March 2012 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

SLAS 2 in a row EPODs
by Patrick Wiggins 22 Mar '12

22 Mar '12

I just noticed my "crop circle" EPOD was followed by fellow SLASer Kelly Rick's EPOD the very next day. http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/03/lake-michigan-ice.html Funny thing is when I first saw the image and noticed it was of Lake Michigan I thought "I need to tell Kelly about this". :) Way to go Kelly! patrick

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Messier Marathon?
by Chrismo 22 Mar '12

22 Mar '12

Anyone thinking about going for a marathon this week? I'm giving some thought to Wednesday, weather permitting. -- Chrismo I fix things, all kinds of things... (801) 897-9075

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Ride to SLAS meeting
by D P Pierce 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

I have a ride to the meeting. I will need a ride from the meeting to AT and then home. Deloy Pierce Large Bored Member

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Ride to SLAS meeting
by D P Pierce 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

I would like a ride to SLAS meeting tonight. Call me at 801 739 2730 by 5:00. After that I will head for the UTA stop ad head for the TRAX station. Deloy Pierce Large Bored Member

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Observing and Sirius B Two New Supernovas
by Jay Eads 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

As Mat mentioned I am heading to the Pit (I fear Vernon needs a few more days to dry out unfortunately as my new locations there are darker and my favorite). Humidity at the Pit last night was in the low 60% unless you stayed until after 4:30a.m. From 4:30a.m. it spiked from the 70's to the mid 80's at 8:00a.m. I'll be long gone before that. The forecast for transparency is average tonight with very good seeing though. I'll be at the Pit around 7:00p.m. to set up and cool down, might be around 6:30p.m. I'll take my dew equipment but I am not expected to use it. In terms of the Pup a mask can help, and time of the night helps also. I've seen the Pup the last two years out in the West Desert in both my 14inch and my 10 inch dob. I think its easier sometimes in my 10 inch. Anyway, sometimes the best chance IF conditions are good, is to try for it in twilight before Sirius impacts the view too much. I'll see what conditions are like tonight and may try for it. I'm also trying for the B33 if conditions are right. Here is a link to a good article on splitting the Pup: http://sanantonioskywatch.com/2010/01/17/viewing-the-pup/ Finally, I'm trying for two new supernova that appeared this week, one in M95 in Leo and one in NGC 4790 in Virgo. Here is the info: NGC 4790 in Virgo has a 12th mag supernova called 2012au that was discovered on the 14th. That means this sucker is going to get bright and should be easy to view. It is a Type Ib which will mean it will brighten quick, and then fade quicker than a Type II would. Here is the info: 2012au (= PSN J12545218-1014502) (= SNhunt117), CBET 3052 discovered 2012/03/14.450 by Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey and Stan Howerton Found in NGC 4790 at R.A. = 12h54m52s.18, Decl. = -10°14'50".2 Located 3".5 east and 2".0 north of the center of NGC 4790 (Discovery image) Mag 12.7:3/16, Type Ib (References: CBAT TOCP, ATEL 3967, ATEL 3968, ATEL 3971) 2012au images sub-page Just in time for a Messier Marathon, Messier 95 as a bright SN that was discovered on 17th of March in an outer arm of Messier 95. Already in the 12th mag range this one will brighten also and is really close to Mars right now. Here is a link<http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2012/03/18/another-bright-supernova-goes-boo…>to info on this one. This one is so new they haven't been able to identify what type it is. I'm going for both this week! Here is the info on the SN in Messier 95: PSN J10435372+1140177, CBAT TOCP discovered 2012/03/16.8493 by J. Skvarc; Alessandro Dimai (Italian Supernovae Search Project) Found in M95 at R.A. = 10h43m53s.72, Decl. = +11°40'17".7 (= NGC 3351) Located 60" west and 115" south of the center of M95 (Skvarc discovery image) (Dimai discovery image) (Nick James image) (David Strange image) (Stan Howerton image) (William Wiethoff image) (Martin Mobberley image) (Maurice Gavin image) (Stephen M. Brincat image) (Fabio Martinelli image) Mag 13.1:3/19, Type unknown (References: ATEL 3979) Astrobob blog, Beautiful Start blog, blog, Astronomy blog, Astronet in Swedish [translate] Here is the link<http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#PSNJ10435372+1140177>to Bright Supernova on the info for this one. Jay --

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Bob Taylor on radio now (Saturday 6-7 pm)
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Mar '12

