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

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

18 Feb '09

P.S. - And that bright thingy over in the west - Venus is going through a series of phase and size transits through March that might be nice for a set of time series images. - Kurt

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SLAS last night
by Jim Gibson 18 Feb '09

18 Feb '09

I want to thank SLAS for putting together an interesting presentation last night. I thought Tyler Allred did an excellent job of covering a broad range of issues in astrophotography and certainly stimulated a lot of interest among many members and non-SLAS members alike. Unfortunately I had to leave before the last presentation started. I also want to thank Patrick Wiggins for allowing many of us an opportunity to play with good image data as I am not yet able to produce my own. I added two more tries in processing Patrick’s Data to the gallery. I have a couple more ideas I want to try and see what happens. http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1103 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1105

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TYLER'S TALK
by Stephen Peterson 18 Feb '09

18 Feb '09

Great imaging talk and presentation of Tyler's astrophotography. Learned a lot but realize the magnitude of the work ahead. My copy of The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing (Berry & Burnell) came a couple of day ago. I am about 1/4 way through it and it seems to me to be an excellent introduction to astrophotography and image processing. Recommend it. Now if the weather only cooperates! Thanks again Tyler! Steve

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Tribune digest of astronomy blog posts
by Canopus56 16 Feb '09

16 Feb '09

Sheena wrote: > http://blogs.sltrib.com/frontier > Comments always welcome. > Thanks for reading! Sheena, Thanks. I continue to read your entries and enjoy them! - Kurt

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February S&T Gallery Question
by John R. Peterson 16 Feb '09

16 Feb '09

I'm a bit behind in my readings, but did anyone notice the photo of "Strange Clouds" in the February S&T Reader's Gallery? I've seen a lot of weird lenticular clouds, but this takes the cake. In fact, it looks to me as if you can see where it was pasted together and airbrushed. Any other comments on it? John R. Peterson

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Photographers Take Note
by Ann House 15 Feb '09

15 Feb '09

Brett Prettyman of the Salt Lake Tribune has an Outdoors Picture of the Week in each Sunday's paper. To the best of my recollection he has never spotlighted a picture of the night sky. Many of you take wonderful pictures of sky objects, as noted in our Utah Astronomy Gallery. I think one of you ought to submit a picture. March will be here shortly and the beginning of public observing. It would be a great way to kick off the observing season. Send your picture to Brett. I will be watching for it to be published. "Brett Prettyman" <brettp(a)sltrib.com> -A

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] moon animation
by JayLEads 15 Feb '09

15 Feb '09

Here is the link to the original movie. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/graphics/Moon_movie.gif It believe it came out of the US Navy Observatory. There are actually several cool sites to use: This one by Harcourt seems to use the gif from the USNO in a format useful to 3rd and 6th graders who study the phases of the moon. http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/moon_phases/ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/MoonPhase.html http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/data/MoonPhases/index.html http://www.ioncmaste.ca/homepage/resources/web_resources/CSA_Astro/ files/content/multimedia/unit3/phases_moon/phases_moon.swf Probably more than anyone wants but there are lots of resources out there. On 2009-02-16 00:04, Joe Bauman wrote: > Hi Jim, It went out fine. I received it. It is a great teaching aid and I'm glad you put it on there. Best wishes, Joe > > --- On Sun, 2/15/09, Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@???> wrote: > From: Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@???> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] moon animation > To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> > Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 4:30 PM > > I thought I sent a reply to Patrick and I didn’t see it so if this is a > duplicate I apologies. > > Patrick, > I didn’t want to post anything about a picture that wasn’t mine. If I > ever take a good picture I will let people know as you suggested. > > As you mentioned about the liberation I do think the image is a good teaching > aid in that respect. > > The photo of the moon over Temp is a composite of the Jan 10th full moon and a > separate shot of Temp after a snow storm and after the sun went down. Kind of an > artsy-fartsy attempt on my part. > > Jim > > > Daniel, > That is cool. I like to see what the liberation can reveal out past Kastner in > the east, Grimaldi in the west, and your shots reveal some really nice cratering > in the extreme south. > > Jim > > --- On Sun, 2/15/09, daniel turner <outwest112@???> wrote: > > From: daniel turner <outwest112@???> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] moon animation > To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> > Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 12:51 PM > > Jim: > > I have about a dozen astro GIFs that I've collected. This one is a series > of full moons and it shows apogee and perigee as well as libration. > > http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1040 > > I agree that these are great teaching aids. > > DT > > > > --- On Sun, 2/15/09, Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@???> wrote: > > > From: Jim Gibson <jimgibson00@???> > > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] moon animation > > To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> > > Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 6:55 AM > > Patrick, > > I didn’t want to post anything about a picture that > > wasn’t mine. If I ever take a good picture I will let > > people know as you suggested. > > > > As you mentioned about the liberation I do think the image > > is a good teaching aid in that respect. > > > > The photo of the moon over Temp is a composite of the Jan > > 10th full moon and a separate shot of Temp after a snow > > storm and after the sun went down. Kind of an artsy-fartsy > > attempt on my part. > > > > Jim > > > > > > > > > > > > --- On Sun, 2/15/09, Patrick Wiggins > > <paw@???> wrote: > > > > From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@???> > > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] moon animation > > To: "Utah Astronomy" > > <utah-astronomy@???> > > Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 12:35 AM > > > > Jim, you should have posted a message about your Moon > > picture being on > > line. > > > > Really nice. > > > > In addition to the libration Joe mentioned (actually I > > almost wrote > > "libation" but I guess that's causes a > > different kind of rocking) > > your > > animation also does a great job of showing the changing > > distance. > > > > And, like Joe said, please post the details. > > > > And for those who have not seen it yet: > > http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1000 > > > > patrick > > > > > > On 15 Feb 2009, at 00:08, Joe Bauman wrote: > > > > > Jim, I've been admiring your moon animation. Can > > you give us the > > > details? Was it shot over one month? One photo a > > night? I was > > > surprised to see how much the moon rolls, and wondered > > if that was > > > because the time lapse was taken over a longer period > > than a month. > > > Congratulations on a great animation. Thanks, Joe > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > > > Utah-Astronomy@??? > > > > > 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 > > > > > > > Patrick Wiggins > > NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador to Utah

