April 2011 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] My Blog
by Jay Eads 11 Apr '11

11 Apr '11

Oh, and the app you can fly around as an astronaut or pilot the shuttle made me think of Patrick for some reason. On 2011-04-12 01:44, Jay Eads wrote: > Joe B. recommended to me that I post and let people know of my blog that I > have had going for awhile. If anyone is interested I have just put up a > review of several astronomy apps for the iPad/iPhone/iTouch and my last > observing log with sketches. > > Here is the link. > > http://jaysastronomyobservingblog.blogspot.com/ > >

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Ring around the Moon
by Jay Eads 11 Apr '11

11 Apr '11

A beautiful moon ring is out right now around the moon. Look up if you get the chance before it goes away. -- Jay Eads

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Truss Covers
by Steve Fisher 11 Apr '11

11 Apr '11

Hey everyone. I purchased several large AstroSystems covers for Large Dobs today. If you could use one, you won't believe how cheap I will sell them. If you have a scope 14" to 24" contact me off list and lets cover that scope "on the cheap". Steve

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Skies clearing, nice prominences
by Patrick Wiggins 10 Apr '11

10 Apr '11

The Clear Sky Clock indicates nice skies tonight and clearing is already happening here in Stansbury so I pulled out the solar scope. A nice smattering of small sunspots in white light and some very impressive prominences in HA. Looks kind of like a forrest growing on the Sun's NW limb. Fingers cross for tonight... patrick

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Yuri's Night April 12 at UofU
by Canopus56 10 Apr '11

10 Apr '11

>From Paul Ricketts, UofU. JFB = James Fletcher Physics Building http://wikimapia.org/7251097/JFB-James-Fletcher-Building ========== Yuri's Night - The World Space Party Tuesday, April 12, 2011 7:00 p.m. JFB 103 FREE and open to the public The Department of Physics & Astronomy will be hosting a viewing of "First Orbit" which will show us how Yuri Gagarin saw the earth in mankind's first trip to space 50 years ago. A rebroadcast of his radio transmission will accompany this voyage. The crew of the International Space Station will show us the path he took and what he would have seen. A free star party will follow this presentation at the South Physics Observatory if the weather is clear. http://yurisnight.net/

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What a night
by Steve Fisher 10 Apr '11

10 Apr '11

Hey, Utah Astronomers. Just wanted to share with you that the first public event at Stansbury Park for the Salt Lake Astronomical Society is now "in the bag". A great night was had by all who attended. After snow all day, Patrick called me about 7:15 and informed me there was a huge sucker hole over the observatory and he had received some phone calls from the public. I jumped in the car and headed West. In attendance were Patrick Wiggins, Dale Wilson, Bruce Grim and myself. When I arrived the refractor dome was open and the observing had begun. A small family had attended before I got there and in the next hour one young lady from a local high school showed up to view the moon. I took one quick peek and the moon was beautiful. That is it! That is my observing report for the night and I assure you like I said, " A great night was had by all who attended". The summer observing season has begun. Steve

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Which Solar Telescope
by John R. Peterson 09 Apr '11

09 Apr '11

Help! I'm on the verge of buying a second-tier solar telescope, and am looking at the Coronado Solar Max II 60 f/6.6 with the 10mm blocking filter and the Lunt 60mm f/?? (can't find it) with a 12 mm blocking filter. The Coronado claims 0.75 Angstrom pass, the Lunt 0.8 Angstrom. The Coronado has a helical focuser, the Lunt, a Crayford. Everywhere I look the Coronado is about $200 more, and anyway, I must admit, I'm hesitant about the Coronado since it is now owned by Meade (Y'all know what I'm talkin' about, I believe. . .). So, I'll save a couple hundred bucks by following my heart. Still, I know nothing about Lunt. How do those scopes compare? What's the quality of Lunt products? I don't suppose anyone wants to give me their two cents worth? (yeah, right!) Thanks John R. Peterson

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Wish I were a wordsmith
by Patrick Wiggins 09 Apr '11

09 Apr '11

It's times like this I wish I had Joe's and Chuck's wordsmithing abilities. Every clear night when I don't have other projects going I do a supernova search. That involves having the software move the scope and imager about shooting a list of about 90 or so spiral galaxies I keep watch on. There's just something almost magical to be sitting here and having a new image of a galaxy pop up on the monitor every 90 seconds or so. Some are pretty run of the mill but some are just downright beautiful. And to think that the chances are good that out of all of the people on the planet there's a good chance that I'm the only one looking at that particular galaxy at that particular moment. And who knows how many civilizations I may be capturing in each shot? And how many of those have my counterpart being the only of it's species looking back at me. I just wish I could put the feeling into words better. patrick

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Fw: Utah Valley Astronomy Society
by Richard Tenney 08 Apr '11

08 Apr '11

--- On Thu, 4/7/11, Michele Hill <events(a)discovermoab.com> wrote: From: Michele Hill <events(a)discovermoab.com> Subject: Utah Valley Astronomy Society To: retenney(a)yahoo.com Date: Thursday, April 7, 2011, 4:52 PM Dear Rich Tenney, I just wanted to invite your organization to connect with Moab ’s Red Rock Astronomers. It is rather fun to travel and hob nob with like minded people and oooo-aaa over telescopes. Monthly, just like your membership the Red Rock Astronomers meet, for instance this month -- April 24 Stargazing at Old City Park @ 8:45pm--Join Red Rock Astronomers for a tour of the night sky and telescope viewing. Gather @ SW corner of Old City Park. http://moabhappenings.com/ Coming to Moab for a group outing option could be rather fun. July and August the hotel room rates are reduced to winter rates and a good time to come for warm nights, although it gets dark really late, well, you already know that. Anyway if I can help put together a field trip or special event with you, I would love to, Rich. Also http://www.moab-astronomy.com/ is a new service one of the Red Rock members has developed in earnest. There is some fun potential here, don’t you think? Michele Michele Hill 435-259-1340 Moab Utah Meetings, Weddings and Events PO BOX 550 Moab, UT 84532

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Star being eaten by Black Hole
by Jay Eads 08 Apr '11

08 Apr '11

Found this over at NASA. Chandra, Hubble and Swift combined to focus on a GRB burst and then discovered it was caused by a star being consumed by a black hole. Pretty cool! Here is the article with images. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/star-disintegration.html -- Jay Eads

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