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

RE: [Utah-astronomy] Photos of Pratt's Dollond telescope
by Kurt Fisher 28 May '07

28 May '07

Bob Moore asked, > I am very interested in researching early telescopes > and the projects they were used for in Utah in > the 1800s, any sources you would suggest > I go to - Bob Bob, Give me a few days to assemble what I have gathered so far and I'll get you a digital care package. Mostly they will be annotated links to annual reports of the Coast Survey from the 1800s at: http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/cgs/data_rescue_cgs_annual_reports.html See the Report of 1869 at 49-50 for a description of Coast Survey officer George W. Dean setting up the Meridian House. There are a number of the related reports that explain the Coast Survey's implementation of the then cutting edge German technique of telegraphic chronography that they were using to astronomically determine latitude and longitude of major cities in the West. I'll get together a list of the relevant reports and cites in secondary books like Hirschfield's "Parallax" and "Latitude". The Church History Museum was very helpful in getting me a copy of an obscure 2003 article by Church historian and U. history professor Dale Beecher: Dale Beecher, The Pioneering Instruments of Orson Pratt, The Journal of the American Scientific Instrument Enterprise, Vol. 17, #58: 107-117, Rittenhouse Publ. I'll have to scan that one to get you a copy. Beecher says the Coast Survey Wurdeman portable transit scope (no. 19) was in the Church's collection (in 2003). IMHO, the Wurdeman is the real jewel in their collection. If you have any pull with This Is The Place Monument, I'd appreciate it. Steve Shepard with TITPM has a clipping and research folder that the Church history department prepared on the Meridian House. It formed the basis of the Heritage park's reconstruction. Steve initially was open to me reviewing and copying materials out of the folder, but I have not been able to get him to commit for a specific sit-down. Although the Park is probably busy with the reopening, any helpful prodding at the park to get Steve to finish up with me would be appreciated. Finally, I am trying to get copies of two plates from the Coast Survey Reports - Plates 28 and 29 to the 1866 Report. Unlike the reports, the appended plate drawings are not internet distributed. One is a schematic of the Wurdeman portable transit scope, a second is a drawing of the Coast Survey's standard zenith telescope mentioned in the 1869 report and described in the 1866 report. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Friday night at the Wedge
by Michael Carnes 28 May '07

28 May '07

Went down to the Wedge on Friday, along with Steve Roens and Cheryl Hart (occasional SLAS members). Great night. There was just enough of a breeze to keep the no-see-ums away. Not too many people and none of them used external lighting. Never got any cooler than sweatshirt weather. You could tell it was going to be a good night when we put our scopes on Saturn--well before pure dark. I could see what appeared to be 7 moons--not counting Titan. That's with a 10" scope. I've checked in Starry Night, and can see no field stars in equivalent positions. These objects were all very close to the planetary disk. The rest of the night went pretty much the same way. M101 was also visible before full dark. Altogether a satisfying night. I've heard that folks in the club don't like to head to the Wedge after April, but there was really nothing to complain about this time. MC

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Photos of Pratt's Dollond telescope
by Kurt Fisher 27 May '07

27 May '07

In my Utah Astro Gallery folder, I have placed some (poorly made) photos of Pratt's 3 1/4 Dollond refractor made on 5/25/2007 in the Salt Lake City Church History Museum: http://www.utahastronomy.com/MeridianHouse I had always thought these Dollond's were alt-az scopes. Apparently, they have an equatorial head. Other related images of interest - An antique dealer's image of an identical, more well perserved Dollond refractor: http://www.trevorphilip.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=4&tabindex=3&objectid… An Dollond refractor museum picture of a contemporaneous similar model stored in its case: http://www.earlytech.com/common/show_image.phtml?Id=1587009984&Item_Name= Image of the Meridian House from the Utah Historical Quarterly http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/notes/MeridianHouse/img/Me… Image of the Coast Survey Wurdeman portable transit scope (No. 19) installed in Meridian House which included from the J. of Amer. Sci. Instr. The 4 inch Wurdeman transit, a standard Coast Survey instrument used in 1869, is now in the non-displayed collection of the Church History Museum: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/notes/MeridianHouse/img/Wi… No picture: a Coast Survey standard zenithal telescope temporarily installed and used in the Meridian House in 1869. These had a larger apeture than the 4 inch Wurdeman transit scope. The zenith scope temporarily installed in the Meridian House was used to make over 300 altitude measurements of circumpolar stars during the winter of 1868-1869. Apparently not preserved: The chronograph register that goes with the Wurdeman transit and the telegraphic register control used in the 1869 campaign. Antique dealer's image of Dent Chronometer No. 2974. Pratt's Dent Chronometer, identical to the foregoing image, is No. 2392 and is now in a LDS Church musuem collection. http://www.bottomoftheharbour.com/chronometerdent.html Although we tend to take satellite calibrated watches and computers for granted, in the 1870's, one's nightly observing session apparently started out with observing the transit of reference stars and then resetting one's chronometer. The Pratt Dollond pictures and other collected links are part of a larger ongoing set of notes I am preparing on the Coast Survey Longitudinal Campaign of 1869 and the measurement of the Salt Lake Base Line Meridian in 1896. The SLBM measurement featured the Coast Survey constructing a 56ft long catameran-like shed and dragging it from the Point-of-the-Mountain to North Salt Lake. A drawing of the catameran is reproduced in my Utah Astro folder: http://www.utahastronomy.com/MeridianHouse/1896ShelterSled - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Thanks Joe!
by Ann House 25 May '07