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] S and T in trouble
by JayLEads 14 Feb '09

14 Feb '09

Another suggestion for those who want to give away their old magazines. IF the Clark has their teacher/student program this year (they had 2 classes last summer I believe) for a $100 students get the XT 6 and other goodies. You could look to donate back issues to the class. Chances are the funding is cut (if you don't know the program, students have to write an essay on why they should be selected to participate. Then they spend 5 days at Clark learning the sky, the constellations, deep sky objects, going to the U to view the observatory there and assembling the base to their XT 6 and how to use it). If anyone wanted to I have about 12 sixth grade students that are doing a weekly astronomy learning program with me on Wednesday's, after school from 3:30p.m. until 4:30p.m. I'm sure they would love anything anyone would want to give them, or share their experience on a subject they are learning about. We are currently learning about the moon, its features, physical characteristics, distance and diameter. Students are also learning how to use a dob in anticipation of a March 4th observing session (its not a school star party and weather permitting) of the moon and some other items they should be able to find and observe on their own or with a little help. I bought an XT6 just for this purpose and have of course a very old Tasco spotting scope that they use for the moon. I'm hoping by June (we're a year round school so this year school goes until July 2nd, at least for now) to hold a school star party night and have these students run a few scopes as well as having some more experienced people present as well. If the funding isn't cut then I am hoping to get a few of these going to the Clark experience and getting them hooked into the hobby and provide them with constructive alternatives of things to do. I actually hope to have some of them come back as they move up into junior high and perhaps high school to help out and observe with us. I figure even if all I do is plant a seed, perhaps down the road one of them will decide they want to get into the hobby, or study science more or make a career in a field of science. Perhaps its just a silly dream but it seems to be working for now. On 2009-02-14 18:04, Kim wrote: > Great idea, Daniel. I'll have to give mine to our local elementary school. > Since I moved to Mt. Pleasant four years ago, I've offered time and again to > do star parties for the school but they've never accepted my invitation. > Maybe with S

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Spiral Galaxy NGC-2683
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Feb '09

14 Feb '09

Another example of what can be done when ok data are assembled by a master. http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1010 This will probably be the last image based on my data for at least a little while. I finally got fed up enough with my primary mirror moving during exposures that I broke down and ordered a locking collar that's supposed to arrive in the next few days. Installing it will entail taking the scope apart so the OTA is on my library floor now, ready to be operated on when the part arrives. patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] S and T in trouble
by Jay Eads 14 Feb '09

14 Feb '09

I know I haven't signed up for either Astronomy or S&T, but I have read one at the local library. I have been reading the RASC editions that are from 2007 and back. There are some interesting articles in there. I believe they have from 1998 to 2007 archived online. I'm sure most know it but as a newbie I enjoy reading the back issues from up north. Jay On 2009-02-13 23:23, Chuck Hards wrote: > Debbie, imagine if you had most or all of the issues going back to the > '40's. Mine are in boxes in the basement, but I think Patrick's are easily > accessable. > > When I retire, I might make it a project to scan and store all the articles > I think worthwhile, and sell the paper issues on eBay. > > I wish some of the more recent amateur astronomers could have experienced > S

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