February 2009 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Four of Saturn moon's to transit Saturn's face 2-24
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

Looking at the NASA Solar System live simulator (and the animated gif at the bottom of the NASA press release), at 2-24-2009 10 UT (2-24-2009 3:00 MST), I'm showing the main event - Titan's transit of the northern hemisphere just about to begin. By 12 UTC (5AM MST), Titan is in the middle of the disk. At 10UT (3AM), Saturn is at az 214 alt 50. At 12UT (5AM), Saturn is at az 247 alt 32. Beginning around 10UT, minor moon Mimas will start skirting along the top of the rings (apparent motion) followed by Enceladus a bit after 11 UT. Whether Mimas and Enceladus make it to the center of the disk before local nautical sunrise, I couldn't say. As an added bonus, as Saturn is rising (az 89, alt 9) in the east on the previous night, 2-24-2009 3UT (2-23-2009 20:00 MST 8pm MST), Coment C/2007 N3 Lulin will be a mere 2 deg 10 arcmin south of Saturn and will be streaking past Saturn through out the night - expanding its distance to 2 deg 51 arcmin by 12UT (5AM). This also happens to be the night that C/Lulin is predicted to be at its max brightness. Interesting wide-field photo op. Moon is below the horizon. Not all four Moons in front of the disk, but one on the disk, two skirting the rings and one bright comet nearby will do just nicely. Weather permitting, be there or be square. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Four of Saturn moon's to transit Saturn's face 2-24
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

This probably deserves a special heads up, even if Patrick has already qued this up for the news. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/19feb_quadrupletransit.htm?list89139 "On Feb. 24th, there's going to be a quadruple transit of Saturn's moons," says Keith Noll of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. "Titan, Mimas, Dione and Enceladus will pass directly in front of Saturn and we'll see their silhouettes crossing Saturn's cloudtops—all four at the same time." - Kurt P.S. - Probably a result of that end-on view of the rings that we now have.

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by Richard Tenney 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Potential target list - 2-18 beg 7pm to 2-19 4am
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

Joe asked: > Kurt, What will it be like on the 24th, which is supposed > to be its closest approach? Thanks, Joe From my avenues urban light polluted location, I tried for 144P-Kushida before midnight 2-18 and was cloud throttled. Checking back at 3:15am for Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin from the same location, it was a clear night but with heavy residual water vapor that exacerbated the urban light pollution effect. gam Vir (Porrima) at 3.6v was the near-field naked eye limiting magnitude. Using a cheap after-work 4.25 reflector with alt-az computer control, after synching on gam Vir (Porrima), the scope easily zeroed on Lulin about 3 degs south in alt and just east of Porrima. At 40x, Lulin was faintly visible as an indistinct 10'-15' smudge contrasting slightly with the light polluted sky brightness. At higher magnifications it may be possible to miss Lulin, because it will fade against the light pollution. Lulin was within the same 1 deg TFOV at 7.8v SAO138928. A dark cloth hood improved visibility by reducing light intrusion of surrounding neighbor house lamps. Using the cloth hood brought out some central nucleus contrast as opposed to the halo. A broadband LPR filter slightly improved contrast; an OIII filter did not. I used the scope's red dot finder to fix the naked-eye position of the comet in the washed out sky relative to Porrima. Then using 8x35 binos, I was able to quickly find Lulin, again as a faint smudge on the urban sky. Had I not prelocated it with the scope, I may not have properly acquired it with the binos alone due its subtle contrast with the light polluted sky. Wraping my head with the dark cloth and trapping the cloth with my hands as they held the binoculars also helped the visibility of Lulin in the binos by excluding intrusive light from neighborhood house lamps. John Pane 2-17 Lulin video with geostats streaking by (from SeeSat list) http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pane/lulin/movie/ I decided to get up in the wee hours for this one, having checked the NOAA IR Stat image that showed a big nasty storm sitting off the west coast of California and Oregon and coming our way. It seemed like there would be a temporary cloudless zone (but with high water vapor) between that new weather front and the one that just departed - which luckily turned out to be the case. Checking the jet stream and NOAA IR satellite images around noon today, I see the storm system is still sitting there, trapped by the jet stream. I guess it will break free and be here tonight. If the storm does not arrive this evening, fast-mover Lulin will be about 3 degs south alt of the midpoint of a line between gam Vir and eta Vir at 3:00am tomorrow morning. It will be within a 1 deg TFOV of 8 mag star SAO138796 (HD108474). If the storm arrives late in the evening, but it is clear around sunset, 144P-Kushida may be an option just after nautical twilight. Clear skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] S and T in trouble
by Debbie 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

