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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] More on Commet Garradd - contending with neighborhood lights
by Canopus56 06 Sep '11

06 Sep '11

> The lamp comes on at night by a dark-sensing electric eye . . . That helps. Just ask if your neighbor if you can hit the detector with a red laser when you are using your telescope. That will turn the light off. You can put a cheap $5 red light laser on a cheap camera tripod and aim the laser at the light detector. I also have a low-end carpentry laser straight-edge from Ace or Home Depot. That works best because it has a fixed on-off switch. Red laser presentation pointers often have a dead man button. Show your neighbor the Moon or Jupiter first. Clear Skies - Kurt

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More on Commet Garradd - contending with neighborhood lights
by Raeburn Kennard 06 Sep '11

06 Sep '11

Chrismo asks: Why not just ask him to shut them off on nights you'd like to observe? Because he hard-wired the lamp to his porch plug outlet, and didn't include a kill swithch. The lamp comes on at night by a dark-sensing electric eye, and stays on until morning. He thinks it's wonderful.

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Cassini Flyby
by stormcrow60＠xmission.com 05 Sep '11

05 Sep '11

Awesome video Patrick. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Jon

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ISS humor
by Patrick Wiggins 05 Sep '11

05 Sep '11

http://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2011/09/05 :) Sent from my iPad

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Saturn flyby animation
by Patrick Wiggins 05 Sep '11

05 Sep '11

Nice animation using Cassini images: http://devour.com/video/saturn-fly-by/ patrick

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White Dwarfs with Companions in the Milky Way
by Jay Eads 05 Sep '11

05 Sep '11

Just wondering if anyone knows of a survey of white dwarf stars in the Milky Way that have red giant companions? Curious as these could lead to a Type Ia SN and just wondering if anyone has considered a study of such objects in a binary pair in our own Milky Way if such a survey hasn't been done? -- Jay Eads

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Not alone :)
by Patrick Wiggins 04 Sep '11

04 Sep '11

We're not alone when it comes to having trouble finding faint fuzzies: http://www.grimmy.com/images/MGG_Archive/MGG_2011/MGG-2011-09-04.gif :)

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St. George?
by Chrismo 04 Sep '11

04 Sep '11

Anyone have suggestions for an observing spot near St. George (besides the parks)?

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Need solar filter material
by Canopus56 04 Sep '11

04 Sep '11

"ND" refers to neutral density filter. This is a grey filter. The ND rating of solar glass filter or Baader film is typically 5 or higher. The number means that the material passes 10^-5 in all wavelengths (infrared, visual, and uv). So an ND-5 filter passes 1/100,000 of the Sun's light; ND-6 passes 1/1,000,000. For visual observing ND-5 is the minimum. The ND-3.8 is for photographic work, although my experience with a DSLR and an ND-5 filter is that I could only get a useable exposure at the highest ISO speed. This leads me to believe the ND-3.8 is something for wet film photography, not digital solar photography. Since permanent vision loss is a possible outcome, only buy from reputable dealers. I bought the Baader ND film directly from Baader Observatory because they claim to have high quality control on their product. http://www.baader-planetarium.com/sofifolie/sofi_start_e.htm If you read solar film advertising literature closely, Baader is the only company that states they quality control their product, i.e. - that Baader film is ``CE Tested.'' This means that an independent lab tested the product to assure that it meets European Union import health and safety requirements. For solar observing, I own a 4.25 inch (Celestron) glass filter. When white light observing, my 10" Newt has a solid cover with a smaller hole built-into it. The 4.25 glass filter goes over that. The other approach for white light observing with an 8 or 10 inch scope is the lower cost, but equal safe Baader film, to fabricate a full aperture cover. I do not have any comments on whether the full aperture or the 4.25 glass filter approach gives you better resolution. I go with the 4.25 glass filter approach because the glass filter is easier to store and to inspect. It is not clear to me whether when using a Baader film over 8 or 10 inches of aperture you also should use a supplemental ND filter on the eyepiece. Maybe others will have comments. With either approach, a necessary safety precaution is to keep a permanent marker handy and to inspect your solar filter before each use by holding it up to Sun and looking for pinhole leaks. Use the permanent marker to cover up any pinhole leaks. Otherwise those little pinhole leaks become mini-high powered lasers that scar your retina. Clear Skies - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Pit n Pole
by Jorge Gutierrez 03 Sep '11

03 Sep '11

Let me know if you are going, I might go tonight and or tomorrow > > >On 2011-09-03 16:00, Jay Eads wrote: > If I recover from Wolf Creek last night, I am going to head out to Pit n > Pole since the moon is down at 11:21 tonight or so. Wolf Creek was great > until the wind came up around 12:30a.m./1:00a.m. and just got worse the rest > of the night. > >

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