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

Backlash on Meade 125 ETX out of control
by Canopus56 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

I have recently acquired a Meade ETX 125 circa 2007-2008 model with a 497 handbox. The scope has a weird, wild amount of backlash that makes it unuseable. When focusing on the Moon and using the az buttons, the scope will backlash correct a good az +25mins alt +20mins - making it basically unuseable because it takes forever to center anything. I have: 1) one star aligned; 2) reduced the az/alt percents (not the ratios) from 50% to 1%; and, 3) use the scope in alt/az mode. I have not: 1) Trained the drive motors. How should I approach correcting this? Where is the backlash option the handset? On a Celestron, it's fairly straight forward. Any tips would be appreciated. - Canopus56

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ISS Daytime
by Stephen Peterson 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Set up the digital camera and refractor side by side on a sturdy tripod hoping to photograph the ISS during the 17:17:48 pass yesterday. Didn't see a thing, the floaters in my aging eyes were no help either! Then got onto Heavens-above to check Wednesday's pass time to find out the Tuesday pass time had changed. One needs to update at the last minute. For example, today's pass was listed yesterday at 16:06:41 (highest point) but this morning it is listed at 16:07:02, el 50d, az se (135)d. Since it in the refractor's (and camera's) fov for only 2-3 sec, timing is critical. This should be a better pass from an illumination point of view and similar to the one Monday. Will attempt a photo again today. Steve

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Jupiter Impact Transit Times for SLC
by Canopus56 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Repost per discussion at tonight's club meeting. These are predicted transit times for the Jupiter comet impact hole in the Jovian atmosphere: WinJUPOS 8.0.4 (Jupiter), C.M. transit times, 2009/07/20 14:34 Object longitude: L2 = 216.0° + 0.0000°/d * (T - 2009 Jul 19.5) Time interval: 2009 Jul 20.0 ... 2009 Jul 31.0 Only if celestial body is visible Geographic longitude and latitude: -111 00, +42 00 Output format: Date UT (C.M. of System 2, Altitude) 2009 Jul 20 11:56 ( 216°, 24°) 2009 Jul 21 07:47 ( 216°, 30°) 2009 Jul 23 09:25 ( 216°, 34°) 2009 Jul 24 05:16 ( 216°, 13°) 2009 Jul 25 11:03 ( 216°, 27°) 2009 Jul 26 06:54 ( 216°, 27°) 2009 Jul 28 08:32 ( 216°, 33°) 2009 Jul 29 04:23 ( 216°, 8°) 2009 Jul 30 10:10 ( 216°, 30°) Amateur discovery image Anthony Wesley, Australia, 7-19-2009 http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/jupiter/20090719-155537/large.jpg

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jupiter Impact Transit Times for SLC
by JayLEads 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

I had a well drawn out plan tonight. After getting home tonight from class, I would come home, set up and start in Sagittarius and observe some PN's and some open clusters and then I would watch Jupiter starting around 1:00a.m, and then move into Cygnus. Well,l went out and setup tonight around 10:30p.m. and at 11:30p.m. began to do some observations starting with M23 and then moving around. At about 1:10 I took the dob and focused it on Jupiter and brought my 5mm Hyperion to bear with 200x. Skies were good tonight as Jupiter came right into focus and held. I could see two distinct bands clear and sharp at the mid latitudes with hints of other bands to the north and south of these two bands. In the EP I could see the black circle up and to the right on Jupiter and it was clear and distinct. I took a 2x barlow out and pumped up to 400x. At 400x Jupiter would come into focus, hold focus for about 30 seconds and then I would have to adjust. The impact area was equally manageable at this magnification tonight. Finally, after observing for around 35 minutes and recording my observation on a digital voice recorder, I decided to do one last test. I took out my 21mm and 13mm Stratus EP to see how low I could go in magnification and still detect the impact area. At 92x with the 13mm the spot was easily need and observed. I used a 17mm lens I have at 70.5x and the impact area was still easily seen. Finally I tried the 21mm at 57x and though it took me a few moments to identify, because I knew the location and I could see it. This was using a 10 inch dob since I did not want to set up the large one tonight. Most scopes should be able to see this. I hope someone locally got some great images tonight because the skies were good, and Jupiter with this black spot with the four Galilean Moons in the view looked beautiful. I also went and saw Neptune since its been a year and it is quite easy to find. After that I was going to head to Cygnus but down here in Herriman the clouds moved in and that's it. I've put everything away and am heading off to bed. Hope others saw this cool event. On 2009-07-22 03:09, Canopus56 wrote: > > Repost per discussion at tonight's club meeting. These are predicted transit times for the Jupiter comet impact hole in the Jovian atmosphere: > > WinJUPOS 8.0.4 (Jupiter), C.M. transit times, 2009/07/20 14:34 > Object longitude: L2 = 216.0° + 0.0000°/d * (T - 2009 Jul 19.5) > Time interval: 2009 Jul 20.0 ... 2009 Jul 31.0 > Only if celestial body is visible > Geographic longitude and latitude: -111 00, +42 00 > Output format: Date UT (C.M. of System 2, Altitude) > > 2009 Jul 20 11:56 ( 216°, 24°) > 2009 Jul 21 07:47 ( 216°, 30°) > 2009 Jul 23 09:25 ( 216°, 34°) > 2009 Jul 24 05:16 ( 216°, 13°) > 2009 Jul 25 11:03 ( 216°, 27°) > 2009 Jul 26 06:54 ( 216°, 27°) > 2009 Jul 28 08:32 ( 216°, 33°) > 2009 Jul 29 04:23 ( 216°, 8°) > 2009 Jul 30 10:10 ( 216°, 30°) > > Amateur discovery image Anthony Wesley, Australia, 7-19-2009 > http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/jupiter/20090719-155537/ large.jpg > > > > >