Hi Jim, It is true that I haven't been involved in astronomy lately but I intend to do some deep-sky observing soon as the weather clears. The weather lately has been wet and horrible. We have a star party planned for next weekend. Last year it was cloudy. I bought a mountain bike last August and have been riding it regularly. Unfortunately long bike rides and swimming laps in the pool don't leave a lot of energy for stargazing. By the way, our pool was open till November 3rd last year. I'm going to have to back off a little on the exercise when the new moon comes around every month. I'm dusting off my telescope this weekend to get it ready for some prime winter observing. I'm hoping to bag a few large planetary nebulae like Abell 31. Debbie On Sat Feb 14 4:51 , Jim Gibson <jimgibson00(a)yahoo.com> sent: > >Hi Debbie, >I have been wondering why I haven’t seen a post on here from you. I always love to read your insightful and thorough reports. I am glad you are still astronomy-ing. You changed your name though. It used to be UtahDeb. That probably tells you how long I have been gone. > >Jim > > > > > >--- On Fri, 2/13/09, Debbie astrodeb(a)beyondbb.com> wrote: > >From: Debbie astrodeb(a)beyondbb.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] S and T in trouble >To: "Utah Astronomy" utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Date: Friday, February 13, 2009, 12:54 PM > >I dropped the magazine because I don't have room for all the magazines. >They build >up year after year and my storage space is limited. Plus the local library has >the >magazine. > >Debbie > >On Thu Feb 12 14:13 , Howard Jackman sumoetx(a)yahoo.com> sent: > >>Yeah I've been so disapointed in it lately as well, I had wanted to >drop astronomy >in favor of S&T but now I might just let both go. I'm so dissapointed >in the >quality of both mags....pity, we need good solid resources in astronomy but >economics are just too brutal right now. >> >>Howard >> >> >>--- On Thu, 2/12/09, Chuck Hards chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> From: Chuck Hards chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> >>> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] S and T in trouble >>> To: "Utah Astronomy" utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >>> Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 1:31 PM >>> The magazine is no longer owned by the senior editorial >>> staff; hasn't been >>> for a couple of years now. That's when the decline >>> started- the loss of >>> Roger W. Sinnott, et. al. My old editor, Gary Seronik, was >>> sent packing >>> from the S&T offices and has been living back in his >>> hometown of Vancouver >>> BC since the sale. >>> >>> I let my subcription lapse last fall. It's no longer >>> the resource it once >>> was, and never will be. >>> >>> On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM, daniel turner >>> outwest112(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >>> >>> > I'm usually the last one to become alarmed at such >>> things but I'm beginning >>> > to get concerned about bedtime reading material Sky >>> and Telescope Magazine. >>> > It started with the loss of S. J. O'Meara last >>> year but is seems to have >>> > picked up speed at an alarming rate. David Levy is >>> gone as well as Stuart >>> > Goldman. Stuart was the group's web guru and >>> lately they have stopped >>> > sending the weekly news email. This latest issue was >>> missing the Q and A >>> > section and with it any mention anywhere of Roger >>> Sinnott. Also alarming is >>> > the recent thinness of the advertisers list. Orion no >>> longer has an ad and >>> > Astronomics has cut it's full page add in half. >>> Page count is shrinking and >>> > the new editor is giving bombastic editorials about >>> the magazine not being >>> > "dumbed down". >>> > >>> > I know the economy is a problem for every one and >>> print media in general is >>> > under pressure from the Internet, but S & T seems >>> to be in big trouble >>> > during a time when people traditionally look to their >>> hobbies for some peace >>> > of mind. >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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://gallery.utahastronomy.com >>> Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com >> >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>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://gallery.utahastronomy.com >>Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com > > > >_______________________________________________ >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://gallery.utahastronomy.com >Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com > > > > >_______________________________________________ >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://gallery.utahastronomy.com >Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] was (no subject) Tyler's Method
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

Mike wrote: ================== Kurt, thank you for relaying that info, the hardest part of imaging is definately processing the images. . . . I will put this info to good use, and will apply it to some of my future efforts. thanks again Mike =================== Thank Tyler. All you missed in the meeting was me, banging my head on the desk, muttering something repeatedly like 'it can't be that easy; it can't be that easy' -:) Kurt

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(no subject)
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

