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

M57 +73PSW-3
by daniel turner 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Mark your calendar for early evening May 7. Their will be a close encounter between the Ring nebula and periodic comet 73P. The comet will be close to earth so its exact position in the sky will depend stongly on your location on the globe. Go to spaceweather.com and use the link at the bottom of the page for "Observable Comets". 73p is in the list and includes orbital elements and a link for daily ephemerides. DT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Pluto: Can you find it
by JayLEads 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

Patrick, In the middle of the shots is a bright star with an inverted triangle asterism above it and slightly to the left. Next to the bright star to the left is a double star (looks like a double). In the first shot is a star that in that triangle forms a three star chain on the base of the triangle. In the next shot that same star moves to the left leaving the inverted triangle alone and now up and to the left of that double star. I will assume because that "star" moves it is the dwarf planet Pluto. On 2009-09-29 04:19, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > I got a 15 second shot of Pluto last evening and again this evening to > show Pluto's apparent motion. > > http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=68

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Perhaps Black Holes Do Not Exist
by dustynebula＠juno.com 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

The powerful infrared sensitivity of the Webb Telescope may provide evidence of surface diameters and conditions of "Black Stars" or "Event Horizons," and differentiate the evidence decisively. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: "Don J. Colton" <djcolton(a)piol.com> To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Perhaps Black Holes Do Not Exist Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:25:32 -0600 The October Scientific American argues that black stars more dense than neutron stars may form instead of black holes. Black holes are predicted by classical general relativity but do not take properly take into account quantum mechanics. A quantum effect called vacuum polarization may grow large enough to stop a hole forming and create a "black star" instead. Such a star would not have an event horizon but any energy emitted would be shifted far to the red and not show as visible light. A major problem with black holes is the loss of information that would occur violating a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics called unitarity. I have always been skeptical of singularities since in every other area of physics singularities mean a failure of the math or theory or both. When the theory predicts such things as infinite energy (the ultraviolet catastrophe) or singularities it usually means the theory needs to be modified. _______________________________________________ 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://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com ____________________________________________________________ Best Weight Loss Program - Click Here! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTFoYcCfBKQy4ydOwf0CuJk4NE…

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] LCROSS Updated how to observe slide presentation
by Canopus56 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

Joe, It appears all that is left is whether the weather will cooperate. - Clear Skies, Kurt ----------------- Weather update The NOAA seven day national forecast for the period ending Oct. 8 shows highs over the central and northern U.S. with a low pressure zone over Baja, possibly extending up to southern californa. http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/day7nav_color.html Clear Skies, Kurt ----------------- Get your NASA LCROSS Citizen Science page accounts now This is a suggestion concerning the official NASA LCROSS site to submit your impact images at the LCROSS Citizen Science page hosted on a NASA server at url: http://apps.nasa.gov/lcross/ To post and share your images with the rest of the nation, you will need to establish an account with NASA at that site. To avoid a possible internet clog on the day of the impact, I recommend if you do intend to image and submit, that you establish your account at NASA now, instead of waiting until Oct. 9. Clear Skies - Kurt

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LCROSS Updated how to observe slide presentation
by Canopus56 29 Sep '09

29 Sep '09

I have updated my slide presentation on how to observe the LCROSS impact for the 9-27-2009 change in the target crater. Slide presentation as PDF file (16 meg) http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/20090916LC… http://tinyurl.com/pfujnv MS Powerpoint version (12 meg) http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/20090915LC… http://tinyurl.com/pbb7pw These are also linked off the LCROSS Observing Group "how to observe" page at: http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation/web/observing-how-to Clear skies - Kurt

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Pluto: Can you find it
by Patrick Wiggins 29 Sep '09

29 Sep '09

I got a 15 second shot of Pluto last evening and again this evening to show Pluto's apparent motion. http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=68&g2_page=3 Quite a difference from year's ago when I used the same scope to image Pluto on film. That time the exposure was 60 minutes (I think that photograph is out at SPOC somewhere). patrick

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LCROSS LCROSS Team changes final target to Cabeus proper
by Canopus56 28 Sep '09