21 Mar '12

List member and SLAS VP Bob Taylor is on KTKK from now until 7:00 pm. http://www.k-talk.com/pro/index.php/listen-live/ They tend to lean towards the paranormal and astrology so it'll be interesting to see how they handle real science. patrick

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New Website Tool Now Available For Identifying Mission-Accessible Near-Earth Asteroids
by Barrett 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

FROM THE METEORITE LIST, FWI.. -Barrett +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nhats.html New Website Tool Now Available For Identifying Mission-Accessible Near-Earth Asteroids and Their Next Observing Opportunities NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office March 20, 2012 Note: Website tool is available here: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/nhats/ Observers, mission planners, and other interested users are invited to use a new website tool to view a list of near-Earth asteroids that are among the most accessible for future robotic or human space flight round-trip rendezvous missions. For each of up to several hundred asteroids listed, the following information is available: * Absolute magnitude (H). * Estimated diameter (meters). * Minimum delta-V mission and the corresponding round trip flight time. Delta-V, in km/s, is defined here as the total velocity change required for the spacecraft to depart from a 400 km circular Earth orbit, rendezvous with the NEA and return to Earth with an entry velocity less than the specified threshold of 12 km/s. * Minimum mission duration time (round trip time in days) and the corresponding mission delta-V. * The number of viable trajectories found for that NEA, which is a proxy for its accessibility. * The next optical observing opportunity and the peak apparent visual magnitude. * The next Arecibo radar observing opportunity and the corresponding signal to noise ratio (SNR). * The next Goldstone radar observing opportunity along with the corresponding SNR. * Metric for orbit accuracy (Orbit Condition Code). * Orbit solution ID. Users can customize the table of accessible NEAs by specifying limits on total delta-V, mission duration, stay time at the asteroid, launch date interval, asteroid absolute magnitude, and orbit condition code. The table can be sorted on almost all the bulleted items above. Clicking on each object's designation takes the user to an object-specific page, which provides additional details, including a plot showing total mission delta-V for each combination of mission duration and launch date (2015 - 2040). Another click on the object's designation opens a new window that provides orbital and physical data for the object. The Near-Earth Object Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) began in September 2010 under the auspices of NASA Headquarters Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate in cooperation with the Advanced Exploration Systems Division of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Its purpose was to identify any known Near-Earth Objects, particularly Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) that might be accessible by future human spaceflight missions. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) independently performed the first phase of the NHATS study in parallel to validate the results. NEAs are discovered almost daily, and often the time just after discovery is also the optimal time to provide follow-up observations to secure their orbits and characterize their physical nature. These follow-up observations are particularly important for those NEAs that could become potential future mission targets. The goal behind this website is to monitor these NEA discoveries daily and determine if any among them warrant additional study as they might become attractive mission targets. Brent Barbee (GSFC) developed the process that automatically downloads orbital information on newly discovered NEAs from the JPL Small Bodies Database (SBDB) on a daily basis. He then performs trajectory calculations using the method of patched conics for the spacecraft and with full precision ephemerides for the Earth and NEOs obtained from JPL's Horizons system to determine which among them may meet the NHATS accessibility constraints. The results of this daily analysis are then immediately uploaded to the NHATS table. A process generated by Paul Chodas (JPL) then provides, for each NHATS-compliant NEA, the details of future observation opportunities that might allow the NEA orbit to be improved with follow-up optical astrometric data. Some of these observing opportunities would also allow the NEA's physical nature to be characterized using photometric and spectroscopic observations. In cases where there are future close Earth approaches, radar astrometric and physical characterization observations may be possible; these opportunities are listed as well. Working closely with Brent Barbee and Paul Chodas, Alan Chamberlin (JPL) was largely responsible for creating this Accessible NEAs website. Website tool is available here: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/nhats/ ______________________________________________

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Wiggins pic -- OT
by Joe Bauman 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

Congratulations, Patrick! Another Earth Science Picture of the Day! http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/03/center-pivot-irrigation-near-utah-lake.ht…

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NASA's New 'Earth Now' App
by Patrick Wiggins 19 Mar '12

19 Mar '12

Of possible interest to iPhone users, a new app from NASA: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-080&rn=news.xml&rst=3315 patrick

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Patrick can top this.
by Steve Fisher 17 Mar '12

17 Mar '12

13+ miles up, not bad. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/apnewsbreak-skydiver-test-jump-r…

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