Re: [Utah-astronomy] TYLER'S TALK > Im sure I missed a great presentation, hope to hear all > about it. hopefully I will get another opportunity to > meet and hear all about his imaging processes > another time. Mike The central point of Tyler's technique was step in image processing at which limited stretching is applied. The more typical method after image calibration is to stack first and then apply stretch or deconvolution filters. Tyler pointed out that that stretching is often applied improperly so that detail is in the image is erased into either uniform dark (0 value) or uniform bright (65536 for a 16 bit camera). This improper use of stretching destroys detail. The histogram of a source image might look like this: Galaxy Stars * ** * *** * **** * **************** 0 65536 B G W The pixel spike at the right are the pixels related to Milky Way stars in the foreground of the image; the pixel group to the right consists of the pixels related to a galaxy in the background of the image. "B", "G" and "W" concern the black point, the grey point and the white point of the image. The more typical, but errorneous, way to stretch an image, erases some detail: Galaxy Stars * * * ** * *** * **************** 0 65536 B G W In this stretch, the absolute black and white points are moved to stretch the pixel values. This destroys detail in the galaxy pixels at the left side of the histogram. His processing recommendation centered on grey point stretching. The White and Black points are left alone - the grey point (often the "Contrast" slider in some terresterial photo processing programs) is stretched, thus: Galaxy Stars ***** ****** * ******* * ********* * **************** 0 65536 B G W This grey point stretch enhances detail in the each calibrated fits image. It also makes for an odd looking counter-intutitive image. A grey point stretched image will look washed out - like an image that has the contrast setting in it wrong. He does this stretch for each captured source frame. _Then_ he stacks his individually pre-grey-point stretched frames, yielding: Galaxy Stars * * * ** * *** * **** * ***** * ****** * ******* * ******** * **************** 0 65536 B G W Again, this yields an image that looks washed out - the background sky will look grey instead of black. Next, to make the sky black again - but while retaining the now enhanced details of the original galaxy, he does a white and black point stretch: Galaxy Stars *** **** **** ***** * ****** * ******* * ******** * ********* * ********** * *********** * **************** 0 65536 B G W This method retains the detail in the galaxy pixels collected in the original images while enhancing them. Tyler noted that the incorrect stretch process also generates the dreaded "fat stars", while his process does not. In the incorrect process, unstretched images are stacked from this: Galaxy Stars * ** * *** * **** * **************** 0 65536 B G W to this - Galaxy Stars * ** ** * *** ** *** ** **** *** **** *** **** *** ***** *** **************** 0 65536 B G W and then get white-black point stretched to this - Galaxy Stars * * * * ** ** ** ** *** ** *** ** *** ** **** ** **************** 0 65536 B G W - thus making the "bloated" or "fat" stars. The remainder of his tips went to the need for a good tracking mount and black art tips specific to PhotoShop. The PhotoShop tips were dependent, however, on first mastering the basic skills of proper grey-point stretching and stacking. Without that first step, there are no details in the stacked image that PhotoShop can manipulate. Hope that helps. - Kurt P.S. - It is uncertain whether the old DOS style asterik "*" graphs will make it through modern listserv and email and/or web client processing.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Potential target list - 2-18 beg 7pm to 2-19 4am
by Canopus56 19 Feb '09

19 Feb '09

> Kurt, What will it be like on the 24th, which is supposed to be its closest > approach? Thanks, Joe Lulin looks like its going to mag 5 from mag. 6+ now. I haven't reacquired it since we were looking at it collectively on the list last month. http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2007N3/2007N3.html Kushida's at max now http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0144P/2009.html Yoshida's current comets http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html - Kurt

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Potential target list - 2-18 beg 7pm to 2-19 4am
by Canopus56 18 Feb '09

18 Feb '09

If there is any type of a weather break tonight, Comet 144P/Kushida is peaking near mag 8 and is within 1.25 degs north of mag 7 open cluster NGC 1807, dia. 17'. NGC 1807 and Kushida are about midway between alf Tau Aldebaran and M1, the south "horn" of Taurus. It transits about 7:30-8pm MST. Comet Lulin is nearing its peak at near magnitude 6 and is about 4 degs southeast of Porrima (gam Vir). Lulin is 2 degs north of NGC 4697 (Caldwell 52), a mag 9.3 elliptical galaxy, 6' x 3'. It is high enough by 1:30am but transits at 3:25am. - Kurt

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Comet Lulin Update
by Patrick Wiggins 18 Feb '09

18 Feb '09

Space Weather News for Feb. 18, 2009 http://spaceweather.com COMET LULIN UPDATE: Comet Lulin is approaching Earth and brightening rapidly. Observers say it is now visible to the naked eye as a faint (magnitude +5.6) gassy patch in the constellation Virgo before dawn. Even city dwellers have seen it. Backyard telescopes reveal a vivid green comet in obvious motion. Just yesterday, amateur astronomers watched as a solar wind gust tore away part of the comet's tail, the second time this month such a thing has happened. Lulin's closest approach to Earth (38 million miles) is on Feb. 24th; at that time the comet could be two or three times brighter than it is now. Browse the gallery for the latest images: http://spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_lulin_page8.htm SATELLITE DEBRIS: More than a week has passed since the Feb. 10th collision of Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 over northern Siberia, and the orbits of some of the largest fragments have now been measured by US Strategic Command. Today's edition of http://Spaceweather.com features global maps showing where the debris is located. Only 26 fragments are currently plotted, but that number will grow as radar tracking of the debris continues. Check back often for updates.

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