25 May '07

ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY TO HOST 2 STAR PARTIES Astronomical marvels will be on display Friday and Saturday nights during star parties sponsored by the Salt Lake Astronomical Society -- if the weather allows. FULL STORY: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C660223855%2C00.html

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Tonight: Three planets line up in west at sunset
by Kurt Fisher 25 May '07

25 May '07

Don wrote: > Using Tom Watson's Sky Scout we picked up Mercury last > Friday low on the horizon. Saturn - Venus - Mercury. The Moon makes four. After the Moon sets - drawf planet Vesta, Jupiter and Pluto would make 7. Night owls staying up to four a.m. would also see Neptune, Uranus, for a total of nine. Mars would be rising in astronomical sunrise - for a possible of ten. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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The Big Thaw (in Nat. Geo.)
by Patrick Wiggins 25 May '07

25 May '07

For those who have not seen it, National Geographic magazine's current issue contains an article on the effects of the planet's warming. It's entitled, appropriately enough, "The Big Thaw". pw

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Tooele Airport to Expand - Impact on SPOC?
by Kurt Fisher 25 May '07

25 May '07

The Tooele County Commission has begun a 102 acre (10 SLC blocks) expansion of the Tooele Airport. I believe Tooele Airport is about 5 miles from SPOC. Will this expansion impact SPOC operations? - Kurt http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5964580 Tooele Valley Airport Council votes to start eminent domain against landowners By Derek P. Jensen The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated:05/23/2007 01:14:49 AM MDT _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Tooele Airport to Expand - Impact on SPOC?
by Kurt Fisher 25 May '07

25 May '07

I'm just saying, it doesn't cost anything to ask or go look at their draft plans. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net

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Response to Seth Jarvis
by Lockman 25 May '07

25 May '07

I'm going to try to post this yet another way. Today I haven't been able to get any replies to actually post on the Utah astronomy forum. I got one original composition type test to post. This time I copied another original composition type post to note pad, edited it, then copied it to this original post. This is a lot of effort. I hope it works. The timing of this is atrocious because for some reason when I replied earlier this morning, the reply never made it to Utah-astronomy. I kept waiting and it never showed up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wrote: While this is closer to an appropriate response than the one last week, it doesn't really provide the science or claimed science that invalidates the science or claimed science of the information Colton posted last week. I also don't agree that the posting was only remotely astronomical. Except for the few references to the Earth, it was entirely astronomical. The reason I reacted the way I did last week was that It appeared to me you were attempting to censor any information which might conflict with your own opinion on the subject. In "Broca's Brain", Sagan discussed this sort censorship using the way they handled Velikovski's ideas when he tried to publish them versus how they should have handled them. So the only appropriate response to Colton's post, if you didn't agree with it, would be the scientific reasons you think it's wrong. In response to Seth Jarvis writing: Bill, I've been away for a few days. Sorry for the delay in responding. The only remotely astronomical connection to the issue of Global Warming comes from a handful of folks who say that rather than being the result of human activity, the global climate change we're currently experiencing is caused by a change in solar output. That's just not so - it's been investigated thoroughly. Natural causes (solar output, volcanoes, etc.) can account for only a small fraction of the climate change we're experiencing ("Climate Change Science Moves from Proof to Prevention" Scientific American, Feb 1, 2007). Citing an opinion piece by a right-wing blowhard in a Canadian newspaper does not mean the decades of work by thousands of working scientists who've published their work in peer-reviewed professional journals has somehow been disproved. Our sense of "fairness" has been distorted to the point that anyone can say anything, no matter how nonsensical it is, and the press feels obligated to give their ideas equal consideration with the scientific data that professional researchers have labored long and hard to acquire. Remember "Intelligent Design?" The National Academies of Science, the Association for the Advancement of Science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, American Meteorology Society and other organizations representing professional climate researchers are unequivocal in their position that the global climate change we're seeing is primarily the result of human activities, and they've got libraries of hard scientific fact to back them up. Professional climate researchers are finding _more_ evidence, not less, that the majority of the climate change we're seeing around the world is caused by us. Global Warming deniers have been shown the data and they're not letting go of their delusions. What good comes from arguing with them? Seth

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NPR Sci. Friday - Fungi that thrive on radioactive waste
by Richard Tenney 25 May '07

25 May '07

Today's NPR SF is blowing my mind -- they have discovered fungi growing (thriving) in Chernoble; they believe that melanin in the fungi allows it to utilize radioactivity much like chlorophyll in plants converts sunlight into energy. Too cool. Biofuels from nuclear waste anyone? :o) ____________________________________________________________________________________Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469

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