28 Sep '09

Details of the precise target location within Cabeus (98 km dia. http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Cabeus ) presumably will be announced later. - Kurt =================== NASA's LCROSS Mission Changes Impact Crater Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:26:48 PM MDT http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission (LCROSS) based on new analysis of available lunar data, has shifted the target crater from Cabeus A to Cabeus (proper). The decision was based on continued evaluation of all available data and consultation/input from members of the LCROSS Science Team and the scientific community, including impact experts, ground and space based observers, and observations from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Prospector (LP), Chandrayaan-1 and JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft. This decision was prompted by the current best understanding of hydrogen concentrations in the Cabeus region, including cross-correlation between the latest LRO results and LP data sets. The general consensus of lunar experts led by the LCROSS science team is that Cabeus shows, with the greatest level of certainty, the highest hydrogen concentrations at the south pole. Further consideration of the most current terrain models provided by JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft and the LRO Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) was important in the decision process.The models show a small valley in an otherwise tall Cabeus perimeter ridge, which will allow for sunlight to illuminate the ejecta cloud on Oct. 9, and much sooner than previously estimated for Cabeus. While the ejecta does have to fly to higher elevations to be observed by Earth assets, a shadow cast by a large hill along the Cabeus ridge, provides an excellent, high-contrast, back drop for ejecta and vapor measurements. The LCROSS team concluded that Cabeus provided the best chance for meeting its mission goals. The team critically assessed and successfully advocated for the change with the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) office. The change in impact crater was factored into LCROSS' most recent Trajectory Correction Maneuver, TCM7. During the last days of the mission, the LCROSS team will continue to refine the exact point of impact within Cabeus crater to avoid rough spots, and to maximize solar illumination of the debris plume and Earth observations. ===================

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LCROSS: Lunar surface brightness estimate near Cabeus A1
by Canopus56 28 Sep '09

28 Sep '09

>From a data slice from a ROLO lunar image, I get a preliminary estimate of 3.8 mpsas +- 8% for the lunar surface surrounding Cabeus A1. Considering uncertainty in the max ejecta plume brightness at 4.0 mpsas, the estimate is not significantly different in brightness from the plume itself. Presumably, the plume will be brighter than the Earth visible shadowed portion of Cabeus A1, just as the 3.8 mpsas surrounding surface is brighter than the shadowed portion of the crater. My estimate is based on draft computations at: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/20090927mp… http://tinyurl.com/y98x3rg A review of the computations for any serious errors by the group would be appreciated. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] LCROSS: Technique to extract radiance values from ROLO image
by Canopus56 27 Sep '09

27 Sep '09

My apologies group. This post is misdirected. Please disregard it. Hope the season closer star party at SPOC went well. - Clear Skies, Kurt

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LCROSS: Technique to extract radiance values from ROLO image
by Canopus56 27 Sep '09

27 Sep '09

I have completed a test case study of a technique for extracting radiance values out of ROLO lunar photometry image. It is illustrated in a PDF file - http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/20090927mp… http://tinyurl.com/yaub5sb In summary, an image processing protocol to extract camera values for a 4 x 3 pixel region-of-interest near Cabeus A from a 512 x512 ROLO archive lunar image taken 2001-02-13 UT09:59 at 550nm from the ROLO facility near Flagstaff, Arizona is illustrated. The median radiance of the 12 pixel region-of-interest near Cabeus A is reduced as 0.0456363 Watts/m^2 sr nm with a standard deviation of 0.00189995 Watts/m^2 sr nm (4.1 %) at 550nm. Project materials, including the Mathematica 7 file used to perform image analysis and reduction, can be found in directory: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/LCROSS/20090927mp… Part 2 of this process will be to convert the radiance value extracted from the ROLO image into a stellar V-magnitude and magnitudes-per-square-arcsec (mpsas). The pixels in the ROLO camera are 4.08250 arcsecs per pixel. The high-bound LCROSS apparent brightness estimate is 4.0 mpsas. I'd appreciate the group's comments on the proper algorithm for the next step to get from radiance (Watts/m^2 sr nm) to mpsas. Congrats on Selenology Today 16. Clear Skies - Kurt

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