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See Space station / Shuttle tonight & Friday
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

The joined International Space Station and space shuttle Endeavour will be making very visible passes over northern Utah tonight (Wednesday) and Friday night. Together the two craft are carrying 13 people, the most that have ever been in space at one time. Tonight 10:28 Faint and rising in the NW and passing through the bucket of the Big Dipper 10:30 Bright and overhead 10:31 Brighter still and then fading high in the SE as they pass into the shadow of the Earth Friday 9:42 Faint and rising in the NW and passing through the bucket of the Big Dipper 9:44 Bright and high overhead 9:47 Very bright and then fading low in the SE Times will be the same for southern Utah but the craft will be much lower in the sky. Clear skies! patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Solar Eclipse Watching
by Canopus56 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

My apologies. The times in my prior post were wrong. It looks like all of this happened while we were all at the club meeting. - Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Backlash on Meade 125 ETX out of control
by Canopus56 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

I don't see anything in the instructions on Calibrator Motors. Anything interesting happen or that needs to be done when you press it? The Train Drives instructions are easy enough. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Solar Eclipse Watching
by Canopus56 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Global internet broadcasts for viewing the eclipse: The eclipse starts at around 12:30am MDT July 22 (India) and continues through about 5:15am MDT July 22 (Japan) Source: http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2009/index.html Webcasts: (Max ~~ 9:45UT) Grupo Saros (China - Wuhan) http://www.saros.org/index.html (link not tested) (Max ~~ 9:45UT) Eclipse City (China - Shanghai) http://www.eclipse-tv.com/ (link not tested) (Max ~~ 11:15UT) Live! Eclipse 2009 (Japan) http://www.live-eclipse.org/ (link not tested) (Max 9:24pm MDT, Start 7:15pm MDT link not active) SEMS-Sun Earth Moon Systems (University of North Dakota): www.sems.und.edu under "Past Future Webcasts" Other background: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/20jul_longestsolareclipse.htm Clear Skies - Kurt Start and end times by location: Location Start Time End Time Maximum Eclipse at India 05:54 07:18:11 06:21:00 Bangladesh 05:59:16 08:04:39 06:58:14 Japan 09:55:39 12:30:19 11:13:00 Singapore 08:40:52 09:43:56 09:11:26 Indonesia 16:20:18 18:50:14 17:40:54 China 08:33:45 10:54:09 09:41:59

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Apollo 11: "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky"
by Chuck Hards 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Does anyone know if the quote attributed to Armstrong upon re-entering the LEM, and the story behind it, is true? If not, it should be...

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Apollo sites pics now up!
by stormcrow60＠xmission.com 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Quoting utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com: > Send Utah-Astronomy mailing list submissions to > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > utah-astronomy-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Utah-Astronomy digest..." > Jay, That student you had, if indeed in college will hopefully make his own determinations regarding the space program. Sometimes when a person finally grows up and is presented with the true facts, questioning their parent's views on all aspects of life can be a liberating moment. Jon

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