > of your colleagues would like to gather data on the > interests, attitudes, and experiences of female > amateur astronomers. Judy Koke and Laura Danly have > devised an on-line survey and invite women amateur > astronomers to participate. The survey takes no > longer than 10 minutes to complete. The survey can > be found at: > > http://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/29886/waa.htm > > The results will be published in an upcoming volume > from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific on > amateur astronomers and astronomy education entitled > "Science Educators in Our Midst: Amateur Astronomers > Engaged in Education and Public Outreach" (working > title) due out in September, 2007. > > We expect to finish collecting data by the middle of > May. We would be most appreciative if you can visit > our survey web site before that time. The more > responses we gather, the better we can understand > the landscape for women in amateur astronomy clubs. > We hope our results might help illuminate how AA > clubs can better recruit and serve women generally, > and thus grow club membership. > > If you have any questions or concerns about this > survey, please feel free to contact either of the > researchers. > > Thanks so much for your time and your thoughts, > Judy and Laura. > > > Judy Koke > Dr. Laura Danly > Senior Research Associate > Curator > Institute for Learning Innovation > Griffith Observatory > > 166 West Street > 2800 E. Observatory Dr. > Annapolis, MD 21401 > Los Angeles, CA 90027 > koke(a)ilinet.org > laura.danly(a)lacity.org > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Fwd: RE: Star Party
by Richard Tenney 01 May '07

01 May '07

How many of you would be interested in helping me out with this star party on Friday the 18th? Please let me know ASAP... Thanks, Rich --- Amy Packer <APacker(a)reaganacademy.org> wrote: > Subject: RE: Star Party > Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 10:27:14 -0600 > From: "Amy Packer" <APacker(a)reaganacademy.org> > To: "Richard Tenney" <retenney(a)yahoo.com> > > Rich, > > 1. We have 75 students in the 6th grade (3 > classes). There are 3 > teachers, and I would imagine we'd have 20-25 > parents. It's hard to > tell. I know not all the students would come, and > we could do a head > count when we have a date set to get a better idea. > So, we could > potentially have 100 people, but I would guess only > 55-60 kids would > come, which would bring us down to about 80 people. > If we split the > people into 3 groups they could all spend about 20 > minutes at a station > (see number 3 below), and each station would be > dealing with only 20-30 > people at a time. > > 2. An hour would be fine, and if we do it on a > Friday night the > students won't have school the next day. I plan on > having the students > meet at the school to carpool up to our location, we > could arrive at > 9:00. > > 3. We have supportive parents, I think they'd be > willing to carpool up > to South Fork. I'd like it dark, I was thinking of > putting the kids in > 2-3 groups. One group could be at the telescopes, > one group looking at > constellations (I know enough that I could be in > charge of that group), > and maybe(?) have a hot chocolate station for the > third group provided > by the school. I don't know how that would work > with the telescopes > though, or how much time we should plan for the > telescope station. Your > suggestions would be valuable. > > 4. The 18th would work well for us, it's a Friday > night so the students > don't have to be up early for school the next day. > > 5. We are a charter school, which means we are > public, we are simply a > one school district. I can certainly ask parents to > donate, but our > grade level fund is limited at this time. > > I hope I have answered all your questions, please > ask if there is > anything else you need to know. I appreciate you > taking this time to > help us out. > > Thank you, > > Amy Packer > > 6th Grade Teacher > Reagan Academy > Springville, UT 84663 > (801)489-7828 > apacker(a)reaganacademy.org > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Tenney [mailto:retenney@yahoo.com] > Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 5:54 PM > To: Amy Packer > Subject: Re: Star Party > > Amy, > > I would be willing to help, but I need to know the > following: > > 1. How many students (and parents /teachers > /helpers/ > siblings) do you anticipate coming? I'd need to see > how many folks with scopes would be willing to help > out. It could be a very long line at one or two > scopes! > > 2. You realize that it doesn't get dark until fairly > late (between 9 and 10pm). Are the kids /parents > willing to stay up late? I'm thinking about an hour > does it for most folks, after that the interest > level > drops pretty rapidly for most. > > 3. How dark do you want the sky? It's pretty washed > out anywhere in the city; closest reasonably dark > site > is up South Fork Canyon in Provo canyon, approx. 20 > minute drive from Provo/Orem. However, if you want > to > just look at the moon and the planet Saturn, we > could > do that from the school. From a darker site we > could > look at a number of deep-sky objects (galaxies, star > clusters, nebula, etc.). > > 4. Possible dates: > Dark sky (no moon) - May 10-18 > Cresent Moon - May 21 - 23 > > 5. Is this a public or private school? If private, > a > modest donation to the Utah Valley Astronomy Assn. > would be appreciated (~$100) > > Let me know what you have in mind and I'll see what > I > can come up with. > > Regards, > Rich > > --- Amy Packer <APacker(a)reaganacademy.org> wrote: > > > I am a 6th grade teacher in Springville, and we're > > just finishing up an > > astronomy unit. I'd like to have a star party for > > my students but don't > > know how to go about doing one. Would your > > association be interested in > > helping out in this area? (I don't know a good > > location, and I only > > have access to one telescope.) > > > > > > > > We've studied moon phases as well as > constellations > > and planets, so even > > if there is a moon I think it would be beneficial > to > > the students. > > > > > > > > Any suggestions or guidance you can give would be > > helpful. > > > > > > > > Thank you, > > > > > > > > Amy Packer > > > > > > > > 6th Grade Teacher > > > > Reagan Academy > > > > Springville, UT 84663 > > > > (801)489-7828 > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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