September 2011 - 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] useless facts
by sfisher01＠comcast.net 07 Mar '12

07 Mar '12

Never? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spencer Ball" <spencer(a)spencerball.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:27:05 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts We'll never see past the cosmic microwave background, much less see light from clear all the way around. Spencer Ball -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of sfisher01(a)comcast.net Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:12 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] useless facts I read this on the usless facts gadget on my desktop. I'm not sure I understand it. Care to comment? A sunbeam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would go in a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 billion years. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Call for parts
by Chuck Hards 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

On 9/27/11, Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski(a)hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > Chuck > > I have a focuser from a Burgess 127, one side was damaged (knob broke > off but the R+P are good0 I replaced the R+P on my Burgess and gave > my unbroken focuser to my friend that broke his. In turn I have his > broken (damaged shaft) focuser. Yours if you want it. Thanks Rob! I'll foot the postage, want anything else for it?

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White-light solar scope update
by Chuck Hards 18 Dec '11

18 Dec '11

On 9/13/11, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: > The scope will probably include an inexpensive eyepiece OK, I have to cut-off reservations today, as I have exhausted the stocks of my suppliers for the time being, but everyone who contacted me both on-and-off list will have their orders filled. The only disappointment is that the eyepiece I had my eye on (no pun intended) is unavailable, and any available substitutions would double the cost of the scope. So I'm hoping that everyone has a suitable eyepiece already on-hand. If not, let me know and I'll see if I can assemble something from my lens inventory. Magnifications for given eyepiece focal lengths. Objective FL = 600mm: 40mm = 15X 30mm = 20X 25mm = 24X 20mm = 30X The scopes will have a 1.25" rack-and-pinion focuser, 1.25" star diagonal, a 50mm air-spaced achromatic objective, and installed Baader solar filter. The filter will be placed either behind a protective optical window in front of the objective, or directly behind the objective itself. I'm kicking around some ideas for a mechanism to retract the filter when not looking at the sun, but won't make that promise due to safety concerns. Also thinking of a simple, integrated solar finder, but that's not really necessary if you just use the scope's shadow for aiming. We'll see what happens, stay tuned.

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Annular from highway 56
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

Forwarded with permission from Brent Watson: On 24 Sep 2011, at 19:29, Brent Watson wrote: > Patrick, > > I was driving west along Utah 56 yesterday and took these photos. They start just after getting out of the mountains west of Cedar City and end just before Modina. The horizon was accurately measured to less than one finger width held at arm's length in every photo. > > I would not recommend going to Modina. It is a good place to visit, but not for very long. Every time I have been there (3 or 4) I am followed or watched closely by those who have a differing viewpoint on monogamy. > > By the way, the Escalante Valley Elementary School is at Beryl Junction. Not saying to, but a school star party may be possible. > > Brent I've posted two of his pictures here: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/brenthwy56-01.jpg Remember that the centerline follows highway 56 so I'm thinking anywhere along the highway should work, especially now that I see how low the horizon is. Thanks Brent for the report. patrick

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Observing Friday Night
by Jay Eads 02 Oct '11

02 Oct '11

Mat and I are going to get out observing on Friday. I'm open for Pit n Pole or for Lakeside. If not we might try west of the Pit area. Any takers want to join us at one or the other locations? Just curious. -- Jay Eads

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Wood Tube Refractor
by Steve Fisher 02 Oct '11

02 Oct '11

"Just starting to think this project through. I will be making this > most likely next summer or the summer after that." I think I remember you saying this exact sentence 5 weeks before first light on the Dob. Do you remember it that way?

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M81
by Joe Bauman 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

Here's a pic I took at Lakeside yesterday morning. It's not the greatest, needs more exposure, but I'm not really dissatisfied with it. -- Joe http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4717&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] M81
by jayleads＠gmail.com 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

Great job Sent from my LG phone Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Thanks, Chrismo -- I had trouble with focus (as usual) and I think the scope wasn't well-balanced. The view kept slipping even though I used my guide scope, and I don't know why. Also, I tried to fix collimation but that may have made any distortion worse. The upshot is that the picture not as sharp as it should be. Despite the exposure total of around 2 hours parts look underexposed. So I'm not delighted with it, though not terrifically dissatisfied either. But thanks for the compliment! -- Joe > > > >________________________________ >From: Chrismo <djchrismo(a)gmail.com> >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 4:25 PM >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] M81 > >"not the greatest" sheesh... I think it looks fantastic! > >On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 2:36 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> Here's a pic I took at Lakeside yesterday morning. It's not the greatest, >> needs more exposure, but I'm not really dissatisfied with it. -- Joe >> >> http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4717&g2_imageViewsIndex=1 >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> >_______________________________________________ >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 >_______________________________________________ >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

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Areas Beyond Pit n Pole
by Jay Eads 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

Yes, I actually have a couple of sites that are west of Pit n Pole that are darker and more away from the LP of the SLC. However, like Lakeside you still are impacted by the SLC to the Utah Valley LP and like Lakeside which has an impact from Wendover or another facility to the west. There is a great spot over by Lookout Pass (off the gravel road a ways) that I have used several times by myself that I really like (a nice Cedar forest behind the site). I'd like to check out the Sheeprock Mountains as I think there are some spots down there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harker_Canyon_%28Tooele_County,_Utah%29 http://desertislands.org/sheeprock.htm Vernon Reservoir The latitude and longitude coordinates for this reservoir are 39.9933, -112.3875 and the altitude is 6135 feet (1870 meters). http://publiclands.org/explore/site.php?id=6435 http://www.summitpost.org/vernon-reservoir-campground/504984 http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/utahlakes/vernon.php View of Reservoir in late winter: http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/29/assets/Vernon_Res_3… On weekend you can run into people in the campground but there are some areas near the lake that I think you can set up and observe from. I just need to take a drive down there. I think there is some promise for Vernon and that area. Just a sample of what is out there. Just need someone who will go and set up and observe with me. I'd like to try the Vernon Reservoir out at some point. -- Jay Eads

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