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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Faster than the Speed of Light
by jayleads＠gmail.com 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

Could somebody post that the pit was taken so we are behind the pony ezpress marker just down the road? Thanks Sent from my LG phone Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: >Is that Hawking Radiation I smell? > >_______________________________________________ >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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UARS over Utah
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

With NASA predicting UARS will reenter between the 22nd and 24th I checked and found that during that time UARS will make several passes over Utah: 22 Sep 05:41:27 10 WNW 05:42:57 20 SW 05:44:23 10 S 22 Sep 21:33:45 10 SW 21:35:40 55 NW 21:37:37 10 NE 23 Sep 05:15:50 10 WNW 05:17:18 21 SW 05:18:45 10 S 23 Sep 21:06:40 10 SW 21:08:35 67 NW 21:10:33 10 NE 24 Sep 04:48:03 10 WNW 04:49:36 24 SW 04:51:04 10 S 24 Sep 20:37:28 10 SW 20:39:23 85 SW 20:41:22 10 NE Only the first part of the last pass on the 24th would be visible under normal conditions (ie UARS in daylight and us in darkness) but it would be plainly visible during any of those passes should it decide to deorbit over Utah. Chances of that, of course, are VERY small. Odds are it will come down over some vast expanse of ocean or uninhabited wilderness. But we can always hope... :) patrick

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NEED RIDE TO SPOC TOMORROW
by D P Pierce 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

I need a ride to SPOC tomoorrow night. I would like to go to Advanced Training afterwards but that's not necessary. SPOC isn't on the schedule but an Open House star party was announced at the SLAS meeting for those who don't want to go far. My fold up wheelchair fits in most trunks, hatchbacks and some back seats. It weighs about 36 lbs. Deloy

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Finding used scopes
by Jorge Gutierrez 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

I didn’t say that I couldn’t find telescopes when searching for them on ksl, but having vacuum cleaners with “telescopic handle” or RVs come up on the results its like.. ugh, why is that even there? im thinking of buying an astro gear carrier vehicle too (the popular choice seems to be nissan pathfinders) driving a sedan with a 10” dob and my 6” imaging scope and gear works fine, but I need to go places the car just wouldn’t make it to, but that will come after im done building my ultraportable 14-15” dob. > >On 2011-09-23 06:44, Chrismo wrote: > it's just you. i see telescopes all the time. sometimes they're good buys, > sometimes they're 50mm department store scopes that will hopefully get some > kid interested enough in astronomy to one day pursue it beyond 7th grade > science. i've been looking for a "traveler" for the past couple months, but > never found one that I had the extra scratch for. after taking my 8" dob to > the Grand Canyon, i've given up looking for a traveler scope. i'm now > looking for a used pickup truck.

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Near miss with NGC-6643
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

One of the images from the SN search I was running tonight: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/NGC6643NEARMISS.JPG Maybe it was UARS. :) patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Finding used scopes
by Jorge Gutierrez 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

Maybe its just me, but the only items I hate to see on those searches are RVs and dyson vacuum cleaners....

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Finding used scopes
by Craig Smith 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Any hints on how to find scopes for sale on KSL? I find them in various different categories, and if you search on scope or telescope you get all kinds of things. I did find a 16" Starmaster for sale -- in case anyone's interested, too much for me -- and a few others. Craig

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Gerrish mount
by Chuck Hards 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Erik, when you have time, grab a tape measure and measure the height of your eyes off the ground while in your power chair. I need to establish the user limits for the Gerrish design. Fully seated to standing. That will give me the range I need to shoot for, as far as eyepiece height in the finished telescope. Deloy, if you could do the same thing in your standard wheelchair, I'd sure appreciate it. I know your chair doesn't raise, but if you could give me a comfortable height for you, it would help me a lot. I'm sure there are more standard chair users than power chairs, so I may aim for the lower limit. Thanks guys, no rush.

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combined reply
by daniel turner 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Too many msgs for me to reply to all that are of interest to me. And a picture is worth ... well you know. So here is my take on the ease of use issue. http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4693 Note it takes two guys and two ladders to set this turkey up. I wish I had a picture of Steve trying to find Alpa Hercules last Saturday. Besides the problem with the pointing computer he had to be down on his knees because the object was almost straight overhead. You know, up in Dobson's Hole. Also someone mentioned octogonal wooden tubes. http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4690 All I'll say about it at this time is it ain't no refractor. Also Joan, Eric and Steve would have seen that the best view of Jupiter on Saturday was through Ray's 14 dob. If you had bothered to look. DT

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Refractors on the cheap
by Chuck Hards 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Surplus Shed is currently offering a limited number of "new", old-stock objectives from A. Jaegers, up to 6" aperture. The clever ATM could build a really nice refractor for a small fraction of an equivalent commercial refractor. 3 pages of Jaegers listings, starting here: http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/category/jaegersobjectives_1.html They also have cells for some of them. I grabbed a few while the grabbing was good. Jaegers objectives are remarkably good for their price, even back in the old days. I would rate them a notch higher than the Chinese lenses currently flooding the market. Fred at Surplus Shed is testing the large ones, and making registration marks on the edges for rotational alignment of the elements. Most are not coated, but that is of minimal concern. You may even be able to find a local lab to coat them for you, for a fee, if you can't live without a coating. There is also an old-fashioned method that allows kitchen chemists to coat their own lenses. A vacuum chamber is not required. I grabbed the 6" f/5, f/10, & f/15, as well as several smaller sizes. The cells require 7" aluminum tubing. Harward Irrigation in Utah county sells it. I made the 3" finder on the Ealing at SPOC, using a Jaegers objective donated by Siegfried.

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