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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Four-Planet Dance of 2011
by Canopus56 14 May '11

14 May '11

Dance of the Planets 2011 - 5-14 Cumulative Labeled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4308 - Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Daylight ISS lunar transit
by Patrick Wiggins 14 May '11

14 May '11

Hi Jared, The transits are only visible along a VERY narrow corridor. In this case the corridor was only 9 km wide. Here is the prediction CalSky sent me for the transit (terribly long URL): http://www.calsky.com/?Transitline=&showhome=&obs=79303019710733&tdt=245569… patrick On 14 May 2011, at 02:49, Patrick Wiggins wrote: > Hi Jared, > > Click on the "centerline" link (located to the lower right of the ISS icon) and you'll see the path the transit line took. > > Cheers, > > patrick

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Great merging galaxies!
by Joe Bauman 14 May '11

14 May '11

Hi All, Here's my latest blog, about galaxy mergers. I've reprocessed my view of NGC5426/27 and hope it looks more natural. Please take a peek. Thanks, Joe http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011905/Nightly-news-astronomy-Merging-…

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Daylight ISS lunar transit
by Patrick Wiggins 13 May '11

13 May '11

I saw that ISS would (might) be transiting the Moon this afternoon and that it would (might) be visible. So I set a C-8 up in the front yard and watched and waited. It happened right on time but it was so bright and easy to see my initial thought was that I had seen a seagull making the transit. :) But then I realized seagulls don't have solar panels... It really was bright and stood out easily in front of the Moon and even more so in front of the blue sky. patrick

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Porimma and Saturn
by Debbie 13 May '11

13 May '11

Hi all, I had a fun evening last night. The seeing was above average last night so I set up my WO 120mm f/7.5 refractor in my driveway. I got some great views of Saturn at 100X, 180X, and 225X. After Saturn I went slightly north to Gamma Virginis or Porimma. Got some good views of this equal magnitude double at 180X and then 225X. The last I heard the separation on this double is about 1.7". I split some doubles in Bootes that I missed last week. I split Xi, Pi, Delta, and Mu Bootes. I finally got the computer to work on the German Equatorial mount. I viewed the Beehive cluster with the new WO 33mm eyepiece. It looked good even with a 9 day old moon. I then found Zeta Cancri with 100X. Does anybody know the separation of the tight AB pair? This is a nice double that I will come back to next year. I went back to Saturn because my neighbor Lisa wanted to see Saturn for the first time. We could definitely see the Cassini division at 180X. Lisa and her son loved the views of Saturn. Dave and I finished off with the double-double in Lyra to end the evening. Clear Skies, Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Four-Planet Dance of 2011
by Canopus56 13 May '11

13 May '11

Jupiter starts pulling away from Venus - Dance of the Planets 2011 - 5-13 Cumulative Labeled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4302 Dance of the Planets 2011 - 5-13 Cumulative Unlabeled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4305 Clear Skies - Kurt

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Testing the 10 inch Zambuto Mirror
by Jay Eads 13 May '11

13 May '11

I am testing the 10 inch Zambuto Mirror at my home tonight so if after someone is done with stuff tonight, feel free to call me at eight zero one, six three four, six zero seven six. I'll be out back til around midnight or so. Tomorrow night I am still taking it to Pit n Pole if anyone wants to meet me out there. If you come, you are welcome to use the scope, observe with it and give your impressions compared to other mirrors and scopes which is what Carl wants. The more the merrier. We'll also be pushing the mirror on galaxies on the verge of seeing (even with the moon) to look at contrast the mirror gives. I'll have my 14 set up and if I am lucky, perhaps another scope. If you want to bring yours to compare on the same object, that would be great. -- Jay Eads

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Four-Planet Dance of 2011
by Canopus56 12 May '11

12 May '11

Joe - Glad you enjoyed it. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Four-Planet Dance of 2011
by Canopus56 12 May '11

12 May '11

The weather finally cleared and allowed me to take a continuing update cumulative images for this planetary grouping that lasts through May 30 with the re-arrival of the waning crescent Moon. May 12 5:42am MDT SLC Cumulative wide-field labeled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4290 May 12 2011 5:42am MDT SLC Cumulative wide-field unlabeled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4293 May 12 2011 5:48am MDT Closeup 2.5 deg of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury labelled http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4296 At 1.3 mags, Mars, which is about two degrees outside of the close-up image frame and above the local horizon line, did not register on the image. Mercury is at 0.3 mags. Jupiter rose first over the ridgeline east of Little Mtn at 5:32am MDT, with Venus rising 2 or 3 minutes later. A weather cloud-out on May 9 prevented taking an image at the closest angular approach of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury. Clear Skies - Kurt P.S. - May 5 APOD image from favored southern hemisphere o.p. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110507.html

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Emergency sale
by Kim Hyatt 12 May '11

12 May '11

Hi all. Apologies to anyone who objects to using this list to sell astronomy items. I'm desperate for cash so I'm going to part with my treasured 12.5" f5 Cave/Astrola Newtonian. Mine is identical to the scope listed on Cloudy Nights (http://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=42583 <http://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=42583&sort= &cat=10&page=2> &sort=&cat=10&page=2). I just haven't had time to photograph mine. It's missing the original counter weights, but I can help arrange to have weights made for it. I'm asking $1,400 (that may or may not be a firm number - we can talk) and I'll deliver in Utah for that price. Price includes OTA (excellent Cave optics), Astrola mount (power works but in RA only; a smart person can make a new hand paddle and RA/dec drive), Telrad base (I'd offer a Telrad but I only own one and I need it for two other scopes). If anyone is interested, please contact me off-list. I'll be leaving for SLC later today and I'll be in meetings tonight and all day tomorrow. However, I'll monitor my email. If you email between now and Saturday leave a phone number and I'll call back. It's easier for me than texting or responding by email with my phone. Thanks. Kim

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